Thursday, April 14th, in the year of our Lord, 2016.
By Kevin Swanson
Yesterday, a Nigerian pastor spoke to 35 members of the U.K. Parliament on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Open Doors reports that they are calling for more religious liberty for Christians in the northern part of the country. They are pressuring the U.K. government to investigate the wholesale destruction of life and property at the hands of Boko Haram and other militant Muslims.
Pray for the brothers and sisters in Nigeria. In Paul’s words, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus” (2 Corinthians 4:8-12).
The Word of God endures forever, and 50 new translations of the Bible were just released last year. As of this year, the full Bible is now available in 563 languages, reaching almost 5.1 billion people.
Just one week after Santa Clara Church opened in Bekasi, Indonesia, Islamists closed it down. The Muslims are claiming that the church near Jakarta had used false identity cards to purchase the property. City officials insist that the church had fulfilled all its legal requirements for building the church. The Asian Human Rights Commission is also appealing the case to top Indonesian leaders.
Death penalty executions worldwide are up 50% from last year, and they have tripled since 2005. 15,000 people were executed by governments last year, out of 600,000 homicides committed. That’s about 2% of murderers who are brought to justice.
Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in His own image.”
The South African Parliament failed to impeach President Jacob Zuma last week. The polygamist leader of this beleaguered nation has failed to pay back $23 million of government funds he used to build his own private home.
It may have been a symbol of the spiritual weakness in the nation. Over the weekend, United Cry’s sacred assembly in Washington, D.C., targeted 30,000 pastors, but it ended up with only a couple hundred people gathering in the rain by the Lincoln Memorial. It was a time set aside for prayer and humiliation. Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council told the crowd, “What American needs today is not a fear of man, but a fear of God!”
A new National Geographic program with Morgan Freeman entitled “The Story of God” had 3.5 million views during its premiere last week. The show was the fourth most popular production in National Geographic’s history. Freeman travels the world seeking the “mysteries of faith.”
Acts 17 says, “That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us . . . The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent.”
Sesame Street has just brought in its first official hijab-wearing Muppet. The Muppet is “Zari,” a girl from Afghanistan. Reuters reported that the Muppet is an attempt to promote “women empowerment and education,” two commodities which were not available to Afghan women 15 years ago. No word yet as to whether Sesame Street will introduce a Christian Muppet.
The planet Pluto is baffling scientists. NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft flew by the planet last July, and scientists can’t understand how such a small planet with slight mass can hold an atmosphere for billions of years. Dr. Robert Carter from Creation Ministries International told The World View that the old age of the solar system is challenged every time we learn more about it: “Pluto is one of the greatest examples of something that cannot easily be explained with an old age model. There are too many features on Pluto that appear to be young that it can’t be explained easily—at all—by appealing to anything greater than millions of years old, let alone billions of years old.”
God asks Job in Job 38:4, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding . . . when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
A large octopus has escaped from New Zealand’s National Aquarium. Inky the Octopus made his way out of his tank and worked his way across the floor to a six-inch drain. From there, he made his way back to the Pacific Ocean. The aquarium manager said, “He didn’t even leave a message.”
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake is reported to have shaken Myanmar on Wednesday night. Three people were reported by India Express to have been admitted to the hospital, but there have been no other reports of injuries or deaths.
Open rebuke is better than secret love. Donald Trump has drawn the rebuke of the RNC over his protests regarding the GOP’s rules about delegate counts. The presidential candidate has turned his attacks from his fellow candidates to the Republican National Committee for rules that he declares are “stacked against him.”
The U.S. Navy is disturbed after Russian jets flew past a U.S. destroyer in an apparent “simulated attack profile” this week. The first jet passed within a mere 1,000 yards of the ship. The next day, the ship reported that another jet flew by a mere 30 feet away. The U.S. and Russia signed an agreement in 1972, promising that each country would abstain from this particular conduct.
Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers are on strike this week after a disagreement over a contract. The workers are part of the Verizon’s wireline service, so don’t worry. Your cell phone service will not be affected.
The Ark Encounter in Kentucky is set to open in July of this year. Ken Ham, president of both Answers in Genesis and Young Earth Creationists, says that their goal is to answer many of people’s pressing questions about Noah and the Ark.
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.