It’s Wednesday, July 17th, A.D. 2019. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
African Muslims kill 4 Christians wearing crosses
The violent persecution of Christians in Burkina Faso, Africa continues to rage on, reports FaithWire.com.
On June 27th, “unidentified armed men” told everyone to lie down and proceeded to look for Christians by asking for first names or looking for anyone wearing Christian insignia.
Within short order, four men were singled out because they were wearing crosses signifying their faith in Christ. They included David Zoungrana, his younger brother Philippe, Theophile Ouedraogo, and Ernest Kassoaga. All four were taken aside and executed on the spot.
As the terrorists left the village, they torched the shop that belonged to David, and told Christians to convert to Islam or risk execution.
These latest murders in Burkina Faso, Africa bring the death toll of Christians killed in attacks since February to 27.
South Asian monsoon flooding and landslides claims 100 lives
The death toll in South Asia continues to rise after monsoon flooding and landslides ravaged the border region of India and Nepal, leaving 100 dead, tens of thousands displaced, and six million affected, reports CNN.
Nepal appears the worst hit so far, with at least 78 people dead there.
Aid organizations and health workers have other concerns as well. Waterborne diseases like diarrhea are known to spread in the aftermath of floods, and destroyed sewage systems could exacerbate those sanitation concerns.
British Christians now in minority
The number of people in Britain identifying as Christian is in “dramatic decline”, according to the latest figures from the British Social Attitudes Survey, reports Christian Today.
The proportion identifying as Christian stands at 38%, down from 50% in 2008 and nearly two-thirds in 1983. It’s the first time that the figure has fallen below 40%.
Simultaneously, there has been a substantial increase in Britain in those who do not identify with any religion, up from 31% in 1983 to 52% of those polled in 2018. And the percentage of Brits identifying as Muslim grew from 1% in 1983 to 6% in 2018.
Secretary Pompeo hosts Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom
With 1,000 civic and religious leaders from 100 countries around the globe gathering at the State Department this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is hosting the second annual Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom.
Contrary to the concerns by some that his newly formed Commission on Unalienable Rights will only benefit Christians, Pompeo made it clear yesterday morning that religious freedom is for everyone.
POMPEO: “All people from every place on the globe must be permitted to practice their faith openly in their homes, in their places of worship, in the public square and believe what they want to believe.”
Describing the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, Ambassador-At-Large Sam Brownback said this.
BROWNBACK: “This is the largest religious freedom event ever hosted at the State Department and the largest religious freedom event ever done in the world.”
Brownback pointed to just how big of a problem the lack of religious liberty is throughout the globe.
BROWNBACK: “80% of the world’s population live in a religiously restricted place. It’s time, it is pass time, to bring down these religious restrictions so that the Iron Curtain of Religious Persecution can for one and all, and it comes down now.”
(Learn more about the Ministerial here.)
National Straight Pride Coalition draws line in the sand
In the face of prideful “celebrations” of sexual perversion last month, there are Christians fighting back as part of the National Straight Pride Coalition.
On August 24th, they’re holding their first “straight pride parade” at Graceada Park in Modesto, California to celebrate God’s design for marriage, sexuality, gender, and life.
Mylinda Mason said that “straight pride” is not about boasting in ourselves.
MASON: “I feel like the word ‘pride’ here has been hijacked by the evil one and is being used against our Creator. So, what we’re saying is that we’re taking pride in our God Almighty, our Creator and His created order.”
Psalm 44:8 says, “In God we boast all the day long, and praise Thy name forever.”
Stay tuned for a Worldview Special Report on why Christians need to speak out against sodomy in the public square.
Barna Group: Mothers main Christian disciplers of children
The Barna Group found that mothers were the main drivers of spiritual development in homes, with over two thirds of American Christians (68%) saying their beliefs were influenced by their mother’s faith.
37% credited their grandparents with shaping their faith. And people outside the family were far less influential, with only 16% crediting someone who was not a relative.
While those children are no doubt grateful to their spiritually engaged mothers, God has called Dad to be the spiritual head of the home.
Ephesians 6:4 is a good reminder. “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
God spared life of 12-year-old boy who drowned
And finally, last weekend, Levi Floyd, a twelve-year-old boy, was vacationing with his family at North Carolina’s Holden Beach. After he dove into a wave, he never re-surfaced. When his family noticed he never came back up, his father frantically searched through the water to find that he had gone blue and was no longer breathing, reports ChristianHeadlines.com.
