It’s Friday, April 21st, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
Indonesian Church opened Easter Sunday after 15 years of delay
After over 15 years of dispute, an Indonesian church, Yasmin Church, located in the city of Bogor, just south of Jakarta, was finally allowed to open on Easter Sunday this year, reports International Christian Concern.
The church building initially opened in 2010 but was quickly shut down when the local government invalidated its building permit.
Objections from Bogor’s majority Muslim community have been a significant obstacle for Yasmin Church and the primary reason it had not been allowed to reopen.
Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million
On Tuesday, Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, averting a trial putting one of the world’s top media companies in the crosshairs over its coverage of false vote-rigging claims in the 2020 presidential election, reports Reuters.
At issue in the lawsuit was whether Fox was liable for airing the false claims that Denver-based Dominion’s ballot-counting machines were used to manipulate the presidential election in favor of Joe Biden over then-President Donald Trump.
SpaceX Starship blew up after takeoff
On Thursday morning, Elon Musk‘s SpaceX launched the most powerful rocket ever created, but shortly after liftoff, the 400-foot-tall Starship experienced a “rapid, unscheduled disassembly,” reports The Blaze. In other words, it blew up! (Watch the video).
Listen to the surprising mix of both horror and elation by the crew on the ground.
(sound effect of crew’s reaction)
The rocket, which took off from Boca Chica, Texas, around 8:28 a.m., exploded midair over the Gulf of Mexico after it failed to separate from its booster and began tumbling out of control.
The explosion occurred approximately four minutes into the flight. Prior to the explosion, the rocket was traveling more than 1,300 miles per hour and was 18 miles above the ground.
No one was onboard the spacecraft, and no injuries or property damage were reported.
The test rocket, which SpaceX hopes to develop to transport people to the moon starting in 2025 and eventually Mars, was supposed to orbit around the Earth and land in the ocean near Hawaii.
3 myths about the Abortion Kill Pill
Today the U.S. Supreme Court will make a temporary ruling on the status of the Abortion Kill Pill. Nearly 60% of women who choose to abort their babies use chemical abortion.
On April 7th, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee based in Amarillo, Texas, banned the Abortion Kill Pill nationally, citing research from the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute six times.
Then, hours later, Judge Thomas Rice, an Obama appointee based in Spokane, Washington, ordered the Abortion Kill Pill to remain legal in 17 Democratic states and D.C.
In a column for The Washington Stand, Mary Szoch cited three myths promoted by the abortion industry
Myth #1: “The majority of women who take chemical abortion drugs do not experience serious complications.”
Actually, between 2000 and 2021, 4,207 adverse events related to chemical abortions were reported to the FDA. This number only includes those voluntarily reported because in 2016 the FDA removed the requirement for prescribers to report non-fatal adverse events.
Myth #2: “Mifepristone can legally and safely be distributed through the mail.”
Actually, longstanding federal law prohibits the mailing of any “article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.” That’s about as clear as a law can be.
And Myth #3: “The gestational age at which a woman has a chemical abortion doesn’t matter.”
Actually, women who use chemical abortion prior to eight weeks gestation have incomplete abortions about 5% of the time. By 10 weeks gestation, incomplete abortions occur up to 10% of the time. The bigger the unborn baby, the more likely she will have an incomplete abortion, requiring surgery.
Pastor Charles Stanley died Tuesday at 90
And finally, on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Dr. Charles Stanley, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta and the voice of In Touch Ministries, died at 7:30 a.m. at the age of 90.
Born on September 25, 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, in Dry Fork, Virginia, Stanley was raised by a single mother after his father died when Stanley was only nine months old. On June 9, 1944, he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior just before his 12th birthday at the Pentecostal Holiness Church of Danville, Virginia.
Before joining the staff of First Baptist Atlanta on October 1, 1969, Stanley pastored churches in North Carolina and Florida.
In 1972, he launched a 30-minute program, The Chapel Hour, on Atlanta-area TV. Stanley focused his preaching on practical, Christ-centered, biblically-based principles for everyday life. Renamed In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley, the Christian Broadcasting Network took it national in 1978. Upon his death, Stanley’s messages were heard in more than 127 languages around the world. And Stanley was recognized for selling more than 10 million copies of his 70 books.
In this sermon excerpt, he describes the three barriers to intimacy with God: (1) pride, (2) rebellion, and (3) no time in His Word.
STANLEY: “The reason people don’t get on their knees is pride. How can you be too prideful to get on your knees to holy, righteous, sovereign God? Every breath you have is a gift from Him. Somebody says, ‘I don’t need to get on my knees.’ No, you don’t. You don’t need to honor God. You don’t need to reverence God, but you get what comes with that. It is pride that keeps us off our knees, pride that keeps us in sin. We’d rather have a relationship with somebody than God.
“The second thing is rebellion. Sin. As long as there’s sin in their life, there is no intimacy with God. There is no intimacy where there is rebellion. Can you have an intimate relationship with a husband or wife who’s just rebellious against you? No, you cannot.
“And then the last one is real simple. If you’re in a hurry, you won’t develop an intimate relationship with God. It takes time, time to read His Word, and meditate upon it.”
In Jeremiah 29:13, God said, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”
(If Pastor Stanley’s ministry touched your life, share your testimony)
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, April 21st in the year of our Lord 2023. 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.