Thursday, August 17th, in the year of our Lord 2017
By Jonathan Clark
Muslims in the Middle East Turn to Christ
Muslims are secretly converting to Christianity every day in the Middle East. Christian Today reports over 500 of them have fled from persecution in their own countries to find relief in Turkey.
The World View spoke to Pastor Jalil of World Refugee Care who ministers to Christian refugees about the significant drop in Iraq’s Christian population since 2013.
“Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq due to persecution. What happened is those people used the freedom that they had and they came against the Christians by kidnapping them, killing them, persecuting them, pressuring them, and the Iraqi Christians fled. And then ISIS came in 2014, and that added more pressure and persecution to the Christians who were in the Nineveh valley.”
Pastor Jalil shared how God used ISIS and the Mullahs, the Muslim scholars, in the process of bringing Muslims to Christ.
“The tipping point has been ISIS. The tipping point has also been the mullahs of Iran. What happened is that when people start seeing that these people are brutal and murderers in the name of their religion, they start questioning their religion.”
Praise God for how He works in mysterious ways to convert Muslims. Pray for the Christian refugees who are really in need of homes for their families.
Christianity Grows Exponentially in Iran
Christianity has been growing in Iran at an exponential rate for the last couple decades, especially among the youth, according to Mohabat News. This conversion of young people has come despite Islamic indoctrination in the family and educational system.
A leading Islamic seminary official, named Ayatollah Alavi Boroujerdi, recently said, “accurate reports indicate that the youth are becoming Christians in Qom and attending house churches.”
Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
US State Department Releases Report on International Religious Freedom
On Tuesday, the US Department of State released the 2016 International Religious Freedom Report, covering 199 countries and territories.
In his introduction to the report, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson condemned ISIS as a leading perpetrator of persecution and genocide against Christians. He also stated protection of persecuted groups, including Christians, is “a human rights priority for the Trump administration.”
Many Top European Leaders Are Childless
The leaders of some of Europe’s biggest countries are childless. This includes Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Theresa May, and Italy’s Paolo Gentiloni.
Political commentator and New York Times bestseller Mark Steyn pointed this out in a recent video, saying, “The European political class is barren. In a sense, it exemplifies the barrenness of the general population, which is true in Western Europe.”
Raheem Kassam, editor-in-chief of Breitbart News London, told Fox News this week that Europe’s childless leaders do not have a “vested interest in the future of the West.”
Federal Court Allows Arkansas to Defund Planned Parenthood
The state of Arkansas has been cleared by a federal court yesterday to defund Planned Parenthood, according to The Hill.com.
Back in 2015, pro-life lawmakers in Arkansas tried to defund the murder business of its Medicaid dollars, but the legislation was challenged in court and blocked by a lower court judge. However, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted the injunction after the state appealed.
Most Americans Admit They Are Sinners
LifeWay Research released a report this week that found most or two-thirds of Americans admit they are sinners. However, only a minority said they “depend on Jesus Christ to overcome sin.”
Eighteen percent of respondents said they are not sinners or that sin does not exist while 5 percent admitted they are sinners, but are fine with it.
Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all.”
Five Soldiers Missing After Army Helicopter Crashes Near Hawaii
An Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the coast of Hawaii late Tuesday while conducting exercises with another helicopter, reports Fox News.
The US Coast Guard is still searching for the five members of the missing UH-60 Black Hawk aircrew.
Army Staff Sergeant Rescues Teenage Boy Drowning in River
And finally, U.S. Army staff Sergeant Timothy Hansen was hailed a hero Sunday when he dove into a Tennessee river to save 17-year-old Ronnie Harris from drowning.
Ronnie was separated from his family during a tubing trip and got caught in a current, struggling to keep his head above water. His mother told FOX17 News, “I just kept praying, ‘God, please don’t take this child from me, please, somebody hear me.’”
Soon after, Hansen rescued Ronnie from the water and resuscitated him.
And that’s The World View in Five Minutes.
What kind of worldview do your children get? The vast majority of teens from Christian families are abandoning a biblical worldview, according to the Barna Group. Sadly, many parents do not realize that the curriculum they have chosen for their children actually conveys the wrong worldview of history, science, life’s purpose, and truth. Pass on the faith to your children with a distinctively Christian education.
Check out our Christian discipleship curriculum at https://store.generations.org/collections/curriculum.