Wednesday, May 8, in the year of our Lord 2019
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldView.com)
Iranian Muslims Converting to Christ
Iran’s intelligence minister, Mahmoud Alavi, who blamed “evangelical propaganda” as being complicit in the increase in Iranian Muslims converting to Christianity in the Islamic republic, summoned some Jesus followers to explain why they had converted, reports The Christian Post.
Acts 3:19 says, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Trump Announces Bigger Tariffs on Chinese Goods
Ahead of a serious round of negotiations with a delegation of 100 Chinese trade officials this week, President Trump, complaining that talks were moving too slowly because China was trying to “renegotiate” the terms, extended 25 percent punitive tariffs on $350 billion in Chinese goods imported into the country each year, reports AFP.
Times Square’s Secular Digital Billboards Censor Live Ultrasound
For several hours on Saturday, the island in the middle of Times Square between Broadway and Fashion Avenue was transformed into an open-air church for 20,000 pro-life advocates who rallied against abortion, sang “How Great Thou Art”, and shared testimonies of survival from abortion, reports The Christian Post.
Manhattan resident Lee Mason talked about how refreshing and inspiring the event was for pro-lifers like her in the Big Apple where abortion is now legal essentially up until the point of birth.
Organized by Focus on the Family, the event was dubbed “Alive from New York” and featured a live ultrasound of Abby Johnson’s baby in the womb. However, the owners of four gigantic iconic digital billboards, including ABC and Clear Channel, refused to rent their screens. Listen to Focus president Jim Daly explain it to CBN.
DALY: “Originally, they were open to it until they found out we wanted to run images of babies. In fact, ABC who owns one of the large screens in Times Square, they said, ‘It’s too political; we really don’t want to run that.’ They said, ‘You can run a static shot.’ We said, ‘Great! We’ll run a static shot of the baby from the third trimester right up there.’
“They said, ‘Well, you can do your logo, but you can’t do a shot of a child in the womb.’ I mean, it’s incredible! What are they afraid of? I think they’re afraid of the fact that, like 54% of abortion-minded women, when they see their ultrasound, they choose life for their baby.”
In contrast to the free ultrasounds that crisis pregnancy centers offer, Daly explained what happens at Planned Parenthood abortion mills.
DALY: “When a woman goes into Planned Parenthood, and they charge them for the ultrasound, they’ll often turn the monitor away from that woman or they’ll cover it with construction paper so she can’t see the image of the baby. We believe that’s because when a woman sees the image of her baby inside the womb, she’s more likely to choose life.”
(Listen to Jim Daly’s look back on the event from Monday’s Focus on the Family.)
Georgia Passes Heartbeat Bill; Actress Alyssa Milano to Boycott
Despite a threat by actress Alyssa Milano to boycott the state, Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp plans to sign the newly passed Heartbeat Bill into law which asserts that if a heartbeat is detected – typically at the sixth week of pregnancy — the baby is protected, reports LifeNews.com.
Other pro-death celebrities who joined Milano in threatening to boycott Georgia include Alec Baldwin, Amy Schumer, Rosie O’Donnell, Sean Penn, Mia Farrow, Ben Stiller, and Star Wars actors Mark Hamill and Natalie Portman.
If your state hasn’t passed a Heartbeat Bill of its own, help make it a reality to protect the babies and repel the liberal nutjobs.
Pastor Jack Graham Gives Political Cover to Politician
In other state pro-life news, when HB896, a bill to outlaw all abortion in Texas, went down in committee, Pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church praised Republican House Chairman Jeff Leach for killing the bill. Graham, who is Leach’s pastor, tweeted, “I support @leachfortexas 1,000 percent. He is a caring and courageous congressman who is leading Texas citizens with grace and truth.”
Texas Pastor Aaron Wright of Grace Family Baptist Church of Houston, Texas responded to Graham’s tweet with an open letter rebuking Graham for the tweet.
In the letter, Wright used Psalm 82:3-4, “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
The World View spoke to Pastor Wright about why he wrote that letter to Pastor Graham.
WRIGHT: “I was certainly concerned when Jeff Leach was not pushing forward the bill from the committee. Many of my church members had become involved in this. They had testified. There were hundreds of people that had gone down there. So it hit real close to home for me and my congregation because there were so many people down there testifying, making, in my opinion, a very sound argument.
“And then Jack Graham, Leach’s pastor, sent out that Twitter post, calling what he did, ‘caring and courageous.’ That’s really why I responded in the way that I did, because I thought for a pastor to be calling that ‘caring and courageous’ just didn’t do any justice.”
(To read the full letter go to the link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldView.com.)
Stay tuned for a World View Special Report after the newscast about the vital role of pastors in speaking to the value of life in the womb.
Man with Cerebral Palsy Graduates from College, Headed to Seminary
And finally, Seth Walker, a man with cerebral palsy, took only an extra year to finish his bachelor’s degree at Lipscomb University, thanks to the support of a church friend named Ken Brassell who became his hands, feet and mouth, reports FaithWire.com.
Walker, a Bible major, was born completely lifeless — doctors could not detect any heartbeat. By the grace of God, the medical team managed to revive him 30 minutes later, but by then, Seth’s brain had been so starved of oxygen that he was left with a permanent disability.
Walker said, the cerebral palsy “affects my muscles, not allowing them to work correctly, but God has blessed me with a sharp, bright mind.”
Amazingly, the college grad plans to continue his studies at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Sign Up for the Generations Father/Son Retreat in Colorado
Join our annual Generations Father/Son Retreat in the Colorado mountains Thursday, August 29th through Sunday, September 1st.
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And that’s The World View in 5 Minutes on this Wednesday, May 8th in the year of our Lord 2019, my 53rd birthday. 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.
Special Report: God Calls the Church to Change the Culture
Time now for a World View Special Report. I’m Adam McManus.
By Emily Swanson
Why do pastors have great influence in the area of abolishing abortion and supporting life from the pulpit? Pastor Aaron Wright of Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston, Texas told The World View that what pastors say about life from the pulpits is crucial.
WRIGHT: “It absolutely is important. You’re saying that this is what God’s Word says. It absolutely is important that we are very clear about what God’s Word says. We are evangelicals. We believe Sola Scriptura. That means we believe that this is God’s Word when you’re standing there preaching. You are saying this is God’s Word and this is how it’s to be rightly applied. And I think that the abolitionist’s perspective is the one that is most consistent with a biblical worldview.”
Wright said that though laws about abortion are important, what influences people’s thinking about abortion is largely through culture.
WRIGHT: “We try to deal with this through laws. For many years, Christians tried to affect the society by just enacting new laws. If you have any real understanding of how culture is influenced, laws are important, but they tend to be more of just the unfolding of what the people already believe. Cultures don’t tend to get influenced just because you’ve got laws in there. Culture is influenced many times through the arts, the academy, philosophy.”
As a pastor, Wright said that the pulpit is one of the most powerful influences, more than laws.
WRIGHT: “And I would argue that the pulpit plays a major role there, because that is the means through which the Lord is feeding His sheep.”
Let’s remember that the most powerful divider of men’s hearts is not the legal system, but God’s Word. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Wright encouraged Christians to be faithful in the fight against abortion like Wilberforce was for nearly 40 years.
This has been a World View Special Report. I’m Adam McManus.
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New York Times: Obama Spied on Trump Campaign
Following months of angry claims by journalists and Democratic operatives that the Obama administration never spied on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, The New York Times admitted last Thursday that multiple overseas intelligence assets were deployed against associates of the Republican nominee.