Despite the fact that Levi’s cousin and a former Duke Life Flight nurse, Derek Gibson, who was vacationing on the beach with his family, administered CPR, Levi was still not recovering.
Then, his family of Christians started to sing and prayed, “Jesus, please let him be OK”. Derek yelled, “There’s a pulse!”
Gibson, the Duke nurse, said, “That Levi is making a recovery, a full recovery, is nothing short of a miracle in my book.”
Job 12:10 says, “In God’s hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Wednesday, July 17th in the year of our Lord 2019. 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.
Special Report: Homosexuality not genetic
Time now for a Worldview Special Report by Emily Swanson. I’m Adam McManus.
No matter where an American Christian might turn, they’re confronted by Drag Queen Story Hours held at taxpayer-funded libraries and government schools encouraging children that they can change their gender based on what they think they are.
Don Grundman, President of National Straight Pride Coalition, told The Worldview that they are encouraging Christians to get involved in the war for biblically-grounded sexuality, gender, marriage, and life.
GRUNDMAN: “It’s been formed because we’re in essentially, a cultural war, which boils down to two irreconcilable opposites. One, you have Christianity, where our Creator says He created man and woman, male and female created He them. And the opponents will say that there is no God. They can create themselves into whatever they want to be which is what they’re busy doing.”
He said the attack is fierce against our children.
GRUNDMAN: “It comes in many cultural manifestations such as very actively aggressively attacking our children. Teaching them what’s called ‘gender fluidity’ is one concept, also what’s called transgenderism. Gender fluidity, being that a person, their so-called gender can change throughout the day. This is a fantasy. Essentially, it’s an attack against the foundation of our culture, to break down the very essence of what it means to be a child.”
Grundman said that this comes in the form of things like Drag Queen Story Hours at public libraries.
GRUNDMAN: “Those are voluntary at this moment, but we expect them to be introduced into the schools especially here in California. As time goes on, there will be a forced teaching of everything they’re teaching as normal, natural, and healthy. In fact, the motto of our organization is ‘normal, natural, healthy, sane.’ And so we’re saying that the traditional family, masculinity, femininity, babies born and especially unborn, the spectrum of life, Christian civilization, Western culture, heterosexuality; all those are a culture of life.”
He said that they want to celebrate a culture of life and not death.
Mark 9:42 has some pretty serious words from Jesus to those who are attempting to trip these little ones at these story hours. “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”
Grundman said that Christians need to get involved in this culture war because it’s a prime opportunity to spread the good news of Jesus’ redemption.
GRUNDMAN: “As Christians, we have a duty. We are spreading the gospel to all people of all nations. We have no discrimination in that. We reach out to all people, races, colors in defense of their ability to hear the gospel. Our opponents actively discount the gospel — to put it minimally. They’re reaching out to break children at the youngest possible ages in order to crush them psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, especially spiritually. So, where the gospel message will be blunted by their being attacked by this propaganda that all things sick being normal.”
He said that this is a fight for children’s souls. Thank God that Jesus Christ will always win the ultimate war. Let us remember that this battle is not against flesh and blood.
GRUNDMAN: “I believe we have to stand up just to be able to have children to stand up to hear the gospel at the earliest age as compared to the anti-gospel which our opponents are spreading. It is a message of love we have and that we are trying to stop this soul pathology. It is an attack on children, and I believe Christians have a duty to defend the children of the nation.”
Grundman warned that there is beginning to be more fierce persecution against those who stand up for God’s definition of these things.
GRUNDMAN: “Ministers are being arrested such as protesting the Drag Queen Story Hour. In Spokane, Washington, there was a minister arrested for standing on a public sidewalk just because he got in the way of the machinery; what I’ll call the war machinery of our opponents. We’re increasingly seeing Christianity criminalized in its expression. And that’s because I believe Christians have stood back, and they’ve let the field of politics be open to our opponents who are busy doing everything they possibly can at every minute to poison the next generation of children. So that when we reach out to them with the gospel, they’ll have already been taken from us. We might be able to get them back.”
Christians, take heart in this battle by the words of 2 Corinthians 10:4. We have weapons on our side that the other side does not possess. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”
Grundman addressed the accusation of Christians being called ‘haters’ for opposing sexual relationships that God defines as sin.
