It’s Tuesday, December 19th, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Kevin Swanson
Muslim terrorists kidnapped pastor in Burkina Faso, Africa
Global Christian Relief reports that Muslim terrorists have kidnapped a pastor in Burkina Faso, Africa along with seven church members.
One pastor said he knows of “around 20 churches that were forced to relocate and are living as refugees in different parts of the country.”
Pray for the believers in Burkina Faso — a smaller African nation located just West of Niger.
American Jewish facilities targeted
Repercussions against American Jewish facilities have increased, reports Israel National News.
Just over the weekend, authorities reported 200 bomb threats and false alarms — 100 in California and 62 in Arizona. Plus, a Boulder, Colorado synagogue was forced to evacuate their Saturday services.
Overall, these institutions have experienced a 541% increase in these malicious attacks this year, compared to the previous year.
19,500 Palestinians have been killed
According to satellite analysis of Gaza Strip, The Economist reports that almost 43,000 buildings have been damaged and 450,000 people have been left without homes in the Israel-Hamas War.
Around 19,500 Palestinians and 1,100 Israelis have been killed, according to official numbers.
Canadian real estate bubble burst
That loud pop sound you just heard is the Canadian real estate market bubble bursting.
The greater Toronto area is down 19% from its peak, Victoria is down 11%, and Ottawa 14%, reports Norada Real Estate Investments.
More Americans in financial trouble
The number of Americans underwater on car loans as exceeded the record set in 2020.
In addition, an unprecedented number of Americans failed to make a monthly payment on their federal loans — about 40% according to the Biden Administration, reports Politico.
In fact, 45 million Americans have yet to pay off their federal student loans that total more than $1.6 trillion.
Debt is skyrocketing
The Global Debt Monitor stands at $307 trillion, reports Reuters. And the federal government debt stands at $97 trillion which is up 40% since 2019.
A whopping 34% of the debt comes from the United States. That’s twice China’s contribution, three times Japan’s contribution, and ten times the United Kingdom’s contribution — as calculated by Visualist Capitalist.
Brazil’s drop in Gross Domestic Product
Brazil’s economy retracted in the third quarter by 0.64%. This follows two years of positive Gross Domestic Product growth in 2021 and 2022.
Nonetheless, since 2011, the per capita GDP for the nation dropped from $13,200 to $8,900.
Conservatives unable to stop tax-funded abortion travel & transgender surgeries
The House has passed an $886 billion defense bill without the support of the Republican conservative caucus amounting to 118 votes.
They were unable to eliminate taxpayer-supported transgender surgeries and travel for abortions, reports CNA News.
Also, some conservatives were hoping to prevent the intelligence community from accessing private devices and communications without a warrant. The bill allowed access through 2024.
Pope approves of blessing homosexual couples
For the first time, the Vatican and Pope Francis have officially approved of blessings for those living in sinful sexual relationships, removing church discipline for men living in sin, reports LifeSiteNews.com.
These blessings are allowed for “couples in irregular situations and for couples of the same sex,” and they are intended so that “human relationships may mature and grow in fidelity to the Gospel message.”
However, the decision contradicts a 2021 ruling which stated that God “cannot bless sin.”
According to Pew Research, 92% of Catholics in the Netherlands support homosexual faux-marriage as well as 76% of England’s Catholics and 61% of American Catholics.
Proverbs 25:26 says, “A righteous man who falters before the wicked is like a murky spring and a polluted well.”
Evangelical Wayne Grudem calls for Trump to drop out
In a public op-ed posted on Newsweek.com, Evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem is encouraging former President Donald Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential election.
While Grudem believes Trump “accomplished a remarkable number of good things for America,” he lists seven problems with the candidate in the 2024 election — including legal problems, refusing to admit losing the last election, Trump’s character, Trump’s age, and rash endorsements of weak Republican candidates in the last U.S. Senate election.
Grudem is calling for a younger Republican candidate for the nomination.
Tennessee tornado destroyed 100 homes
And finally, more than 100 homes were destroyed by a tornado in Clarksville, Tennessee on Saturday.
One mom almost lost her 4-month-old baby to the EF Scale 3 twister. The newborn was still in his bassinet as his father desperately reached for him.
Sydney Moore, the mother, talked to News 15.
MOORE: “He tried to grab him, but he couldn’t and the tip of the tornado sucked them both up.”
The baby was ejected from the home. The father was hit by a tree. And Sydney and her other child were trapped under a collapsed wall.
Eventually, the father found the newborn alive and without injury.
MOORE: “He found him laying in a tree, like somebody placed him in this tree. I don’t know how we survived. It had to have been God.”
Psalm 56:11-13 says, “In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? For You have delivered my soul from death. Have You not kept my feet from falling, that I may walk before God
in the light of the living?”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Tuesday, December 19th in the year of our Lord 2023. 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.