It’s Friday, April 17th, A.D. 2020. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
China’s Early Rain Covenant Church harassed by Communists
Chinese officials detained six leaders of the heavily persecuted Early Rain Covenant Church on April 12th as the church tried to have an online worship service to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.
Some church members had their electricity cut off and others received phone calls that the police were coming to visit them.
Thankfully, the six leaders have since been released.
COVID-19’s impact on Myanmar
Third-world countries are some of the most affected by the coronavirus, and this includes the country of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
The Worldview spoke to Pastor Mark Robinette, founder of Mission to Myanmar, and author of the new book, Myanmar Gold, about how their hospitals would be the worst place for someone to go with the virus.
ROBINETTE: “They already have the kind of healthcare over there, where, they say, ‘If you want to die, go to the hospital.’ That’s like a common every day thing in Myanmar. I’ve been there, and actually in the book, you hear a little description of me visiting the hospital when Pastor Naing’s wife has a baby.
“Literally there’s blood all over my shoes and making noises as I was walking through. It was utterly revolting. With healthcare like that, when you have a pandemic, of course, are they going to have a ventilator shortage? They probably don’t have any ventilators.”
Stay tuned for a more in-depth Worldview Special Report on the church in Myanmar, a special pastor named Naing Thang, and Pastor Robinette’s new book on how he found spiritual “gold” among the Christians in this country.
Queen Elizabeth II gave first-ever Easter message
Last Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II released the first-ever Easter message of her 68-year reign.
While lamenting the difficulties and deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, Queen Elizabeth pointed to the hope and life brought by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
ELIZABETH: “Easter isn’t cancelled. Indeed we need Easter as much as ever. The discovery of the risen Christ on the first Easter Day gave his followers new hope and fresh purpose, and we can all take heart from this.”
Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”
Kentucky legislators give AG power to shut down abortion mills
Kentucky lawmakers voted Wednesday to give their Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron the power to shut down abortion mills during the coronavirus outbreak as non-essential since Democratic Governor Andy Beshear won’t do it.
Also, hundreds of Kentuckians gathered at the state capital on Wednesday to protest Governor Beshear’s health restrictions that are keeping the state’s only abortion mill open, but shutting down churches and businesses.
Proverbs 17:15 says, “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.”
Global economy will fall by 3%; worst decline since Great Depression
The International Monetary Fund projects the global economy will fall by 3 percent this year in relation to the coronavirus pandemic, the worst decline since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath said the crisis could cut $9 trillion from global GDP over the next two years.
In the U.S., retail sales fell a record 8.7 percent in March, outpacing the 3.9 percent decline during the Great Recession of 2008. Auto sales fell 25.6 percent, clothing store sales fell 50.5 percent, and restaurant and bar revenue fell 27 percent.
NY Governor Cuomo REFUSES to give God the glory
New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo is not giving glory to God for what appears to be a plateauing of new cases in the Empire State.
Listen to what Cuomo told CNN this week.
CUOMO: “Our behavior has stopped the spread of the virus. God did not stop the spread of the virus.”
Acts 12:23 warns after the people praised Herod as a god and not a man, “Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God.”
Governor Cuomo appears to be playing with fire.
Trump’s plan to re-open the economy
President Donald Trump released guidelines on reopening the American economy yesterday, encouraging governors to make their own call on when and how to reopen their states.
The non-mandatory guidelines — themed around “Opening Up America Again” — will be data-driven not date-driven, governor-led, and will address the country state-by-state.
Some states have extended their coronavirus lockdowns through May 15, but Trump’s guidelines would help less-affected states start reopening in phases as early as May 1.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, April 17th 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.
How an American pastor connected with Myanmar Christians
Time now for a Worldview Special Report by Emily Munday. I’m Adam McManus.
Myanmar Gold, a new book by Pastor Mark Robinette of Foundation Church in Ohio, is a book that follows the conversion, the journey, and the bond created between two brothers in Christ – one from America and the other from Myanmar. The book tells the harrowing adventures of how Pastor Mark first went to Myanmar.
In an interview with The Worldview, Robinette spoke about how God first laid missions on his heart at the age of 8 years old.
ROBINETTE: “I was a little kid, about 7 or 8 years old. Our pastor challenged our church to give a big bunch of money for missions saying that if we would have faith, then God would bless us. At that time, we needed a building. So, we gave all of our building fund to missions.
“What happened is what made it impossible for our church to ever have trouble raising money for missions. What happened was a collective gigantic miracle for our entire church that is undeniable. It’s extraordinary what happened! Because of my early days of being part of this and watching my family be a part of this, I went to that church my whole life. And He continued to work and bless missions. And God continued to bless our church.”
Pastor Robinette shared that when he started pastoring his own church he carried that passion to see God provide mightily for missions into it.
ROBINETTE: “Our church was a poor church for many years, and they were never able to provide for me. I always had to cut down trees and do other jobs to support myself, and I was glad to do that. And if that was what God was still having me do right now, I would still be doing that, but God blessed our church and it grew, and the church was able to pay me. And honestly when the church made the decision, saw that the needs were there, and they began paying me a regular paycheck, the first thought that came into my mind was, ‘Why are we not supporting missions?’”
Robinette shared that this is when he went on the quest to find those overseas who were in need of support.
ROBINETTE: “I started on a quest to find a mission that I could help that was fruitful, that was reaching out to fatherless children, making converts, training ministry workers, and honestly I couldn’t find one anywhere until a man one day told me, ‘Hey I went somewhere, and what I saw was so unbelievable you would have to see it yourself.’ I said that that’s just what I’ve been praying for, that God would send me to somebody like that, and they sent me there. And I didn’t even know where it was. When someone told me it was Myanmar, I had to look it up to find out where it was.”
Pastor Robinette talked about the country of Myanmar and how hostile it is to Christianity.
ROBINETTE: “Myanmar was like North Korea. It was cut off and isolated from the world. To openly convert people to Christianity, still it’s like a felony that you can go to prison for. These people were persecuted at the level of being persecuted, being beaten, being killed. When I went there, it was literally illegal to own a video camera in Myanmar. So, when I went there, I learned that they had been so cut off from the world that they were desperate for connectivity with the body of Christ.”
Pastor Robinette shared that it’s far more than just that these people are poor and need help. He said it’s about the fellowship they desperately craved.
ROBINETTE: “It’s not so much that they’re just poor and they need our help which they are poor and they do need our help. But the reason I actually called it Myanmar Gold is because I thought I was coming to help them, and I ended up finding out that they had treasures for me.”
Philippians 1:3-5 expresses what Pastor Mark said about the way the Myanmar Christians received him. “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the Gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
To find out more about the spiritual treasures Pastor Robinette and his team found when they went to Myanmar for the first time in 2014 and multiple times over the succeeding years, get his book, Myanmar Gold, by Foundations of Grace Publishing at www.MyanmarGold.org, spelled M-Y-A-N-M-A-R. To support with prayer and finances, you can visit their website www.MissionToMyanmar.com.
This has been another Worldview Special Report. I’m Adam McManus.