It’s Monday, July 20th, A.D. 2020. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldView.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
China orders Christians to worship communist leaders not God
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, poor Christian villagers in China have been ordered to renounce their faith and replace displays of Jesus with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping or risk losing their welfare benefits, reports the Christian Post.
A local pastor told Bitter Winter, “The government is trying to eliminate our belief and wants to become God instead of Jesus.”
In May, an official in the eastern province of Shandong stormed into the home of a local Christian. While inside the Christian’s home, the official posted portraits of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping and reportedly said, “These are the greatest gods. If you want to worship somebody, they are the ones.”
Exodus 20: 1-3 says, “God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Irish Christian businesses forced to endorse homosexual weddings
A leader of Northern Ireland’s largest Christian denomination has raised concerns that a new marriage law passed this week, which doesn’t allow Christian businesses to refuse service to homosexual couples on grounds of conscience, is a violation of religious freedom.
Rev. Daniel Kane told Premier, “We have a concern that in a tolerant society, people’s conscience and freedoms should be protected in the law — people who are involved in what may be termed the ‘marriage business’: photographers, florists, car hire firms, civil registrars.”
Homosexual civil marriages were legalized in Northern Ireland in January, according to Irish Legal News.
Trump: Beware of the Biden-Sanders Radical Left agenda
When he announced new legislation against China last Tuesday in the Rose Garden, President Trump blasted Biden’s radical left agenda, reports Fox News.
TRUMP: “Last week, Joe Biden released his unity platform developed with socialist Bernie Sanders describing what he would do if elected president. The Biden-Sanders agenda is the most extreme platform of any major party nominee, by far.
“And these are actual key elements of the Biden-Sanders unity platform. Abolish immigration detention. No more detention. You come in here illegally, no more detention.
“Stop all deportation. So, if we get a MS-13 gang member, which we’ve taken out of our country by the thousands — brought them back to Honduras, Guatemala, can’t do that anymore
“Support the deadly sanctuary cities where many of these people are protected better than the American citizen is protected. Expand asylum for all new illegal aliens. How about that one?”
Pastor Andy Stanley suspends services until 2021
Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, announced last Tuesday that in-person services have been suspended until 2021 in the wake of increasing coronavirus infections, reports the Christian Post.
Barna’s Church Pulse survey reveals that only 5% of pastors agree. 25% plan to open July-August and 21% plan to restart in-person services in September-December. Forty-nine percent of pastors said they were already conducting in-person services as of July 14.
Kanye West: Planned Parenthood created by white supremacists
Rapper Kanye West blasted the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, saying it was created by “white supremacists to do the devil’s work.”
In an interview with Forbes magazine, the 43-year-old rapper said, “I am pro-life because I’m following the word of the Bible.”
Indeed, Psalm 139:13 and 16 says, “For you created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. … Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Christian children’s author announces divorce, homosexuality
Christian children’s book author Matthew Paul Turner announced that he is getting a divorce and he is a homosexual, reports the Christian Post. He had three children with his wife Jessica who is an author as well.
Mr. Turner, the former editor of CCM, a magazine covering contemporary Christian music, and the author of bestselling children’s books, made the announcement on Facebook and Instagram Friday morning.
He had written the children’s books entitled When I Pray for You, When God Made You, and When God Made Light.
Biblically speaking, embracing the homosexual deathstyle is incompatible with being a Christian. Leviticus 18:22 says, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
Florida GOP Governor signs parental consent bill
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill into law requiring parental consent before an abortion can be performed on an underage girl, reports Fox 13.
Indeed, parents have the right to know that their child is pregnant and considering the murder of their grandchild.
Evangelical theologian J.I. Packer enters Heaven at 93
One of the world’s most renowned evangelical theologians, J.I. Packer, author of the best-selling Knowing God, entered the gates of Heaven on Friday at the age of 93.
Listen to what he said about the essence of faith in God and the problem in the church today.
PACKER: “Faith is the basis of Christian life. But the problem nowadays is that people don’t know what faith is. The church is in trouble. The trouble is that we are not taking our God seriously enough. What’s the proof of that?
“Why, were not taking His word seriously enough, and we’re not making sure that our faith matches the teaching of Scripture. We don’t even seem to be interested in finding out. That’s not good enough.
“Maybe you call yourself a Christian, but do you know what Christian truth really is? Could you explain your faith? Do you base it on the Bible? Could you defend it against challenges?
“Faith is the most momentous reality that I can think of. We need to know what we believe. We need to be able to defend it when it’s challenged.”
1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
Justin Taylor with Crossway Publishing, wrote, Packer “called for the church to take holiness and repentance seriously by walking in the Spirit and fighting against indwelling sin. He defended biblical authority and championed the cause of disciple-making catechesis. And he reintroduced multiple generations to his beloved Puritan forebears, whom he regarded as the Redwoods of the Christian faith.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Monday, July 20th, in the year of our Lord 2020. 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.
Print stories
Elizabeth Warren driving Biden’s domestic policy commitments
As Joe Biden rolls out new policy details and speeches around his major campaign platforms, the hand of one primary-rival-turned-VP-contender is increasingly visible: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, reports Axios.com.
Biden has so far publicly adopted at least six policy stances shaped by Warren and her team.
On March 14, Biden endorsed Warren’s bankruptcy proposal, which includes a student debt relief portion.
About a week later he tweeted about increasing Social Security checks by $200 per month and forgiving a minimum of $10,000 per person in federal student loans — two of Warren’s plans.
New York Times op-ed editor resigns over glaring leftist bias
Take a look at an insider’s perspective in the liberal media bias as Bari Weiss, a New York Times op-ed staff editor and writer, resigned over the requirement to “explicitly promote progressive causes,” reports NewsBusters.org.
Franklin Graham noted that “The founder of the Media Research Center said that her resignation makes the point that journalism is dead at The New York Times and it’s been replaced by censorship that is controlled by radicals.”
In her resignation letter, Weiss wrote, “Why edit something challenging to our readers … when we can assure ourselves of job security (and clicks) by publishing our 4,000th op-ed arguing that Donald Trump is a unique danger to the country and the world?”
Six types of coronavirus
Six distinct types of coronavirus have been identified by scientists in a breakthrough that promises to save lives by flagging the highest-risk patients, reports Yahoo.com.
Analysis of thousands of cases by artificial intelligence software has revealed different “clusters” of symptoms and ranked them in order of severity.
Headache and loss of smell are common to all six groupings, but the range of symptoms varies widely after that.
The least severe categories of the virus were characterized by flu-like symptoms, either with or without fever.
Gastrointestinal problems, such as diarrhea, dominate the third category, whereas fatigue, confusion and ultimately respiratory problems are associated with the increasingly severe fourth, fifth and sixth categories.