Monday, August 8th, in the year of our Lord 2016
By Adam McManus
Missionary Family of Five Killed in Freeway Accident
They ran the race. And they finished the course. Last Sunday, Jamison and Kathryn Pals and their three small children were killed on the freeway while driving from Minneapolis to Colorado. They were making final preparations to serve on the mission field in Japan. Jamison and Kathryn, both 29, and their three young children, 3-year-old Ezra, 23-month-old Violet, and 2-month-old Calvin were hit by a semi-truck and all five died in the tragic accident. Pastor John Piper prayed at their funeral over the weekend: “This is the great and glorious Rock, where we stand, or lie prostrate. And on which we give thanks for the lives of Jamison and Kathryn and Ezra and Violet and Calvin, who did not count their lives to be more valuable than obedience.”
American Teenager Gets Olympic Gold Medal
The first gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro has gone to an American teenager. Ginny Thrasher, a 19-year-old West Virginia University sophomore, won the women’s 10-meter air rifle event on Saturday morning at the Olympic Shooting Center. Then, U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky took the gold for the 400-meter freestyle, breaking the previous record at just under four minutes.
Irish High Court Rules That Unborn Children’s Right to Life Must be Taken Seriously
Here’s some great news for the pro-life cause! An Irish High Court judge has ruled that the word “unborn” in the Irish Constitution means an “unborn child” with the right to life which “must be taken seriously” by the State. Life News reports that Article 42a of the Irish Constitution, inserted by a 2012 referendum, obliges the State to protect “all” children “both before and after birth.”
If the Irish unborn children could speak, they would echo the words of David from Psalm 139.
“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…
Your works are wonderful,
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”
Moroccan Christians Testify to Their Faith on YouTube
In a new series of YouTube podcasts, Moroccan Christians are stepping out of the shadows, showing their faces, and telling their stories. They are testifying to their faith in Christ. Attempting to convert Muslims can result in a three-year prison sentence and a hefty fine.
Chilean University Students’ Protests Turn to Rock-Throwing and Vandalism
Student protesters in Chile are resorting to violence. University students are disappointed over the failure of the socialist president to produce the free education she promised. Protests have quickly devolved into rock-throwing and vandalism. Police report that at least 16 churches, both Protestant and Catholic, have been burned and desecrated in the past year.
Eight Children in Uganda Who Converted to Christ Live With Other Christians After Being Beaten and Disowned by Parents
Eight children between the ages of 9 and 16 from four Eastern Ugandan families who came to faith in Christ after visits from 29-year-old pastor Brian Mukisa have now taken refuge with other Christians in the Busalamu village. Morning Star News reports that their parents had beaten and disowned them as infidels for leaving Islam or animism.
John 15:8 reminds us that “if the world — [including your unbelieving parents] — hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first.”
World Vision Employee Who Sent Funds to Terrorists Had Been Recruited by Hamas to Infiltrate World Vision
Now here’s an update on our Friday World Vision story about an employee who had funneled millions of dollars to a Palestinian terrorist group. World Vision executives in America were allegedly “shocked” to learn of the charges against Mohammed El Halabi, the operations manager of its Gaza branch. The New York Times reports that Hamas had recruited Halabi 12 years ago and instructed him to infiltrate the Christian charity. And by 2010, Halabi was diverting around 60 percent of their annual budget to the terror group.
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, president of an Israeli legal rights group that represents victims of Palestinian terror attacks, told Religion News Service that her group has been issuing warnings about World Vision’s activities for years.
NFL Player Benjamin Watson Rejects Planned Parenthood’s Lies
Benjamin Watson, a black Christian NFL player with the New Orleans Saints, boldly rejects the eugenics lies of Planned Parenthood. The author of Under Our Skin: Getting Real about Race—and Getting Free from the Fears and Frustrations that Divide Us, Watson said, “I do know that honestly the whole idea with Planned Parenthood and Margaret Sanger in the past was to exterminate blacks, and it’s kind of ironic that it’s working.” Referencing abortion, Watson, the married father of five, said, “We are buying it hook, line, and sinker, like it’s a great thing. Abortion saddens me, period.”