GRUNDMAN: “In social engineering we’re all being trained that if we have any opposition to what I’ll call the homosexual/sodomy movement we’re automatically what are called haters, homophobic and such things, homophobic a term which does not exist in reality. In reality, when we oppose these lifestyles, we are actually showing real Christian love because we are actually telling them the truth. Any of your listeners, Christians, who try to do that will get the figurative flame thrown at them because they’ll be called ‘hater’ and ‘bigot’ and fill in the blank.”
He reminded Christians that the gospel is the only truth that can bring people from darkness to light, from chains to freedom.
GRUNDMAN: “The gospel message is the only thing that can bring these people from damnation essentially. It’s the only, I’ll call it, the antidote. Individual Christians, when they expose these practices, when they go up to Jo or Jane homosexual, and say, ‘No Joe, you are not homosexual.’ Homosexuality is not genetic like our opponents claim. It is not physical genetics. It is spiritual genetics.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 reminds us of those spiritual genetics and how they can be changed. “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Grundman said that we need to bring the message of reconciliation to God, the true love of God the Father through sending His Son for sinners.
GRUNDMAN: “And so they’re broken away from the Creator. We come back with an alternative message, the only message that will bring true love to them. To say that, ‘No you’ve been poisoned in your spirit. You are not a homosexual, lesbian, fill in the blank. The only solution is a spiritual soul solution and Christianity has that. Christ has that. So we are speaking out in love to bring these people from a culture of death.”
Learn more at their website NationalStraightPrideCoalition.org.
May the Lord call many repentant sinners to Himself through this culture war as Jesus said He came for this very reason in Luke 5:32. “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
This has been a Worldview Special Report. I’m Adam McManus.
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North Korea considers resuming nuclear, missile tests
North Korea warned Tuesday that planned military exercises involving U.S. and South Korean forces would jeopardize proposed disarmament talks with Washington, and hinted it might respond by resuming nuclear and missile tests, reports the Washington Post.
North Korea has long criticized U.S.-South Korean military exercises, viewing them as rehearsals for an invasion.
North Ireland House of Commons warned against “gay” marriage
The Coalition for Marriage has warned that a vote in the North Ireland House of Commons to greenlights homosexual faux marriage there will be no guarantees for freedom of speech or worship, reports Christian Today.
It fears that church ministers may be penalized if they refuse to conduct homosexual faux marriage services, and that public sector workers with conservative views could lose their jobs.
San Francisco gets mild earthquake
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake rattled the San Francisco Bay Area Tuesday afternoon, and residents around the region widely reported feeling light shaking, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
The quake struck at 1:11 p.m. with a depth of 7.5 miles and an epicenter in the East Bay.
Perhaps it’s a warning by Almighty God to those who have embraced a homosexual lifestyle to repent.
Democratic Senator Schumer supports slave reparations
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York told a small group of reporters yesterday that he will support legislation proposed by Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Democrat Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey to establish a commission to study reparations for slavery, reports Axios.com.
10 worst cities to live in for stress
Are you stressed? In the U.S., stress affects more than 100 million people.
The leading causes? Money tops the list, followed by work, family and relationships.
When stress reaches an unmanageable level, it turns “chronic.” That’s when we become vulnerable to its damaging effects such as health problems and loss of productivity.
Workplace-related stress costs society more than $300 billion per year.
Here now is the list of the top 10 most stressed cities to live in America, reports WalletHub.com.
#10: Shreveport, Louisiana; #9: Wilmington, Delaware; #8: Birmingham, Alabama; #7: Cincinnati, Ohio; #6: St. Louis, Missouri; #5: Philadelphia. Pennsylvania; #4: Baltimore, Maryland; #3: Newark, New Jersey; #2: Cleveland, Ohio; and coming in at the number one most stressed place to live in America: Detroit, Michigan.
Chick-fil-A Manager changes tire of distraught 96-year-old customer
Daryl Howard, the manager of a Chick-fil-A in Severn, Maryland, was taking orders last week when a regular customer – a 96-year-old World War II veteran known as “Mr. Lee” – entered the restaurant, reports ChristianHeadlines.com.
Rudy Somoza, another store manager, said, “He was shaking, almost in tears saying he barely made it to the store on three tires because one was bad.”
So, Howard did what only seemed natural for a Chick-fil-A employee. He left the restaurant to change the tire.
Somoza said, “His action of kindness was beautiful. Daryl has always been so helpful to anyone in need and deserves this recognition.”
Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy, once said, “We should be about more than just selling chicken. We should be a part of our customers’ lives and the communities in which we serve.” What a great way to glorify God!