It’s Monday, April 6th, 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)
Surgeon General: This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment”
In an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said this Holy Week will give Americans “our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9-11 moment” as the coronavirus ravages the nation.
ADAMS: “Well, it’s tragically fitting that we’re talking at the beginning of Holy Week, because this is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives. Quite frankly, this is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9-11 moment. Only, it’s not going to be localized; it’s going to be happening all over the country.
“I want America to understand that, but I also want them to understand that the public, along with the state and the federal government, have the power to change the trajectory of this epidemic.
“You mentioned Italy and Spain. When you look at their trajectory from about a month ago is when they really started to lean into their aggressive mitigation efforts. So, I want Americans to understand that as hard as this week is going to be, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If everyone does their part for the next 30 days.”
According to the Coronavirus Sick Map, 337,000 Americans are now infected with the coronavirus and nearly 9,700 Americans have died.
Judge orders Kentucky coronavirus patients to wear tracking devices
Two Louisville, Kentucky coronavirus patients and a family member have been ordered by circuit judges to isolate and wear tracking devices after health officials learned they’d been in public against medical advice, reports the Louisville, Courier-Journal.
Issuing health-related civil orders is new territory for the courts.
FL Gov & County reverse course: Churches are “essential”
Last Friday, Florida Governor Ron Desantis amended his executive order from April 1 in which he recognized attending “religious services conducted in churches, synagogues and houses of worship” as “Essential Activities.”
Hillsborough County, Florida Council met and voted to reverse its order which had prohibited churches from meeting in person. At the recommendation of County Attorney Christine Beck, the council voted to recognize churches as “essential”, following in the footsteps of Governor Desantis.
Meeting by conference call, Beck clarified that Florida recognizes churches as “essential” with no restrictions on the number of people allowed to gather in one facility.
BECK: “The state does not place any limitations on the number of people who can attend religious services nor does it address the six-foot distancing requirement.”
To clarify, Les Miller, Jr., Hillsborough County, Florida Commission Chairman, asked a follow-up question.
MILLER: “Are we to understand now that the church or synagogue or whatever the institution is, can now have services and as many people as can get in there can attend? We’re encouraging them to be six feet apart, but they don’t have to be six feet apart? And there’s no limitation on the 10 people or less. Am I right? Is that what you’re saying?”
BECK: “That’s correct.”
While Mayor Jane Castor wanted to impose the 10-person and six-foot social distancing restriction on churches, the council voted against her recommendation at the advice of counsel.
Liberty Counsel was hours away from filing a federal lawsuit against Hillsborough County, Florida. The County Council knew that lawsuit was forthcoming. As a result, the lawsuit will be placed on hold.
When Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne of The River at Tampa Bay Church decided to continue to meet for in-person services, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister made many false statements which must be retracted.
In a Facebook live broadcast, Pastor Howard-Browne reflected on his arrest, reports the Christian Post.
HOWARD-BROWNE: “I’m not ashamed to be arrested for the First Amendment of the United States. The sheriff said we can’t hide behind the First Amendment, but we can because I was sworn in as a citizen of the constitutional republic of the United States. And I raised my hand to pledge defend the Constitution of America against enemies, foreign or domestic.
“The media are stirring up every kind of religious bigotry and hatred right now. I mean, people firing shots last night at the church sign from the highway. And then the death threats to the ministry into staff members and stuff. It’s beyond the pale so people have basically literally lost their ever-loving minds.”
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Pastor Rodney Howard-Browne brought worldwide attention to an unconstitutional order and arrest.”
Acts 5:29 says, “We must obey God rather than men!”
For examples of other churches which are meeting in defiance of government orders, visit our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com and look under “Print Stories.”
Pastor John Piper’s counsel to children in midst of COVID-19
And finally, theologian John Piper has shared what he believes children should understand about God and the novel coronavirus and identified how parents can address difficult questions pertaining to the outbreak, reports the Christian Post.
