Thursday, January 11th, in the year of our Lord 2018
By Jonathan Clark
Open Doors Releases World Watch List of Nations that Persecute Christians
Open Doors released their 2018 World Watch List of 50 nations for worst persecution against Christians yesterday. Thirty of the countries saw an increase in persecution over the last year. An estimated 215 million believers are mistreated for their faith in Jesus Christ.
The last year saw a sharp rise in persecution against Christians in Egypt and Turkey at the hands of Muslims and in Nepal and India under Hindu nationalists. Pakistan saw the most violence on record against Christians.
North Korea remains at the top of the list for the sixteenth consecutive year with over 50,000 Christians confined to prison and labor camps. Meanwhile, Muslim-majority Afghanistan rivaled North Korea for second place as Islamic extremism drives most persecution globally.
The report anticipates Southeast Asia to become the “next emerging persecution hotbed” as Islamic extremists target Christians in Malaysia, the Maldives, and the Philippines.
Please remember these brothers and sisters in your prayers. 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
Homeschooling Rate Doubles in Great Britain
The number of British children being homeschooled has doubled in the last six years, according to figures from local education authorities across the country.
The 2016/17 academic year saw a 97 percent increase in children taught at home from just over 15,000 students in 2011 to nearly 30,000.
Meanwhile, the British Parliament is considering a measure to target homeschoolers, requiring them to register with local authorities and submit to regular monitoring.
EU Threatens Poland for Considering Ban on Abortion of Babies with Disabilities
The European Union reprimanded Poland, threatening to suspend its EU Council voting rights, for introducing legislation to ban the murder of unborn babies with disabilities.
The proposal received support from 830,000 Poles in a petition to the Polish government.
The EU claims the move would represent a “serious breach of European values.”
Polish bishop Pawel Rytel-Andrianik said the legislation should be stronger, but that “the Polish bishops’ conference underlines that the right to life is fundamental to every human being. . . Nobody can take this right away, nor can external or internal pressures change the scientifically proved fact that human life begins at the moment of conception.”
New Switzerland Law Requires Prospective Citizens to Repay Any Government Assistance
As migrants and asylum seekers have entered into Switzerland, a new law went into effect this month preventing residents from applying for citizenship if they have been on government assistance in the past three years unless they pay back the money.
A previous law allowed applications for citizenship as long as the applicants were not on government handouts at the time.
Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:11-12, “We hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.”
US Congress Approves Resolution to Support Iranian Protesters
The US House of Representatives approved a resolution Tuesday supporting the protest of Iranians against their government while condemning the Islamic regime’s crackdown on the protests.
Reports surfaced recently of the Iranian government imprisoning thousands of its citizens and torturing or killing some of them, reports Reuters. Over 3,000 activists have been detained since protests against the Islamic regime began last month.
North Korean Officials Meet in Person with South Korean Officials
Officials from North Korea and South Korea met in person for the first time in over two years on Tuesday. North Korea agreed to send a delegation to the Olympics next month in South Korea and to hold talks with the country to ease military tensions.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in credited President Donald Trump for the talks. Trump said that “a lot of good talks are going on right now” and that he would be willing to talk to North Korea “at the appropriate time and under the right circumstances.”
Illinois Introduces Bill to Ban Abortions on Babies with Down Syndrome
Illinois lawmakers introduced state House Bill 4210 last week to ban abortions on Down Syndrome babies, reports Life News.
If passed, Illinois would become the fourth state to prohibit the killing of Down Syndrome babies, following Ohio, Indiana, and North Dakota.
Rep. Allen Skillicorn stated, “All life is precious and unique, including children with Down syndrome. They are not second-class citizens.”
Storms in California Cause Catastrophic Mudslides
After hundreds of thousands of acres burned from wildfires in California, the southern part of the state has experienced catastrophic mudslides as downpours began this week.
As of yesterday, at least 17 people have died, and hundreds are awaiting rescue. Approximately 100 homes were destroyed and 300 damaged in the mudslides.
Special Report on Documentary on Conversion of Homosexuals After the Newscast
Is it possible for someone who identifies as a homosexual to become a heterosexual? Stay tuned for a World View Special Report about a compelling documentary that answers this question immediately following today’s newscast.
Over a Foot of Snow Comes Down in the Sahara Desert
And finally, a winter storm brought over a foot of snow on Sunday to the Sahara Desert, the hottest desert in the world! Residents of the Algerian town Ain Sefra known as the “Gateway to the Sahara” experienced the rare occurrence of snow for the third time in 40 years, reports ABC News.
Images from the event emerged, showing the red sand dunes coated with snow. You can see the beautiful imagery linked in our transcript at TheWorldView.com.
Job 37 says, “God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend. For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, His mighty downpour. . . Whether for correction or for His land or for love, He causes it to happen.”
Closing Line
And that’s The World View in 5 Minutes on this Thursday, January 11th in the year of our Lord 2018. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldView.com. I’m Adam McManus. Seize the day for Jesus Christ.
