Tuesday, May 9th, in the year of our Lord 2017
By Kevin Swanson
President Trump Tells IRS Not to Enforce Johnson Amendment
In his recent Executive Order, President Donald Trump has instructed the Internal Revenue Service not to enforce the Johnson Amendment that would prevent pastors from endorsing political candidates from the pulpit.
However, pastors like Southern Baptist Denny Burk also tweeted “I have no interest in endorsing candidates from the pulpit.”
And Dr. Harry Reeder from Briarwood Presbyterian Church says, he wants to “equip people to not simply know how to vote in one election, but how to evaluate voting in any election.”
President of Southern Evangelical Seminary Speaks on Trump’s Religious Liberty Executive Order
Speaking of Trump’s Executive Order on Religious Liberty, Dr. Richard Land, President of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, talked to The World View about his reaction to the criticism that Trump has received from some Christian leaders who were concerned that it had gotten watered down from earlier drafts.
“I understand that there are conservatives who are concerned about President Trump’s Executive Order on Religious Freedom because it is not as specific and as strong as some of the earlier drafts. I think that’s on purpose. My understanding is that the Trump administration has learned from its experience with having its executive orders on extreme vetting for people from certain countries overturned by some squirrely judge somewhere.
“They understood that the ACLU was sitting there waiting to go judge shopping and find a judge who would rule this thing null and void before the ink was even dry. So they made it more general language, but they’ve tasked the Justice Department and the Attorney General to write the regulations that will give those protections that are needed to ensure freedom of conscience and religious freedom.
“So, we will just have to wait and see. If they will follow through with the Justice Department, it will make it a more difficult target for the ACLU and it will have the same effect as the earlier orders had, but it will have a chance to live before it’s killed at birth by the ACLU and a screwball judge somewhere.”
Christian Barber in Egypt Murdered by Radical Islamists
Radical Islamists continue the war against Christians in Egypt, making another martyr on Saturday sadly. The victim this time was a 40-year-old Christian barber.
Please continually lift up the Egyptian Christians in prayer for an increase in faith, hope and trust in God through these fiery trials.
Russia Gets Included in Hall of Shame List for Religious Persecution
Russia has made the tier one list of the worst religious persecutors in the world.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom included 16 countries on the Hall of Shame list, such as North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Eritrea, and Iran.
Liberal Candidate Emmanuel Macron Wins French Presidential Election
The French people elected Emmanuel Macron as their new president over the weekend, defeating the populist, Trump-like candidate, Marine Le Pen.
Macron has been compared to American politicians Barack Obama and Al Gore in his social and international perspectives.
The 39-year-old investment banker took the run-off election by a sizable margin — 66-34%. World Magazine reports that Christian pastors recommended a “no” vote on both candidates in the run-off and encouraged members not to choose “between plague or cholera.”
Target Introduces New Pro-Homosexual Product Line
Target Department store is back in the news for introducing a new “Take Pride” line of products intended to promote homosexuality.
Executive Vice President Laysha Ward announced that, “We’re making our message loud and clear: Target proudly stands with the LGBT community, both as a team member and team player through all that we do.”
Target has lost 35% of its stock value since pro-family organizations started a boycott of Target last year.
Apparently, Target still hasn’t learned its lesson after 1.5 million Christians pledged to boycott the chain after they announced they would allow men to use women’s bathrooms and changing rooms.
Psalm 37:36 says, “I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.”
Christian Bakery in Ireland Sees 15 Percent Increase in Profits
Meanwhile, God has blessed a Christian family bakery in Ireland, big time!
Asher’s Bakery may have lost the homosexual “marriage” cake case last year, but the Lord provided them with almost $2 million in profits in 2016, representing a 15% increase over the previous year, according to the Belfast Telegraph.
Proverbs 22:4 says, “By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honor, and life.”
Trump Announces Nominees for Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals
President Trump has announced his court nominees to the 5th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as to the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 11th.
Politico.com reports that two of the nominees who were “unveiled Monday were on the list of Trump’s potential Supreme Court justices and will likely come under scrutiny by Democrats because of that inclusion.”
Historically, the 6th, 9th, and 10th districts are the most liberal (with the most Supreme Court reversals) according to the American Bar Association’s analysis.
HotAir.com notes that “the point of this early emphasis on judicial nominations is to secure Donald Trump’s right flank.” One example is Amy Barrett, nominated for the 7th Circuit Court, who clerked for conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
The conservatives who elected Trump will put up with a lot of Trump’s fluid ideology on other issues “as long as Trump fills these judicial openings with conservatives that will reshape the courts after eight years of Barack Obama’s judicial nominees pushing the federal judiciary in the opposite direction,” concludes HotAir.com.
Use of High Potency Opioids on the Rise
Modern man seeks more extreme forms of escape than ever. . . through high potency drugs.
The Associated Press reports that a new drug called “Gray Death” can kill in a single dose. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation reports at least 50 deaths have been attributed to the drug in the last few months. The killer cocktail is made up of heroin, fentanyl, an elephant tranquilizer, and an opioid called U-47700.
Meanwhile, colleges are stocking up on overdose-reversal medication as reported in the Wall Street Journal. The article states that “Like binge-drinking and marijuana, the opioid crisis is now entrenched on campus.”
The Lord tells us in His word, that “He who finds me, finds life and obtains favor from the LORD. But he who sins against Me injures himself; All those who hate Me love death.” (Proverbs 8:35-36)
Child in Spain Killed by Exploding Bounce House
One child was killed and six were wounded when a bouncy, inflatable castle they were playing on exploded. The explosion that propelled a child 45 feet into the air occurred in Northeastern Spain, according to Fox News. Although deaths are rare with the bounce houses, injuries to children playing on the inflatable systems run upwards of 11,000 per year in this country alone.
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.