PIPER: “The Bible teaches that God is stronger than the coronavirus. We know this because Matthew 4:24 says, ‘They brought Jesus all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, and He healed them.’ So, Jesus is more powerful than diseases, every one of them.”
In a recent episode of his “Ask Pastor John” podcast, the 74-year-old pastor and grandfather-of-14 answered the most profound question.
PIPER: “Why is there a coronavirus? Why don’t you, Jesus, take it away since you could? He’s God. The coronavirus is not stronger than Jesus. Why doesn’t he just take it away – now?
“The answer is this: because He has wise purposes for it. But let me give you some things that I can see, and you can see, in the Bible that God is planning to do with the coronavirus.
“Number one: Jesus said in Luke 13 that things like the coronavirus happen so that people in the world who don’t believe in Jesus would wake up and repent, that they would turn to Jesus and be saved.
“Number two: Paul said that things like the coronavirus happen so that people would stop trusting in themselves and trust God.
“And the third thing that God is doing is this: The Bible says that things like the coronavirus happen to show us that we might be loving things more than we love God.”
Piper gave children this counsel.
“You don’t have to be afraid of the coronavirus. God is stronger than the coronavirus. And if you trust His son, Jesus, God will make everything turn out for your good.
“So be brave. Don’t be brave because you’re strong. That’s, that’s called pride. All those TV superheroes. They’re all proud. They’re not basing their strength on God. Be brave because you have a great Savior.”
Finally, Piper shared a poem for Christian children.
“I taught the kids in our church, when I was a pastor, a two-line poem. ‘When things don’t go the way they should, God always makes them turn for good.’”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Monday, April 6th 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
Churches hold in-person services despite warnings
Despite warnings from local and state officials, Solid Rock outside Cincinnati had been holding its 1,000-strong gatherings in person, and was open yesterday on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week in Christian churches. reports Reuters.
Like Solid Rock, pockets of churches from Florida to Texas and across to California are keeping their doors open and inviting worshipers to attend services in person.
Louisiana pastor Tony Spell said, “We’re defying the rules because the commandment of God is to spread the Gospel. The church is the last force resisting the Antichrist, let us assemble regardless of what anyone says.”
Spell, 42, held three services at his 1,000-member Life Tabernacle megachurch in a Baton Rouge suburb on Palm Sunday, defying state orders against assembling in large groups and has already been hit with six misdemeanors.
For Spell, the public health orders are a threat to religious freedoms and constitutional rights.
Kelly Burton, pastor at Lone Star Baptist Church in Lone Star, Texas, wrote in a post on Facebook, “Satan’s trying to keep us apart, he’s trying to keep us from worshipping together. But we’re not going to let him win.”
Lone Star has been holding services in the parking lot – what it calls “Church on the Lot” – and did so on Palm Sunday.
Rob McCoy, the mayor of Thousand Oaks, California is also the pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel, where he offered communion on Palm Sunday – though encouraging worshipers to stand six feet apart.
He said, “It’s very important theologically that communion not be taken alone. What we are doing is exercising our inalienable rights. Communion is non-negotiable for us.”
About 400 miles north of Thousand Oaks, police in Lodi, California, interrupted a service late last month at the Cross Culture Christian Center, an evangelical church with about 80 regular attendees, to tell members they were violating stay-at-home orders.
They have since been given a warning posted on the church door, a “Notice of Public Nuisance,” demanding the center stop holding services, according to local officials. “This is a serious public health threat,” said city spokesman Jeff Hood.
Still, the pastor held services on Palm Sunday, said the church’s attorney, Dean Broyles.
“Simply put, no, we’re not going to obey it,” Broyles told Reuters. “The virus does not suspend our constitutional rights, the right to assemble, freedom of religion and freedom of speech.”
Broyles said the church is taking steps to mitigate risks, including sanitizing the building before services and asking that the elderly or those with health problems remain at home.
