It’s Friday, January 3rd, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 125 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)

By Adam McManus

Seattle street preacher censored for Biblical speech

Being a street preacher is difficult work. But it’s a lot more difficult when violent activists are trying to shut you down—and when the local police aid them in silencing you, reports Alliance Defending Freedom.

That’s what happened to Pastor Matthew Meinecke of Seattle. But thanks to the efforts of ADF, this evangelist is once again free to share the Gospel on his city’s streets.

Meinecke has been publicly ministering in Seattle for years. He reads the Bible aloud and often holds signs and hands out literature.

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court rightly overturned Roe v. Wade. Pro-abortion demonstrators gathered in Seattle to protest the decision. Meinecke also attended the protest—not to speak about abortion however, but to read from the Bible and share the Gospel message.

Not surprisingly, his message was not well received in Seattle. Protesters surrounded Meinecke, grabbed his Bible, and ripped pages out. As the demonstrators grew more aggressive, the street preacher took hold of a traffic sawhorse. Protesters then picked Meinecke up, along with the sawhorse, and dropped him on the pavement across the street.

When Meinecke got up and began reading from the Scriptures again, protesters knocked him back down and took one of his shoes. When police officers finally arrived, they ordered Meinecke to leave. When he declined, they arrested him.

Matthew Meinecke should not have been censored, much less arrested, for peacefully sharing his views in a public place.

The First Amendment guarantees him, and every American, the rights of free speech and religious freedom, both of which he was exercising peacefully. So Meinecke, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a lawsuit against the city.

While a federal district court sided with the city, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled that the actions of the officers, i.e., the city, presented a content-based burden on Meinecke’s expressive activity.

Romans 1:16 says, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

Cybertruck exploded in front of Trump Hotel in Las Vegas

A Tesla Cybertruck exploded and burst into flames Wednesday morning at 8:40am just outside the entrance of Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, killing a soldier named Matthew Alan Livelsberger who was inside the vehicle and injuring several others standing nearby, reports NBC News.  It blew up after an improvised explosive was detonated in the truck’s bed.

Livelsberger, age 37, was a master sergeant in the U.S. Army’s elite special forces unit and a resident of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Authorities said a military ID, a passport, and credit cards found at the scene were in Livelsberger’s name, but that the body in the Cybertruck was “burned beyond recognition.” While investigators are still awaiting DNA or medical record confirmation of the body’s identity, other evidence indicated Livelsberger had died, including tattoos on the body’s stomach and arms.

The body recovered from the Cybertruck sustained an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head prior to the detonation of the vehicle.

The suspicious blast is being investigated as a possible terrorist attack.

The blast came hours after a driver in a rented pickup truck, who was flying an ISIS flag, plowed into New Year’s Eve revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing at least 15 and injuring more than 30 others before he was shot dead by police.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Kevin McMahill said that the pickup truck and the Tesla in the Las Vegas explosion were rented from the same online platform named Turo.

Livelsberger’s long military career included deployments to the Republic of Congo in 2014, Ukraine in 2016, Tajikistan in 2016, and Afghanistan in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Chris Raia, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division, said this at a press conference in Louisiana.

RAIA: “At this point, there is no definitive link between the attack here in New Orleans and the one in Las Vegas.”

Nonetheless, the fact that the incidents in New Orleans and Las Vegas came just hours apart and both appeared to involve military members with somewhat similar backgrounds has been noted by officials.

Biden honors Liz Cheney with Presidential Citizens Medal

In a clear slam of President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, President Joe Biden honored former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming with the Presidential Citizens Medal for both her work on the special House committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 event at the Capitol and for speaking out about the importance of democracy, reports The Hill.

Needless to say, Cheney actively campaigned against Trump’s re-election bid and endorsed Kamala Harris, the leftist Democrat, for President, along with her father, Dick Cheney, who served as George W. Bush’s Vice President.

Lowe’s delivered 100 tiny homes for Hurricane Helene families in North Carolina

And finally, many families in Western North Carolina were facing Christmas still in need of housing, after Hurricane Helene devastated their towns, reports GoodNewsNetwork.org.

Listen.

LADY #1: “It was a nightmare. I have never, ever seen it like this.”

LADY #2: “Got out of bed to look down to watch water pouring into the house.”

LADY #1: “It came so fast, and I went out and I was holding on to the bottom of the rail, and I had water up to my neck.”

LADY #2: “That was the beginning of what has been the longest three months of my life.”

LADY #1: “I feel like we got forgotten.”

In the midst of a tragic situation, Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores wanted to help.

LOWE’S SPOKESWOMAN: “Our goal is to create 100 tiny homes for people in Western North Carolina. To be able to build tiny homes, to give people a sense of hope, to give people a sense of neighbors helping neighbors. I just really think that this is going to mean a lot. This weather has gotten bad.”

Thanks to Lowe’s financial investment of building materials and hundreds of volunteer home builders, those 100 tiny homes were built and installed in time for Christmas Eve.

The tiny homes, which include heat and all the necessities—like a kitchen, bathroom, and two full-size beds—allow families to remain in their neighborhood while their permanent home is rebuilt.

Each home included fresh seasonal greenery, furnishings, and décor all donated by Lowe’s.

The recipients of those tiny homes were beyond grateful.

LADY #1: “Oh my gosh, it’s beautiful. It is so gorgeous. I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful. I can’t believe it. I got my new home, my tiny home. (laughing) It’s awesome.”

“I am so grateful. I was blessed beyond. Because honestly, I thought we were forgotten.”

In Matthew 10:29-31, Jesus asked, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So, don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

Close

And that’s The Worldview on this Friday, January 3rd, in the year of our Lord 2025. Subscribe by Amazon Music or 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.