Nancy Pelosi Says God and Abortion are Opposed
During the Democratic National Convention, PBS’s Judy Woodruff asked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi why “non-college-educated white males” vote Republican. Pelosi explained that it was “because of guns, because of gays, and because of God. The three ‘Gs,’ God being the woman’s right to choose.” Jerry Newcombe, producer of Kennedy Classics, commented that, “Pelosi said something we all instinctively know: To be pro-abortion is anti-God.”
Three American Olympians Visit Brothel in Rio de Janeiro
According to NBC New York, three players on Olympic U.S. men’s basketball team visited a legal brothel in Rio de Janeiro. 4-time Olympian Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks said, “What’s done is done. We have time off and guys did what they did. We accept those responsibilities and move on.”
Kenyan Olympic Team’s Manager Demands Bribe To Tell When Drug Testers Would Come
Michael Rotich, the Olympic Kenyan team’s track and field manager, was caught on tape demanding a $13,000 bribe to let undercover journalists, posing as athlete representatives, know when drugs testers would come calling. The British Times undercover investigation had two outcomes: Rotich was a no-show in the Opening Ceremony’s Parade of Nations opening night, and he was ordered to return to Kenya Saturday night to face an investigation.
Kamau Bell Thinks Muslim Female Olympian Should Carry American Flag in Opening Ceremony
Kamau Bell, the CNN host of “United Shades of America,” thought that Olympian Michael Phelps, who’s racked up 22 medals, should step aside and allow Ibtihaj Muhammad, a Muslim female fencer from New Jersey, carry the American flag during the Olympics Opening Ceremonies on behalf of the American Olympic team. Why? Because Michael is a white male and Muhammad is an Arabic female. Parenthetically, Phelps had never carried the flag before since preparation for swimming events usually came earlier in the Olympic competition.
Olympic Medalist Michael Phelps Had Been Considering Suicide Two Years Ago
Speaking of Phelps, despite the fact that he had won 22 Olympic medals – 18 of which were gold, the swimming star was on the verge of suicide just two years ago. ESPN reported that Phelps was “struggling to figure out who he was outside the pool” in 2014, which led him to heavy drinking, a DUI arrest, and wondering whether his life was worth living. Phelps admitted, “I thought the world would just be better off without me. I figured that was the best thing to do — just end my life.”
Until he read Rick Warren’s book The Purpose Driven Life in October, 2015 when he entered The Meadows, a psychological trauma and addiction treatment center in Arizona. That’s when he had hope.
Two Female Police Officers in Belgium Injured with Machetes in Terrorist Attack
A machete attack that injured two female police officers in the Belgian city of Charleroi on Saturday was an act of terrorism, Fox News reports. The assailant, who shouted “Allahu Akbar,” the Arabic phrase meaning “God is great”, was shot by a third officer and later died of his injuries. Belgium has been on high alert in the wake of the March 22 suicide bombings by ISIS that killed 32 people in Brussels.
Fewer Americans Watching This Year’s Olympics Than Watched Those in 2012
35% fewer Americans watched the NBC broadcast of the Olympics opening ceremony than the one on the first evening of the London games four years ago. 26.5 million tuned in Friday night compared to 40.7 million in 2012.
Israeli Prime Minister Compares Radical Islam with Nazism and Communism
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared radical Islam today with Nazism and Communism in the 20th century, reports Israel National News. Netanyahu said, “The choice is clear: We can either witness the intensification of this threat, or the freedom camp can wake up and stand at a broad and effective international front.”
ISIS Has Captured Up to 3,000 Displaced Persons and Killed 12
ISIS militants have captured up to 3,000 people displaced from their homes trying to flee conflict zones in northern Iraq, the United Nations told CNN on Friday, reportedly killing 12 of them.
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.