Tuesday, January 12th, in the year of our Lord, 2016.
By Kevin Swanson
Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are now pretty much neck-and-neck in the Iowa presidential primary race, according to recent polls. Trump takes 31% to Cruz’s 29%, and Senator Marco Rubio clocks in at 15%.
Evangelist Franklin Graham told Fox News that it’s now open season on Christians in America. “There now exists deep-seated antagonism and hostility toward Christianity in every seat of power in this nation—government, media, courts, and education.” In the interview, Franklin noted that younger Christian pastors do not understand the gravity of the situation because they are caught up in pop culture. The problem with America, he says, is the failure of the church.
Terror knows no limits. ISIS is now killing its own soldiers. Upon losing the city of Ramadi to Iraqi forces, the ISIS forces escaping the city were burned alive by their own armies, according to a Fox News report. Terrorism experts say that the group is fracturing from within by paranoia and disunity.
An American citizen is being held by the North Korean government for alleged spying. Kim Dong Chul was arrested in October. Meanwhile, the Canadian pastor imprisoned in North Korea has been sentenced to hard labor. The charges against Pastor Lim are vague, although the North Korean state claims that he has spoken against their leaders. Let us remember our brother in chains.
Christians in Indonesia are still meeting together, despite the fact that Muslims burned their churches down last month. Christian Today reports that they are meeting in blue tents. However, local governments controlled by Sharia law are insisting that they take down those tents. According to Father Blasius Yesse, the secretary of Sibolga Diocese, they are hoping for intervention from the national government so as to guarantee their freedom of worship. “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool’” (Acts 7:48-49).
The Catholic pope has released a new video in which he claims that “Many [are] seeking God or meeting God in different ways . . . in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: we are all children of God.” In light of this, Pope Francis calls for collaboration and dialogue between religions.
But Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).
The World View spoke to a Christian missionary working with Muslims in the Middle East. This pastor says that the Islamic god is very different from the God of the Old and New Testaments.
The Rock ‘n Roll pioneer David Bowie has met his Maker at 69 years of age, after an 18-month bout with cancer. Bowie promoted bisexuality and homosexuality in the 1970s, although he married twice and fathered two children. In 2003, he called himself “almost an atheist.” David Byrne from Talking Heads described Bowie’s music as “glamorous, perverse, crass, and confusing.”
“This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
Surrogacy will be tested in California courts. A surrogate mother carrying triplets was asked to “abort” one of the embryos by the man who hired her. She refused and has appealed the case, claiming that the state’s surrogacy law is unconstitutional. The mother, Melissa Cook, has offered to adopt one of the children.
The city council in Lake Charles, Louisiana, has voted to add the words “In God we Trust” to police cars in their district. At least two other Louisiana communities have done the same thing recently. Indeed . . . it is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.