Tuesday, March 8th, in the year of our Lord, 2016.
By Kevin Swanson
An American pastor recently released from prison in Iran said that he saw “strong” Christians convert back to Islam while in prison for their faith. Saeed Abedini wrote on his Facebook account, “We do not know how strong our faith really is until it is tested.” He also says that America is in need of true revival. During a visit to Liberty University, Abedini said that the believers in Iran pray five hours a day for revival, and they are willing to give up their lives for the faith—something he says is hard to find in America.
Florida’s legislature has passed a bill that would provide freedom for Christian churches to opt out of homosexual weddings. The bill awaits Governor Rick Scott’s signature.
Two and a half years ago, the New York Daily News blasted Pastor Kevin Swanson from Colorado for warning Christian families about participating in the Girl Scouts. Now evangelist Franklin Graham has announced that HE is NOT buying Girl Scout cookies this year. Graham praised the courage of St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson, who has warned his church members that the Girl Scouts organization is wrong in its support of transgender rights and homosexuality.
”Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).
The number of Middle Eastern migrants and Muslims rushing into Europe doubled in 2015, according to official numbers. 14,000 men, women, and children are stranded on the Macedonian border. German chancellor Angela Merkel called an emergency summit for EU leaders yesterday to deal with the problem. Using a curse word, Merkel said, “It’s our duty . . . And no I don’t have a Plan B.” The EU is asking Turkey to take care of more migrants, and Turkey in turn is asking for 6 billion euros.
Meanwhile, British police are preparing for an “enormous and spectacular” terrorist attack, according to a CNN interview with a counter-terrorism official yesterday.
U.S. drones took out a terrorist training camp in Somalia north of Mogadishu over the weekend. The strike came during graduation ceremonies, and at least 150 terrorists with Al Shabaab were killed in the bombings.
Donald Trump’s perverse reference to his private organs on a national debate last Friday, and his assorted ad hominem attacks on other candidates, did not bode well on Saturday. Candidate Ted Cruz gained an aggregate of 64 delegates on Super Saturday to Trump’s 49. Fox News points out that Trump does better in open primaries where Democrats can vote for him, and Cruz does better with Republicans.
Why do conservatives vote for Donald Trump? According to Darren Guerra, associate professor of political science at Biola University, Trump tells it like it is. However, those holding to shared values and religious convictions are not going for Trump. Guerra observes, “But, with particular reference to the polls, if you look at the question they ask, ‘How much does it matter that your candidate shares your religious belief?’ Those who said, ‘A great deal,’ Trump did not win that category—Ted Cruz won that category by 4 points. And as you go down to ‘A great deal,’ ‘Somewhat,’ ‘Very little,’ to ‘Not at all,’ Trump’s numbers go up as you go down that scale. So his highest numbers are among those who say religion is not at all a factor. So that seems to suggest the least religious evangelicals are supporting him and the most religious aren’t.”
Australia is finally capitulating to the homosexual agenda from the West, as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull attended Sydney’s homosexual parade, becoming the first Australian prime minister to do so. Also, the government has announced a referendum on homosexual marriage this summer.
One of the last conservative states in America is losing the homosexuality battle. The Alabama Supreme Court ruling on a lesbian adoption visitation case was invalidated yesterday by the U.S. Supreme Court. The birth mother was attempting to prevent visitation on the part of her adoptive lesbian partner.
Pastor Tim Remington from Altar Church led prayer at a Ted Cruz rally in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on Saturday. On Sunday morning he was shot in the parking lot of his church, allegedly by a former Marine. The pastor is in critical condition, with a punctured lung and a skull wound. Associate pastor John Padula told NBC News that the church is praying for the gunman, saying, “We pray that he comes to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Pray for them who despitefully use you.”
The monarch butterflies are back! After three years of decline, in His Providence, God saw fit to increase the population threefold this year. 140 million of these beautiful creatures made it down to Mexico this winter and crowded into 10 full acres on the monarch reserve.
Christian author Jerry Bridges has gone to be with the Lord, which, according to the Bible, “is far better.” He was the author of twenty books, including The Pursuit of Holiness and The Practice of Godliness, and he served in several leadership positions in the Navigators. Bridges entered eternal rest last Sunday. He was 86 years old.
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.