Special Report: Documentary Features Homosexuals Restored by the Grace of Christ
Time now for a World View Special Report. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus
Four years ago, Pure Passion Media released a life-changing, 2-hour-long film which featured the compelling story of 26 former homosexuals who were transformed by the power of God.
Winner of five professional and festival awards, including “Best Documentary”, the film features Drs Michael Brown, Robert Gagnon, Neil T. Anderson, Julie Hamilton as well as Kay Arthur.
The documentary title – “Such Were Some of You” – comes straight from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
“Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
The World View spoke with David Kyle Foster, the producer.
“When I started with the ministry in 1987, my goal was, number 1, to create equipping resources for the church in areas where there were none. Back in 1987, there was absolutely nothing on homosexuality. And, even to this day, there isn’t very much training for prospective pastors in the area of sexual brokenness in seminaries or Bible colleges.
“And, number two, we’re trying to reach those who are sexually broken themselves and show them that Jesus Christ actually loves them and He has the power to transform their life if they will turn their life over to Him.”
Foster described what he means by “sexual brokenness”.
“Sexual brokenness is a term used to cover pornography/sex addiction, childhood sexual abuse, homosexuality, transgender disorders, sex trafficking — any number of issues that are sex-related that result from the person being broken. Sometimes people who have this kind of background end up trying to cover up their pain by acting out sexually.”
Foster explained who the film will help.
“Such Were Some of You”, the film, was made for those who struggle with homosexual confusion, people who, through no fault of their own, are attracted to the same sex sexually and don’t really know what to do about it. So our film shows them the roots of such same sex attraction and what Jesus Christ can do to heal those wounds and bring them back into normalcy.”
One of the testimonies featured in “Such Were Some of You” is from 25-year-old Kegan Wesley.
“Kegan is a young man who was sexually abused as a child, and for a boy that often can result in homosexual confusion. He got radically born again through The Eddie James Ministry. He started giving his testimony at various Eddie James conferences around the country. He would consider himself to be a heterosexual who was broken and has now found healing through Jesus Christ.”
Indeed, Wesley is now on fire for Christ and pastors The Refuge Church in Louisville, Kentucky.
You can watch Wesley’s extended interview for the film as well as a CBN 700 Club interview through links in our transcript today at www.TheWorldView.com.
David Kyle Foster, the producer of “Such Were Some of You”, explained that Wesley is a good example of someone who was once homosexually confused, but now has enthusiastically embraced his heterosexuality with God’s help and is committed to chastity until marriage.
“Anyone who comes out of homosexuality and is truly born again and radically transformed by the power of God, they tend not to go back into any kind of sexual sin area because they’ve seen the fruit of it and it’s nothing but ugly.”
Foster explained that those who have struggled with homosexual confusion have been tremendously grateful for the film “Such Were Some of You.”
“We’ve had countless emails and phone calls and various postings on Facebook and YouTube thanking us profusely for coming up with the resource that the Body of Christ has needed for a long, long time.
“Because in the film, not only do we lay out the Biblical case for heterosexual one woman/one man in marriage for life — with no sexual behavior outside of that — and we use experts from the world of Biblical scholarship to lay that case, but then we also go into what has caused the homosexuality in the 26 people that we interviewed, what the gay lifestyle was like for them, and then what Jesus did to bring them to salvation, and finally how He has been healing them.”
Since 2014, the DVD has been for sale online for $9.99, and it still is. However, Foster decided to make the film “Such Were Some of You” available for free on YouTube.
“We put it out on YouTube live this past week and we’ve already got 3,000 or more views just in the last few days. I don’t know if YouTube’s going to take us off.
“We were taken off of Vimeo because of our stance that homosexuals can find healing through Jesus Christ. They didn’t like that so they took all 850 of our videos down off the internet and cancelled our presence on their platform.
“The gay activists have made it known to our ministry that they are going to go after Facebook and Google and YouTube and Twitter and all the other organizations to take us down as well. So we are facing a great deal of activism from gay activists who don’t like the truth to be known that homosexuality is a disorder and that you can find healing from it through Jesus Christ.”
Amazingly, the film is also being released in 11 additional languages, including Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Estonian, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. “Such Were Some of You” can be viewed in those languages on YouTube.
Go on mission with Pure Passion Media and The World View in 5 Minutes by sending the URL address of the English version of the film — https://youtu.be/VKSFPdyH8x4 — to everyone you know — pastor, youth pastor, leader, counselor, Sunday School teacher, parent, spouse, siblings and friends of your gay loved ones — and especially everyone you know who struggles with homosexual confusion.
I’d love to know what reaction you receive after those in your circle have watched it. Email me at adam@TheWorldView.com.
This film, in God’s hands, will literally transform their lives.
And as you spread the film far and wide, pray for each one you send it to – that God will open their eyes and draw them into a saving relationship with Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ.
This has been a World View Special Report. I’m Adam McManus.