It’s Friday, August 19th, A.D. 2022. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
How a persecuted Vietnamese Christian received help
Ready for a persecution story that ends with some good news?
Thomas, a Vietnamese man, just came to faith in Christ last year. Even though he’s married and the father of five children, they were living in his parents’ home. Because his parents pray to multiple deities and venerate their ancestors, his parents no longer felt comfortable under the same roof with the new Christian converts.
As Thomas prepared to build a more substantial home on his parents’ land, his family lived in a tent as a temporary living space. But the Vietnamese Secret Police kicked him off the property. Then, he purchased his own plot of land and invested money to build a second home, when the Secret Police forced him to move again.
That’s when International Christian Concern stepped in to help.
Jeff King, the president, explained how they helped with the donations of generous Americans.
KING: “He’s been on this long road. He’s used up all his savings, and he can’t live anywhere. And they’re basically saying, ‘Why don’t you get out of here?’
“Well, his pastor steps in and find him an area where it’s safer to live. We stepped in then and said, ‘Let’s help this family because they’ve been really abused by authorities that really impacted them financially.’
“It doesn’t take much to build them a new home. It’s a very modest home. So after his pastor stepped in and found him a safer place to live, he has been able to acquire the land, with our help, and build the house. It’s all set. And now he and his family are living in safety.”
King shared a quote from Thomas’ pastor.
KING: “’Thomas is very firm in his new faith. God saved him. So, he recognizes that [International Christian Concern] blessed him, Christians from around the world blessed him. He knows God saved him and his family, but he would never give up his faith.’
“And that’s the kind of Christians we love to help. They’re persecuted, but they are courageous and they just will not turn back.”
Matthew 24:12-13 says, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.”
If you’d like to help other persecuted Christians like Thomas, join me and make a donation today through a special link in our transcript at www.TheWorldview.com.
Former Trump CFO plead guilty to evading taxes
Allen Weisselberg, a top executive at former President Donald Trump’s family business, pleaded guilty Thursday to evading taxes on a free apartment and other perks, reports the Associated Press.
He struck a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to all 15 of the charges he faced, that could make him a star witness against the company at a trial this fall.
Weisselberg was Trump’s longtime chief financial officer.
CNN fired liberal, Trump-bashing host
Yesterday, Brian Stetler, the liberal host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, was fired, reports Mediate.com.
During college, he started his career blogging about the television news industry before joining the New York Times as a media reporter.
CNN hired Stelter in 2013 to replace Howard Kurtz as host of Reliable Sources, which turned 30 this year.
In a CNN interview which Stelter conducted with Michael Wolff, the author of Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency, the guest called the host out directly.
Listen.
WOLFF: “I think the media has done a terrible job on this. I think you yourself, while you’re a nice guy, you’re full of sanctimony. You become one of the parts of the problem of the media. You are why one of the reasons people can’t stand the media. I’m sorry.”
STETLER: (laughing aloud) “You’re cracking me up.”
WOLFF: “It’s your fault.”
STETLER: “So, what should I do differently, Michael?”
WOLFF: “Don’t talk so much. Listen more. People have genuine problems with the media. The media doesn’t get the story right. The media exists in its own bubble. Also, you’re incredibly repetitive.
“You are the flip side of Donald Trump. ‘Fake news’ and you say, ‘Virtuous news.’ Most people don’t want to turn to Brian Stelter to tell us what’s real. I’m sorry.”
North Carolina allowed to enforce its 20-week abortion ban
North Carolina can now enforce its 20-week abortion ban, according to the ruling of a federal judge on Wednesday.
An injunction against the law had been in place since 2019, but Judge William Osteen, a federal district court judge, removed it due to the Dobbs v. Jackson June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which returned the issue of abortion to the states.
Ironically enough, Osteen is the same judge who had placed the original injunction on the abortion ban’s enforcement.
California church relieved of $200K COVID lockdown penalty
And finally, an appellate court has ruled that a California church does not have to pay $200,000 in fines for violating COVID-19 lockdowns, reports The Christian Post.
On Monday, a three-judge panel on California’s 6th District Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Calvary Chapel San Jose, reversing lower court decisions against the church for holding large, in-person worship services in violation of liberal government COVID lockdowns.
The Supreme Court stated that “even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten,” characterizing the worship restrictions as a “strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty.”
Hebrews 10:25 warns Christians not to give up “meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, August 19th, in the year of our Lord 2022. 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.