It’s Friday, April 9th, A.D. 2021. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
Canadian police barricade church with riot-style fence
On April 7th, Canadian authorities surrounded GraceLife Church of Edmonton with chain link fencing and blocked the entrance to the parking lot with police vehicles and unmarked SUVs, reports The Edmonton Journal.
The Evangelical church has been “physically closed” by Alberta Health Services for allegedly violating coronavirus public health orders. The pastor, James Coates, was jailed for 35 days and fined $1,500 in February and charged with violating health orders.
The church released a lengthy statement defending their in-person services as exercising their civil liberties with appropriate caution. Coates resumed preaching on March 28.
Erin Coates, the pastor’s wife, included images of the fencing on Instagram. She wrote, “Now they’ve chained the doors of GraceLife Church, enclosing in chain link fence. This is all under guise of a health order. Too bad the Church isn’t a building, it’s a blood-bought people. Christ has and will prevail. … I pray for all the pastors and Christians that still think this is about a virus and health order. God have mercy on our nation.”
Alberta Health Services said it will prevent worshippers from accessing the church until they “can demonstrate the ability to comply with Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health’s restrictions.”
Canadian Broadcasting reports that the church has violated orders since December, where churches are supposed to be limited to 15% capacity and if any do attend, they need to socially distance and wear masks.
When Kim Smith, a television reporter, tweeted four pictures of the new fencing and the blocked access by police to the church, the response was quite polarized.
Joanne Belisle tweeted, “Finally! About time too! Best news I’ve heard since the pandemic started. I only wish they did this weeks ago. How many people could have avoided being infected by these selfish people.”
Vasil Chakalarov tweeted, “Never forget: The airports never closed, the subways never closed, the buses never stopped running. (all things that would have happened if COVID was truly dangerous) This is all political targeting.“
And Jeremiah tweeted, “The law is not a moral compass. The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law. The people who killed her were following it.”
Psalm 2:1-4 asks, “Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The One enthroned in Heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.”
Dr. Dobson urges Christians to resist Joe Biden
Dr. James Dobson, the host of Family Talk heard on 1,300 Christian stations, is urging Americans to take a public stand before it’s “too late” against President Joe Biden’s “radically-left agenda” that has brought the nation to a point where it is “teetering on the edge.”
In his February newsletter, Dobson wrote, “From rejoining the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, to halting the border wall, limiting immigration enforcement, requiring non-citizens to be counted within our national census for legislative redistricting purposes, and welcoming transgender individuals into our armed forces, Biden and his liberal colleagues have just begun their efforts to fundamentally transform our sweet land of liberty.”
And, in his April newsletter, Dr. Dobson warns about two bills. First, HR 1 “seeks to dismantle our constitutional republic … by changing election laws to tilt the balance of power irrevocably to the far Left.” And second, the misnamed Equality Act, “creates special rights based on ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity, at the expense and detriment of all Americans.” For example, “it would allow biological boys and men to enter locker rooms designated for girls and women, putting them at great risk. Schools in several states have already willingly embraced this lunacy.”
Subscribe to Dr. Dobson’s monthly newsletter at DrJamesDobson.org/subscribe.
Devotional prayer asks God to “help me to hate white people”
A popular devotional that includes a prayer asking for God to “help me to hate White people” is receiving additional attention after a Virginia pastor posted excerpts from the book on Twitter and urged Christians to be cautious about such theology, reports ChristianHeadlines.
The devotional, entitled A Rhythm of Prayer, is the No. 1 book in Amazon’s Christian Meditation & Devotion Section and is also available in Target’s Religion/Beliefs section.
It includes a collection of prayers and meditations, including one by Chanequa Walker-Barnes, a clinical psychologist and ecumenical minister, that has sparked a controversy.
The prayer opens by saying, “Dear God, Please help me to hate White people.”
But 1 John 4:8 says, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Couple adopts seven siblings after parents die in car accident
And finally, Gary and Pam Willis, a couple in California, adopted seven siblings, between the ages of 1 and 12, after their parents died in a tragic car accident, reports SunnySkyz.com.
Pam, age 50, said she was scrolling through her Facebook feed in 2019 when she landed on a news story about seven siblings in need of a permanent home. She said, “In that instant, their sweet smiling faces jumped off of the screen and into my heart.” Gary agreed that night that they should adopt.
The couple, who share five adult children, had been fostering kids for years, and had a six-bedroom home which was about to be an empty nest.
Pam said, “We knew deep inside that this mission was being placed before us. If not us, then who?” They had been in foster care for a year since their parents had been killed in the car accident that they all had miraculously survived.
Two months later, Gary and Pam welcomed the seven siblings into their home. Pam recalled, “One night, my then-7-year-old came into our room. I asked her, ‘Did you have a bad dream?’ And she replied, ‘No, I just wanted to make sure that you were still here.'”
She wrote, “They’ve given us a second chance at parenting, we’ve given them a second Mom and Dad.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, April 9th, in the year of our Lord 2021. 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.