It’s Monday, July 15th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Adam McManus
Pakistan among worst violators of religious freedom
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended that the State Department designate Pakistan as a “Country of Particular Concern”, citing its Islamic blasphemy laws as a prime reason for religious freedom violations, reports Morning Star News.
Muslims in Pakistan continues to perpetrate widespread abuses of religious freedom, including forced conversions of Christian and Hindu girls to Islam, and targeted violence against religious minorities, according to the 2024 USCIRF report. (p.40-41)
If the U.S. State Department designated Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern, it would subject it to potential sanctions and other diplomatic measures aimed at improving religious freedom conditions.
Attempted assassination of Donald Trump at campaign rally
As former President Donald Trump was delivering a speech in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday evening, shots rang out, and he clutched his right ear, which was bleeding, as filmed by Fox 45 Baltimore.
Just seconds before the shooting, Trump called Joe Biden the worst president in America for allowing millions of illegal immigrants to cross our Southern border.
Listen.
TRUMP: “And then the worst president in the history of our country took over and look what happened to our country. Probably 20 million people. And you know, that’s a little bit old — that chart. That chart’s a couple of months old. And if you want to really see something that’s sad, take a look at what happened. …”
(audio of shots)
SECRET SERVICE AGENT 1: “Get down. Get down.”
SECRET SERVICE AGENT 2: “What are we doing?”
Later, on his Truth Social account, Trump wrote, “I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear. I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
After those shots rang out, Secret Service agents swarmed the president, taking him to the ground while shielding him from any additional fire.
SECRET SERVICE: “Shooter is down. Are we good to move? Are we clear? We’re clear. Let’s move. Let’s move. We’re clear.”
As the Secret Service were ready to move him to his car, Trump asked them to wait.
TRUMP: “Wait, wait, wait.”
(You can click on this link to hear everything the microphones picked up).
The former president, his face smeared with blood, thrust his fist into the air and told the crowd, “Fight, fight, fight.” The crowd erupted in a tidal wave of approval, followed by chants of “USA.”
CROWD: (cheers) “USA. USA. USA. USA. USA.”
Eyewitness saw man with rifle bear crawling up a nearby roof
The BBC interviewed an eyewitness outside the security perimeter who claimed he saw the shooter who had bear crawled up a roof with a rifle just five minutes before firing shots.
EYEWITNESS 1: “We noticed the guy crawling, bear crawling, up the roof of the building beside us, 50 feet away from us. We’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof.”
BBC REPORTER: “And he had a gun, right?”
EYEWITNESS 1: “He had a rifle.”
REPORTER: “A rifle.”
EYEWITNESS 1: “You can clearly see him with a rifle. Absolutely! We’re pointing at him. The police are down there running around on the ground. We’re like, ‘Hey, man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle.’ You know, we’re like, ‘Hey, right here on the roof. We can see from right here. We see him.’
“I’m thinking to myself, I’m like, ‘Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?’ I’m standing there pointing at him for two or three minutes. Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn. I’m pointing at that roof. Next thing you know, five shots rang out.”
REPORTER: “You’re certain that the shots came from that guy on the roof?”
EYEWITNESS 1: “100%. 100%. The roof the way the slope went, he was behind where they could see. But why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here? I mean, this is not a big place.”
REPORTER: “You’re pretty sure they shot the guy.”
EYEWITNESS 1: “Absolutely. 100%. Yep.”
Romans 13:3-4 says, “For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
One killed and another injured in the stands
Sadly, Trump was not the only innocent person who was shot. A Trump rally participant, who was an eyewitness to the two other people who were shot in the stands, told ABC News what he saw.
EYEWITNESS 2: “I was just about, like, 30 feet from Trump. And then I saw the people that had been shot. They were bringing them down in the stands right above me. I just saw the man that was hit in the head. There was a lot of blood and I knew there was no way he was going to survive that and then there were two of them that they brought down but it was like real chaos.”
ABC NEWS REPORTER: “What was going through your mind as you saw that person with tons of blood on them?”
EYEWITNESS 2: “Maybe this was the shooter and that he committed suicide. I didn’t think about just like someone that was in the stands.”
In Trump’s Truth Social post, he wrote, “Most importantly, I want to extend my condolences to the family of the person at the rally who was killed, and also to the family of another person that was badly injured.”
EYEWITNESS 2: “Trump survived. It would have been horrible news and worst news if he had been killed. So, that’s good. Every generation thinks, ‘Well, we’re past that. We’re not going to have any more assassination attempts.’ And then you have something else.”
Biden: “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence.”
On Saturday night, President Joe Biden made a 2-minute statement about the apparent assassination attempt, reports CNN.
BIDEN: “I have tried to get a hold of Donald. He’s with his doctors. Apparently, he’s doing well. I plan on talking to him shortly, I hope.
“Look, there’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons why we have to unite this country.
“The bottom line is the Trump rally was a rally that he should have been able, to be conducted peacefully without any problem. But the idea that there’s political violence or violence in America is just not appropriate. Everybody must condemn it. Everybody.”
Senator Rubio: “God protected President Trump.”
Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted, “God protected President Trump.”
Gary Bauer, Senior Vice President of Public Policy for the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, said, “The Left has produced this vicious atmosphere with their constant demonization of Trump, of Christians, of conservatives, and pro-life activists. They have used this hate for nearly a decade. We must stand up and fight back to save our country.”
And Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, told Fox News, “The attempted assassination of President Trump is evidence of the reality of evil in the world. We thank God for protecting the life of this courageous leader who is a warrior for truth and the friend of Christians everywhere.”
Don Lemon vs. Candace Owens on homosexual faux marriage
And finally, former CNN host Don Lemon, a self-avowed homosexual, asked Candace Owens, a conservative, what she thought about his homosexual faux marriage to a man.
LEMON: “What do you think about same-sex marriage?”
OWENS: “It’s a sin.”
LEMON: “You think it’s a sin?”
OWENS: “It is a sin.”
LEMON: “So, you think I’m sinful?”
OWNS: “What’s that?”
LEMON: “You think I’m sinful because I’m married to a man.”
OWENS: “Yeah.”
LEMON: “You do?”
OWENS: “Yeah. You’re sinning. You are in a sinful relationship. I don’t believe, I actually don’t believe marriage can be between two men.”
In response to Lemon’s post of that clip, two of the first people to react, agreed with Candace Owens. One tweeted, “You asked a Christian what their opinion on same-sex marriage was, they gave you the Biblical response, and you’re shocked?”
And the other said, “It isn’t enough for you to live freely with whoever you choose, you want society to approve and celebrate it too? You’re greedy.”
Romans 1:24 says, “Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview on this Monday, July 15th, in the year of our Lord 2024. Join me Adam McManus, and my two sons, Honor and Valor, at the Colorado Father-Son retreat Thursday, August 15th through Sunday, August 18th. Go to ColoradoFatherSon.com. 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.