It’s Monday, February 3, A.D. 2020. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (adam@theworldview.com)
Muslims hack 36 people to death in Democratic Republic of Congo
Suspected Islamist militants from the Allied Democratic Forces hacked to death 36 people, including an Anglican pastor, in overnight attacks on villages in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa, reports the Christian Post.
Launched in the mid-1990s by Ugandan Muslim rebels forced out of Uganda, the Allied Democratic Forces has become the conflict-stricken Democratic Republic of Congo’s most active and violent rebel group over the past two years.
Pastor Gilbert Kambale, president of the Beni city civil society organization, urged the international community to pray to God for deliverance, saying, “Even as the night is long, day will surely dawn.”
Muslims kill 10 in Burkina Faso, West Africa
According to International Christian Concern, Burkina Faso, West Africa is a growing concern for Christians with a large increase of attacks on Christians in 2019 and now, 2020. The attacks aren’t just directed at Christians, but Christians are included in the attacks by Islamic militants. Just recently, Muslim radicals killed 10 people in an attack on a market. Over half a million people have been driven from their homes by the attacks.
The Worldview spoke to Nathan Johnson, Africa Director for International Christian Concern, about the effects of these attacks on Christians and other groups.
JOHNSON: “The current population in Burkina Faso is about 20 percent Christian, with the other 80 percent being Muslim. But the attacks typically target two or three different groups, one being government and military targets, two being populated centers such as hotels or market places, or shops or things like that, and then the third is specific attacks on Christians. Last year there were five or six instances where Christians were specifically targeted.”
Pray that God would empower the Christians in Burkina Faso, Africa with boldness, faith, and courage, as they continue to follow Jesus and seek protection from evildoers.
Psalm 37:1-2 says, “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”
U.S. prohibits Chinese from entering country over coronavirus
On Friday, the United States declared a public health emergency and took drastic steps to significantly restrict entry into the country because of the coronavirus that hit China and has spread to other nations, reports the Associated Press.
President Donald Trump has signed an order that will temporarily bar foreign nationals, other than immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, who have traveled in China within the last 14 days.
The new restrictions, which took effect at 5 p.m. EST on Sunday, were announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, who is coordinating the U.S. response.
U.S. Senate votes against witnesses at impeachment trial
In a 51-49 vote on Friday, the U.S. Senate narrowly rejected motions to call new witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, paving the way for a final vote to acquit the president this week and shutting down a weeks-long Democratic effort to secure new witness testimony, reports Politico.com.
Republican Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who were not convinced that Trump’s behavior rose to an impeachable offense, voted against new witnesses.
Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine were the only Republicans to vote with all Democrat Senators in favor of witnesses.
Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, tweeted Friday evening that Romney’s decision squashed any chance of him attending the Conservative Political Action Conference held Feb. 26-29 in National Harbor, Maryland.
Republican Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina predicted President’s Trump bipartisan acquittal before tomorrow night’s State of the Union address.
GRAHAM: “We’re not blocking anybody’s witnesses. We’re just not going to legitimize the House choosing not to call a witness, dump it in our lap, and put us in a spot where, if you called a witness, you would be dealing the courts out of judicial review of impeachment. I’m increasingly optimistic that Republicans will move to a final verdict before Tuesday. The President will be acquitted in a bipartisan manner.”
Texas judge rules against transition-supporting mother
The Texas mother who intended to transition her 7-year-old son James into a girl named Luna has lost again in court, reports LifeSiteNews.
Last Wednesday, Dallas Judge Mary Brown ruled against the request of Anne Georgulas who asked the court to revert to an October jury ruling that might have yielded her receiving sole conservatorship of her son James Younger, a 7-year-old boy the mother says is a transgender girl named Luna, and his twin brother, Jude.
The case garnered international media attention in October after a jury awarded Georgulas sole conservatorship in an 11-1 decision, allowing her to continue “transitioning” James into “Luna.” The father, Jeffrey Younger, has maintained that James shows “no signs of wanting to be a girl when given the choice.”
Amid massive public outcry, Judge Kim Cooks overruled the Oct. 21 jury verdict and ruled that conservatorship would be 50-50, shared between Georgulas and Jeffrey Younger, who has been resisting the transitioning of his son.
The Younger case has prompted several state legislators to call for the banning of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and transgender surgeries on minors.
Last Wednesday, the South Dakota House passed a ban on such practices in a 46-23 vote, the first legislative body in the nation to do so.
Sheila Walsh: Is prayer your steering wheel or a spare tire?
And finally, Bible teacher and best-selling author Sheila Walsh believes that prayer is the “single most underused weapon in the Church”, reports the Christian Post.
She said, “I kept recalling the words of Corrie Ten Boom: ‘Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?’ In other words, is it what guides my life, or is it a last resort? I am convinced there’s nothing the enemy would love more than for us to stop praying.”
Walsh knew she wasn’t alone in her struggle. She spent two years researching what God says about prayer, looking at how the early Church fathers viewed prayer, and even penned a survey asking women what they thought about prayer. The results, she said, were astonishing.
It’s all documented in her new book “Praying Women: How to Pray When You Don’t Know What to Say.”
1 Chronicles 16:11 says, “Look to the LORD and His strength; always seek His face.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Monday, February 3rd in the year of our Lord 2020. 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.
Print stories
Could Hillary Clinton save the Democrats as Vice Presidential pick?
A number of people in politics, the media and elsewhere are openly speculating that if Democrats wind up with a “brokered convention,” with no strong or viable nominee evident, Hillary Clinton might enter the arena as the “savior” who could unite the delegates as the Vice Presidential pick and go on to defeat President Donald Trump, reports TheHill.com.
Douglas MacKinnon wrote that Hillary Clinton “would add the gravitas, delegates and, eventually, millions of votes needed to get them over the finish line on Nov. 5. I am assured that Clinton is on every shortlist for that position.”
Some of her closest allies have been appointed to the committees overseeing rules and party platforms for this summer’s Democratic National Convention.
Biden, still nominally the party’s front-runner, has a list of negative issues to overcome. Clinton could help him erase or mitigate all of them, in one way or another.
Bloomberg, though a former three-term mayor of New York City, is a political neophyte on the national stage and would benefit greatly by having Clinton — and her machine — at his side.
Bernie Sanders would reverse Trump’s pro-life policies
If elected president, Senator Bernie Sanders, the leading Democratic candidate, would sign executive orders reversing President Trump’s pro-life policies banning taxpayer funding of groups that promote or provide abortions, such as Planned Parenthood, reports the Christian Post.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that it reviewed an internal campaign document listing potential executive orders the Democratic Socialist would sign on his first day in office, if elected.
According to poll numbers compiled by RealClearPolitics and accessed Friday, Sanders leads the field in Iowa with 23.8 percent, followed by Biden with 20.2 percent, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Peter Buttigieg with 15.8 percent.
36 illegal immigrants found in Texan dump truck
A disabled dump truck towed by Texas authorities to an impound yard was later found to contain 36 illegal immigrants believed to be in the U.S. illegally, the Laredo Police Department said Friday, reports NBC News.
Police said the immigrants, who were unharmed, were hidden inside a compartment obscured by a layer of sand, dirt and gravel for a few hours before they were discovered Thursday.