Friday, March 18th, in the year of our Lord, 2016.
By Kevin Swanson
United States Secretary of State John Kerry has finally declared the persecution of Christians in the Middle East to be genocide. He accused ISIS of “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic cleansing.”
Australia is forcing immunizations on families by wrapping the requirements with tax rebates. Conscientious objectors to immunizations will forfeit thousands of dollars in tax rebates, and they could potentially lose access to medical care. That’s the Public Health and Wellbeing Amendment of 2015.
The Georgia legislature passed a bill this week that will protect ONLY churches and religious schools from participating in homosexual “weddings” or hiring homosexuals. Christian owned businesses will not be protected by this bill. Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, and 300 other businesses lobbied against this religious freedom bill. Mike Griffin, lobbyist for the Georgia Baptist Convention, says that this helps to secure the First Amendment freedoms in one state: “Will this stand the constitutional muster? I think that it will because it is based on good constitutional law. The First Amendment Defense Act has never been an act against the law anywhere that is protecting people against adverse government action for their beliefs on marriage. It has been introduced into the Senate.”
This week, Congress held hearings about water contamination in Flint, Michigan, with a good deal of shouting and finger pointing. The long and the short of it—Democrat congressmen want the Republican governor of Michigan to resign, and the Republican congressmen want the EPA administrator’s resignation. According to a study of 271 water samples from the Michigan town, FlintWaterStudy.org found the levels of lead to be safe for bathing, showering, toilet flushing, and watering lawns/gardens. The USA Today network found 600 water systems in the country that exceeded 40 parts per billion of lead, while the Flint water study averaged 5 ppb, with 90% of the values under 25 ppb.
CNN reports a meeting of conservatives in Washington yesterday, including Michael Farris, Erick Erickson, Representative Trent Franks, and Deborah DeMoss Fonseca. The meeting discussed the possibility of a third-party run against Donald Trump, should he secure the Republican nomination. Attorney Mike Farris told CNN, “I’m there to support Ted Cruz.”
Job openings rose by a tick over the last month. Wholesale trade and construction sectors are also up.
Barnum and Bailey circuses are discontinuing their use of elephants, and Sea World will be ending its killer whale exhibit. Sea World made the announcement on its website, explaining, “Society is changing and we are listening.” Author David Kirby has investigated the troublesome challenge of keeping orcas in captivity, and he thinks this may be the end of Sea World: “Sea World is now going to phase out the shows and present the whales in much more natural behavior—just basically put them on display. What I would like to see, and what a lot of people would like to see, is the retirement of these whales to coastal sea sanctuaries, and I believe it’s a better situation for them than where they are now.”
“You have made man a little lower than the angels . . . You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet . . . The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8)
A California fisherman lost his dog two miles off San Clemente Island when the German shepherd, named Luna, jumped off the boat. After searching the waters for his dog over two days, Nick Haworth finally gave up. Incredibly, Luna showed up five weeks later at the naval training base on San Clemente Island, according to a report from Fox News. For her heroic efforts to survive, the navy issued Luna a new dog tag that reads, “Keep the Faith!”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the St. Patrick’s Day Parade by marching with a homosexual group called the Lavender and Green Alliance. It was the first time in history that homosexuality was publicly celebrated in the St. Patrick’s Day event in New York. Two million spectators showed up to recognize the Christian missionary who drove the devils out of Ireland and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Catholic League did not participate in the parade.
What would Patrick say? His breastplate speaks:
“I arise today, through God’s strength to pilot me, God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me . . . God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, I summon today / All these powers . . . Against black laws of pagandom . . . Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry, Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul; Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me . . .”
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.