“We’re much safer than a Walmart or grocery store,” said Broyles. “Think about it, you’re crammed into (store) aisles inches apart from other shoppers. Here we’re sitting six feet apart.”
Delaware police pulling over out-of-state drivers
Police in Delaware have been given the authority to pull over out-of-state drivers during the coronavirus pandemic, reports CBS Philadelphia.
Delaware State Police say Gov. John Carney’s state of emergency declaration “authorizes any Delaware law enforcement officer to stop a vehicle driving within the state simply because it is displaying out-of-state tags.”
Once pulled over, state police say the officer will ask questions about the driver’s travel, who will then be told that “they are required by law to self-quarantine for 14 days while in Delaware, or immediately return to their home state.”
The order does not apply to out-of-state drivers on I-95, I-295, or I-495. Out-of-state drivers are allowed to pass through Delaware while traveling to another state.
Attorney General set to release federal prisoners over pandemic
Last Friday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr declared on Friday that the federal Bureau of Prisons is facing emergency conditions due to the fast-spreading coronavirus, paving the way for the agency to begin releasing more inmates out of custody and into home confinement, reports Reuters.
Under Barr’s emergency order, priority for releasing vulnerable inmates into home confinement should be given first to those housed in federal prisons that have been hardest hit by COVID-19, including facilities such as Oakdale in Louisiana, Elkton in Ohio, and Danbury in Connecticut.
Major airlines applies for government payroll grants
Major U.S. airlines applied on Friday for payroll grants from the U.S. Treasury meant to keep workers employed during a sharp downturn resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, reports Reuters.
American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and Hawaiian Airlines each said they submitted grant applications, but did not disclose details or terms.
People near Trump, Pence given a rapid COVID-19 test
With the coronavirus contagion spreading, the White House said on Friday that anyone expected to be near President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence will be given a rapid COVID-19 test out of an abundance of caution, reports Reuters.
The results are known in 15 minutes or less.
Trump rejected idea of states conducting mail-in voting
On Friday, President Trump said he’s confident the general election in November won’t be delayed by the coronavirus, but he rejected the idea of having every state prepare to conduct mail-in voting, reports TheHill.com.
TRUMP: “No, because I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting. I think people should vote with ID. … They don’t want voter ID is because they intend to cheat.”
Manhattan businesses board up storefronts
A growing scene for those who venture out into the streets of Manhattan, New York these days is boarded up storefronts, reports Fox5 NewYork.
From luxury retailers to small bars, establishments that have no idea when they are going to be allowed to reopen are putting up protection over their glass doors and windows. The businesses have taken the unsightly measure in an effort to defend against the potential for civil unrest caused by the coronavirus and a lack of officers on the streets.
D.C. Mayor: 1 in 7 likely to get coronavirus
Roughly one in every seven District of Columbia residents could get infected with coronavirus, according to projections Mayor Muriel Bowser cited Friday, reports the Stamford Advocate. She believes that 93,000 people could contract COVID-19 in the city.
Duke basketball’s Coach K calls Dr. Fauci “America’s point guard”
Dr Anthony Fauci says the US is ‘not even at half-time’ in the fight against coronavirus in interview with Duke basketball head coach, who calls him ‘America’s point guard’
Dr Anthony Fauci, of the National Institutes of Health, appeared on Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s radio show “Basketball and Beyond with Coach K.”
COACH K: “Dr. Fauci, this is Coach K. Thank you for a lifetime of service to our country. You’ve come a long way from delivering prescriptions for your dad to being a point guard to 36 years of heading the Institute of Health, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Your commitment to us is unbelievable. You know, you’ve been a point guard your whole life. You’re always delivering prescriptions or remedies. I’m going to give you a new title today. It’s ‘America’s point guard’. That’s who you’ve become.”
