It’s Thursday, October 10th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 125 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
Iranian Christian released from prison 5 years early
Church in Chains reports that authorities in Iran released a Christian convert from Evin Prison in Tehran last week.
Mehdi Akbari had already spent nearly five years in prison out of his 10-year sentence. Thankfully, a court reduced his sentence.
Officials arrested him in 2019 on charges of “acting against national security by forming an illegal evangelical Christian group.”
Mansour Borji with Article 18, a non-profit religious liberty group, welcomed Mehdi’s release. He said, “We call now for the immediate release of the other at least 20 Christians still in prison only on account of their beliefs and the peaceful outworking of these beliefs, such as Armenian citizen Hakop Gochumyan, who is also serving a ten-year sentence only because he visited some churches and was in possession of a handful of Bibles.”
Irish legislature drops ambiguously worded “hate speech” bill
The Irish legislature dropped “hate speech” elements from proposed legislation last month.
The Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences Bill 2022 is currently stuck in the Irish Senate. The bill originally would criminalize the possession of material considered “likely” to incite hatred with up to five years in jail. The bill did not clearly define “hate.” This left many concerned that Christians could face jail time for simply affirming a Biblical understanding of sexuality.
Alliance Defending Freedom International noted, “With the world watching, the people of Ireland said ‘no’ to state censorship, and it’s working.”
Colorado Supreme Court dismissed case again Christian baker Jack Phillips
In the United States, the Colorado Supreme Court sided with a Christian baker on Tuesday.
Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop has faced years of harassment for his biblical beliefs about marriage and sexuality.
The state’s high court dismissed the latest case against him. The case started in 2017 when Phillips refused to bake a cake to celebrate someone pretending to be the opposite sex.
Senior Counsel Jake Warner with Alliance Defending Freedom said, “Enough is enough. Jack has been dragged through courts for over a decade. It’s time to leave him alone. Free speech is for everyone. As the U.S. Supreme Court held in 303 Creative, the government cannot force artists to express messages they don’t believe.”
Psalm 14:4 asks, “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up My people as they eat bread, and do not call on the LORD?”
Toyota ends participation in sexually deviant corporate index
Toyota told its U.S. employees last Thursday that it will no longer participate in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.
The Equality Index, run by the radical, pro-homosexual Human Rights Campaign, measures how supportive companies are of sexually perverted lifestyles.
Toyota will reportedly no longer participate in events that celebrate such lifestyles. The Japanese car maker will also focus its community activities on workforce readiness and education in science, technology, engineering, and math.
10 states have abortion on the ballot
Voters across 10 states will vote on ballot initiatives involving abortion this coming November.
Those states are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota. In most cases, the initiatives would support abortion up to birth.
U.S. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri addressed the 2024 Pray Vote Stand Summit last week on the ballot initiatives.
Listen.
HAWLEY: “As the people go to the polls, let’s be clear, as conservatives and yes, as Republicans, that we advocate life, that we urge our fellow Americans to support life. We will do everything we can to protect life in the law all across this country. This is absolutely foundational!”
Barna: 32 million Christians unlikely to vote in presidential election
Dr. George Barna released a report on the voting practices of people of faith.
The survey found that 104 million people who identify with some religion are unlikely to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Sadly, this includes 32 million self-identified Christians who attend church regularly.
People said they were unlikely to vote because they weren’t interested in elections, disliked the major candidates, or didn’t think their vote would make a difference.
William Tyndale’s momentous life and death
And finally, this week is the anniversary of William Tyndale’s death, traditionally commemorated on October 6.
Tyndale faced arrest and later death in 1536 for alleged heresy. However, he had worked tirelessly to translate the Bible into English. It was his devotion to Scripture that brought him into conflict with church and civil leaders.
In response to an assertion of the supremacy of the Pope, Tyndale famously said, “I defy the Pope and all his laws; and if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!”
Tyndale’s final words, spoken at the stake with a fervent zeal, and a loud voice, were reported later as “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes.” Then, Tyndale was strangled to death while tied at the stake, and then his dead body was burned.
Copies of Tyndale’s translation were smuggled into England by the thousands. His work would form the basis of the Great Bible, edited by Miles Coverdale which made its way into every parish church just three years after Tyndale’s death.
Isaiah 52:7 says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’”
Close
And that’s The Worldview on this Thursday, October 10th, in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by Amazon Music or 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.