Wednesday, June 21st, in the year of our Lord 2017
By Adam McManus
Chinese Communists Try to Force Christians to Say They’re in an Evil Cult
The Communists in China have become so irritated with the proliferation of Christianity that they are now trying to force Christians to confess that they have participated in “an evil cult,” reports China Aid.
Russian Fighter Jet Flies Within Five Feet of US Air Force Plane
An armed Russian fighter jet buzzed a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in the Baltic Sea on Monday, coming within five feet of the American aircraft, reports Fox News.
The incident follows a U.S. Navy jet’s shoot-down of a Syrian jet that was targeting U.S.-aligned fighters.
Sanders Questioned on Religious Freedom for Government Officials
As you will recall from the astounding audio I featured in our June 15th newscast, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont denounced a Trump nominee named Russell Vought during a Senate hearing for his Christian views. Russell wrote in a blog post that, by not worshipping Jesus, Muslims “stand condemned.”
Christians were so enraged by Senator Sanders’ behavior that 55,600 have signed a Family Research Council petition demanding that he apologize.
CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Sanders about that exchange on “State of the Union” this past Sunday.
TAPPER: “Senator, are you saying that someone is necessarily hateful and Islamophobic, if they believe in their private life and express that in their private life the only path to God is through Jesus Christ?”
SANDERS: “No, absolutely not. Look, what our Constitution — one of the great parts of our Constitution is to protect freedom of religion. You practice what religion you want. I do. Mr. Vought does. That’s what it’s about.
“But at a time when we are dealing with Islamophobia in this country, when you got 1.2 billion people who are Muslims around the world, to have a high-ranking member of the United States government essentially say, oh, Islam is a second-class religion.
“So, that seemed to me unacceptable as a government official.
“In terms of his freedom of religion, he and every other American has the right to hold any point of view they want.”
Senator Sanders, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Either Russell Vought has freedom of religion to believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven or he does not – regardless of whether he holds a position in government.
Jesus declared in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Franklin Graham Expresses Concern About Deporting Iraqi Christians
Franklin Graham is disturbed by the arrests of hundreds of Iraqi Christians in Detroit, Michigan by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and urged President Donald Trump to be extremely cautious before deporting them back to Iraq.
In his Facebook post last Friday, Graham wrote, “I understand a policy of deporting people who are here illegally and have broken the law. I don’t know all of the details, but I would encourage our president to give great consideration to the threat to lives of Christians in countries like Iraq.”
Deported Christian Iraqis would face a virtual “death sentence” in their homeland where the Islamic State terror group has been committing genocide.
Teachers May Face Investigation for Not Referring to Transgender Students by Preferred Pronoun
In another surprising development, the Trump administration’s Department of Education has issued an internal memo on June 6th explaining that refusal by public schools or teachers to refer to a transgender student by his or her preferred pronoun or name could be grounds for an investigation, reports the Christian Post.
Although the Trump administration issued a February memo that effectively rescinded last year’s Obama administration’s push for access of transgender students to bathrooms, the new memo states that transgender students still have some valid discrimination complaints worthy of investigation.
CNN Features Story of Pro-Life Congresswoman Who Refused to Abort Baby with No Kidneys
It’s a rare day indeed when CNN applauds a pro-life politician, never mind a woman who refused abortion against her doctor’s advice. But that’s exactly what just happened, reports Life News.
On Saturday, CNN aired the story of Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) who refused to abort her little girl Abigail who had Potter’s Syndrome, a usually fatal diagnosis that meant their daughter had no kidneys.
Beutler remembered the doctor saying, “There’s nothing that can be done. Your baby’s gonna die,” concerned her lungs were not able to develop.
Thankfully, the Congresswoman rejected her doctor’s counsel to abort and she convinced a doctor at Johns Hopkins to inject saline solution as a substitute for the amniotic fluid.
Her husband recalled, “Immediately, when that fluid was introduced, her chest heaved and she began to breathe that fluid in.” Providentially, Abigail’s chest opened, her lungs grew and her clubbed feet corrected.
Since then, Abigail’s father donated one of his kidneys to her.
Psalm 86:12 says, “I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever.”
California family prays through World View stories, takes action
Forrest and Lori Miller in Coarsegold, California wrote me at adam@TheWorldView.com .
They said, “Your daily broadcast has been a real blessing to us and our children Mattie, Kayleigh, and Marina. I think we have been listening to it from the beginning. We appreciate the work that goes into squeezing so much into five minutes. We thank the Lord for you and the team and your labor of love.
“We rarely miss a morning and, when we have guests, we love to share it with them and discuss it when we can. We appreciate the transcript with its links and have thought about reading it and trying to impersonate you.
“We value the Biblical worldview and the verses, calling sin what it is, and the Special Reports. We also appreciate it when you mix in a little good or lighter news now and then at the end since most of it so sobering.
“Most every week we pray through The World View stories. The stories of Christians have been an encouragement and challenge to our faith in Jesus.
“We usually listen to it during breakfast as a family and have prayed and taken action, like making calls or sending emails, when encouraged to do so. We appreciate the personal touch you inject at times and feel like we almost know you.
“Thank you and your team for the time and effort you put in to The World View in 5 Minutes.”
Our fundraising update in just a moment.
We’re so close to reaching our $20,000 goal. Can you help?
Each day, our team spends 8-9 hours working on The World View between researching, interviewing, transcribing, writing, text editing, voicing the newscast, and audio editing. In order to help keep The World View on the air, we need to raise $20,000 of pledges by this Friday, June 23rd. Among the tens of thousands of our listeners, we are looking for the remnant to step up to the plate.
We’re looking for World View listeners to pledge $50 or $25 per month for a year to hit the $20,000 goal. Go to www.TheWorldView.com, click on “Give” on the top right, choose $50 or $25, and check the recurring donation button.