Fauci was asked about how the US is responding to the outbreak and asked to provide a basketball analogy for context
The infectious disease expert said the US is ‘not even at half-time’ in the fight against COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus
Krzyzewski referred to Fauci, who is on the White House coronavirus task force, as ‘America’s point guard’
FAUCI: “If you want to do the basketball analogy, right now, we have a team. That’s a very powerful team. And that’s the virus. We got to play a full court press. We can’t let them get the ball on the ground to dribble. We just got to be all over them. That’s the only tool we have right now. We’re not even at halftime Coach K, we’re just fighting it out. To continue the analogy if we can just hold our own, and when we get back in the second half, just come out like blazing. Otherwise this stuff is going to really, really be very harmful to us as a society.”
Pat Buchanan: “When it’s over, will we be the same America?”
Pat Buchanan, the conservative columnist, wrote a new essay entitled, “When it’s over, will we be the same America?
“Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, projected some 100,000 to 200,000 U.S. deaths from the pandemic, saying “if we do things almost perfectly.” She agreed with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s estimate that, if we do “nothing,” the American dead could reach 2.2 million.
“That 2 million figure would be twice as many dead as have perished in all our wars from the American Revolution to the Civil War, World War I and II, and Korea and Vietnam.
“Now add to this slaughter of our countrymen a market plunge steeper than the 1929 Crash and a 1930s-style Depression. Wall Street analysts are talking of a wipeout of 30% of our GDP and unemployment reaching 35%.
“The coronavirus crisis seems to be one of those epochal events that alter the character of the country and the course of the republic.
“Consider what has happened in three weeks.
“The Republican Party, the party of small government and balanced budgets, approved with but a single dissent a $2 trillion emergency bill. There is talk now of a second $2 trillion bill, this one for infrastructure.
“In a single month, then, a Republican Senate and president grew the federal budget by 50% and are looking to double that.
“For years, Democrats raised alarms about Trump’s poaching of the powers of the other branches. Now Democrats are demanding to know why Trump has not shut down the economy by presidential decree and not used his latent dictatorial powers to order U.S. companies to produce what the nation’s hospitals demand.
“Democrats who long accused Trump of xenophobia and racism for seeking to close the borders to migrants entering the country illegally are now silent as Trump closes America to the world.
“First Amendment free press champions are calling for Trump’s White House briefings not to be carried on TV because the president is spouting propaganda and lies. The problem: The people are watching and approving of what the media think the people ought not see.
“If people in a crisis will jettison lifelong beliefs like this readily, how enduring will their professed belief in democracy itself prove?
“The president thinks this will be a V-shaped recession, that once the economy hits bottom and turns up, it will soar, as in 1946 when pent-up demand from World War II was unleashed and America began to churn out cars and consumer good as rapidly as it had weapons of war.
“Perhaps. But put me down as a skeptic. You can’t go home again. The shattering events of March, followed by what is coming in April and May, will have lasting impacts on the hearts and minds of this generation.
“That once-insatiable appetite for Chinese-made goods at the mall – will it really return? Will Americans, after having “socially distanced” for months from family and friends, be reassured of their safety and pack into restaurants in July?
“If March shocked this nation as severely as 9/11, what is coming may be even more sobering.
“Are millions of unemployed workers without the cash to pay for or to find medicine and groceries likely to stay indoors for weeks or months?
“All those criminals being given early release from virus-infested jails and prisons without the means to provide for themselves and their families, how will they react to weeks of mandatory sheltering in place?
“In times of crisis in America, there is a tradition of self-sacrifice.”
Belgian child abuse ring leads to I.D. of 90 suspects, 110 victims
Police around the world have taken down a global child abuse ring with links to over 40 countries through a Belgian investigation supported by Europol, reports Restoring Liberty.
This case was sparked by the Belgian East Flanders Federal Judicial Police after more than 9 million pictures and videos of the abuse of thousands of children from around the world were found there during a house search.
The vast majority of this footage had never been seen in circulation before by law enforcement.
The image and video data seized during this investigation has been used to successfully identify 90 suspects (of which 24 in Belgium) and 110 victims.