It’s Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25th, A.D. 2019. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
Israel cracking down on Christmas pilgrimages to Bethlehem
Israel has only approved 192 out of 951 applications of Gaza Christians who wish to travel to Bethlehem on their Christmas Pilgrimage, reports International Christian Concern.
It’s estimated that there are only 1,000 Orthodox Christians living in Gaza out of a population of 2 million. By contrast, three years ago, Israel had issued 600 permits to Christians to travel to Bethlehem on their Christmas Pilgrimage.
Pilgrimages are a common practice for Orthodox Christians, especially during the Easter and Christmas seasons.
House considering second impeachment of Trump
Get this. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives is open to the prospect of impeaching President Donald Trump a second time if the House uncovers new evidence, according to lawyers for the Judiciary Committee, reports Politico.com.
However, the Justice Department attorneys said the House Judiciary Committee’s decision to move forward with impeachment last week means there’s no longer urgency to resolve the House’s case. That bolsters the Trump administration’s argument that the courts should simply butt out of the legal showdown.
McConnell wants swift impeachment trial in Senate
On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he was not ruling out calling witnesses in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial — but indicated he was in no hurry to seek new testimony either — as lawmakers remain at an impasse over the form of the trial by the GOP-controlled Senate, reports the Associated Press.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is demanding witnesses who refused to appear during House committee hearings, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton.
McConnell, who has all-but-promised a swift acquittal of the president, has resisted making any guarantees, and has cautioned Trump against seeking the testimony of witnesses he desires for fear of elongating the trial. Instead, he appears to have secured Republican support for his plans to impose a framework drawn from the 1999 impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.
Christmas shopping on Saturday biggest in U.S. retail history
Christmas shopping set records over the weekend, with Super Saturday sales reaching $34.4 billion, the biggest single day in U.S. retail history, according to Customer Growth Partners.
Craig Johnson, president of the retail research firm said, “Paced by the ‘Big Four’ mega-retailers — Walmart, Amazon, Costco and Target — Super Saturday was boosted by the best traffic our team has seen in years,” reports MSN.com.
Job growth and fatter wallets, along with stronger household finances, have put consumers in a buying mood this season. And more of them are shopping online. As retailers offer improved web platforms, online spending so far this season has accounted for 58% of sales growth from a year ago.
Kevin Costner endorses homosexual Mayor Peter Buttigieg
Kevin Costner has endorsed homosexual Mayor Peter Buttigieg for the 2020 presidential election, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
On Sunday, the Field of Dreams actor returned to Iowa to praise the candidate for being a “man of his moment.”
Costner needs to read Leviticus 18:22 which declares, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
Christian Post editor quits over pro-Trump editorial
Napp Nazworth, an editor at The Christian Post, has abruptly quit the publication after it aligned itself with President Donald Trump as part of a spiraling evangelical Christian civil war, reports the Washington Post.
Another evangelical publication, Christianity Today magazine, slammed the president as “immoral” and called for his removal from office by the Senate or the popular election in November 2020 last weekend, prompting a backlash and recriminations within the evangelical community.
Nazworth, who has worked for The Christian Post website since 2011 and sits on the website’s editorial board as politics editor, tweeted: “Today, rather abruptly, I was forced to make the difficult choice to leave The Christian Post. They decided to publish an editorial that positions them on Team Trump. I can’t be an editor for a publication with that editorial voice.”
Samaritan’s Purse builds new home for woman who praised God after hurricane
And finally, on March 3, 2019, the deadliest tornado to hit the U.S. since May 2013 hit Beauregard, Alabama, where Ernestine Reese’s house once stood. It killed at least 23 people.
Delrico Eiland shared a video on Facebook of his 72-year-old aunt, Earnestine Reese, wrapped in a blanket and sitting on top of the rubble that was once her home. In a conversation via FaceTime with her grandson, Kingston Frazier, whom Ernestine calls “Kiki”, she can be heard thanking God for sparing her life even though the hurricane destroyed her home along with her daughter’s trailer in Beauregard.
REESE: “I thank the Lord. You tell God, ‘Thank you!’ Kiki. You hear me, boy? Tell God, ‘Thank you.’ (laughs) Tell God, ‘Thank you!’ Nothing but the power of God.”
EILAND: “The trailer’s completely gone!”
REESE: “House gone too.”
In a later interview with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Reese’s daughter, Renee Frazier, revealed that she had lost seven family members in the tornado, but was holding firmly to her mother’s faithful advice to “tell God ‘thank you.’”
Frazier said, “My mom was buried under the debris. As soon as they brought her out of the debris, her first response was ‘tell the Lord thank you.’”
Reese said, “Me and my daughter, her husband and my grandson went in the bathroom and tried to take shelter. And even in the sheltering, God blew the whole house away. It was blown away and all the debris was everywhere, but God kept all four of us wrapped up in His arms and He held us close.”
Last Thursday, Reese had another reason to be thankful as she prepared to receive the keys to her new home thanks to Samaritan’s Purse, reports the Christian Post.
The faithful grandmother’s new home contains three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a safe room with concrete, steel-reinforced walls, and most importantly for Reese — a prayer closet.
She said, “Oh, it is just more than beautiful because every hand that has laid a hand or nail, I know it was sent by God. I love my new [prayer] closet.”
Psalm 113:3 says, “From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Christmas Day, Wednesday, December 25th in the year of our Lord 2019. 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 story
Bloomberg spends tens of millions of dollars in digital advertising
Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is pouring tens of millions of dollars from his vast personal fortune into his campaign. A piece of it is going to an unknown digital business called Hawkfish — which Bloomberg himself founded during the spring, reports CNBC.
Hawkfish will be the primary digital agency providing digital ad services, including content creation, ad placement and analytics for his campaign.
Obama privately backing Elizabeth Warren for president
Behind the scenes in recent months, former President Obama has gone to bat for Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts when speaking to donors reluctant to support her given her knocks on Wall Street and the wealthy, reports TheHill.com.
The former president has stopped short of an endorsement of Warren in these conversations and has emphasized that he is not endorsing a candidate in the Democratic primary.