As of yesterday morning, our total was $15,570. We are thrilled that six new World View listeners got off the sidelines and decided to help us. Special thanks to Sarah, David and Kim who each pledged $25/month, to Aaron and Jim who each pledged $20/month and to Jennifer who pledged $15/month. Their generosity brings our new total to $17,130 which means we only need to find 3 final $50/month donors and 5 final $25/month donors.
Will you be one of those 8 people to bring us across the finish line?
Pakistani Christian Arrested on False Charges of Insulting Muhammed
A Pakistani Christian man has reportedly been arrested on charges of blasphemy after a Muslim man accused him of insulting the Muslim prophet as a way to weasel out of paying for bike repairs he had asked the Christian to make, reports the Morning Star News.
Ishfaq Masih, the 23-year-old Christian who runs a repair shop in Lahore, was told by a Muslim customer named Mahmood Masih, “You should have to give me free services.”
The bike repair shop owner said, “I only believe in Jesus Christ not others, so please give me the payment since I repaired your bicycle.”
He could face the death penalty if found guilty of this false accusation of insulting the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
Pastor Arrested in Burma Suffers from Malnutrition
One of two assistant pastors arrested by the Burma army last Christmas Eve is suffering deteriorating health from malnutrition, reports Morning Star News.
Pastor Dom Nawng Latt, 65, has become weak, lacks energy and suffers from asthma and diarrhea, according to his wife.
On December 24th, 2016, the pastors went to the Byuha Gon military base to negotiate the release of a civilian couple who had complained to army officials about the destruction of their house, but military officials released the couple and detained the clergymen. The government was upset the pastors had taken three local journalists to take pictures of the damaged St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church building that was bombed by Burma army jets in November.
Burma is about 80 percent Buddhist and nine percent Christian. The government has recognized the special status of Buddhism in Burma.
Persecution of Christians on the Rise in Eritrea
The number of Eritrean Christians arrested since the beginning of May has risen to more than 120, according to Open Doors.
Evangelicals and Pentecostals have been at particular risk in Eritrea since a 2002 law was passed prohibiting Christian practice outside the Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran denominations.
The fresh wave of arrests began in the days leading up to Eritrea’s Independence Day, on May 24th.
Christian Missionary Calls for Prayer over Mistreated Prisoners in North Korea
A Christian missionary who was himself detained in North Korea has called for prayers over the “outrage” and “tragedy” of the death of the American student Otto Warmbier, reports Christian Today.
Kenneth Bae, who was held in North Korea from 2012-2014, also called on the secretive dictatorship to release the three Americans still detained there including Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, and Kim Hak-Song – as well as the Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim.
Not to mention that 24 million native North Koreans have not tasted freedom, and too many of them — whose names we don’t know — are enduring horrible circumstances and forced labor. But God sees them, and He will deliver ultimate justice.
Jay Sekulow Says Dealing with Media Reports in Washington is Like Swatting at Jell-O
Jay Sekulow, the founder of the American Center for Law and Justice, has had a lively debut as a member of President Donald Trump’s personal legal team, reports Bloomberg.
On the Christian Broadcasting Network, Sekulow reasserted that Trump isn’t under investigation, complaining about having to respond to media reports based on unnamed sources.
He said, “It’s like trying to swat at Jell-O. This is what you deal with in Washington.”
A messianic Jew, Sekulow is not proficient in white-collar criminal cases which would seem to be what Trump needs at the moment.
Instead, Sekulow served as the general counsel for Jews for Jesus, became the leading U.S. Supreme Court advocate for the Christian right, and has become a regular on Fox television as a legal analyst while running Christian nonprofits that raise tens of millions of dollars a year.
In a 2005 essay entitled, “How a Jewish Lawyer from Brooklyn Came to Believe in Jesus,” Sekulow recounted that it was through Bible study that “my suspicion that Jesus might really be the Messiah was confirmed.”
For 20 years, Sekulow argued a dozen high court cases, winning victories for Christian students seeking to form a school Bible club and pro-life activists wanting to picket outside abortion mills.
Missouri Senate Passes Measure Encouraging Inspection of Abortion Mills
Missouri legislators are one step closer to adopting a law, after the Missouri Senate passed a measure 20-8, that would encourage state inspections of abortion mills and overturn a pro-abortion St. Louis ordinance, reports World Magazine.
Congressman Scalise’s Medical Condition Improved but Still Serious
The medical condition of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., improved from critical to serious after a third surgery after he was shot by a deranged Bernie Sanders volunteer, reports World Magazine.
Scalise, 51, had faced an imminent risk of death from his injuries due to severe internal bleeding. Despite the fact that he was awake enough to interact with family, doctors at MedStar Washington Hospital said he will undergo additional surgeries and will remain in the hospital for a “considerable period of time.”
Water Park in Texas Goes All Out to Accommodate Guests with Special Needs
Morgan’s Inspiration Island in San Antonio, Texas, is making sure kids with disabilities don’t miss out on all the fun this summer, reports SunnySkyz.com.
Every section of the new water park is wheelchair accessible and guests with special needs are admitted at no cost.
Other features of Morgan’s Inspiration Island include waterproof RFID (radio-frequency identification) wristbands so parents can keep track of their kids, a seven-story lighthouse and a water play area called Rainbow Reef, which has water that can be warmed for guests with sensitivity to cold.
Owner Gordon Hartman said the team behind Inspiration Island consulted with water park professionals as well as special needs doctors.
Beyond that, Morgan’s Wonderland even offers private areas for guests to transfer out of their personal wheelchairs to waterproof ones designed by the University of Pittsburgh which are propelled by compressed air since they can’t afford to get their expensive battery-powered wheelchairs wet.
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.