Wednesday, February 24th, in the year of our Lord, 2016.
By Jonathan Clark
Since 2013, when Aaron and Melissa Klein refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple’s same-sex ceremony, the Kleins have been sued by the couple, fined $135,000 by the state of Oregon, and forced to close down their bakery. Now the Kleins are proceeding to court with their case, which will be heard by the Oregon Court of Appeals, reported the Conservative Review. Boyden Gray, a former White House counsel for President George H.W. Bush, will be representing the Kleins, along with the Liberty Institute based in Texas. The World View spoke to Jeremy Dys, senior legal counsel for the Liberty Institute, about the Klein’s case: “They received a severe penalty of six figures they’ve had to pay in order just to do this deal, but they’ve never had a chance to really litigate this issue in a court. So this will be the first time that Aaron and Melissa will be able to determine whether or not people in this country are going to be permitted to be able to engage their faith while they’re at work or not.”
May the Lord do for the Kleins as the Psalmist prayed, “Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!” (Psalm 43:1)
The Islamic State has set free 43 Assyrian Christians, the last to be released of a group of 200 hostages captured from the Khabour River Valley in Syria a year ago on February 23. Footage after the release shows the Christians worshipping and singing praises to God, a testimony to their steadfastness through immense trial over the last year.
Recently, Pastor Saeed Abedini has been sharing how prayer to God strengthened him through the 3½ years of imprisonment and torture he experienced in Iran for his faith. Saeed wrote, “And now I know that you all were my voice. I had no voice in prison. My prayer is that we will continue to be that voice for each other. We are one in prayer. It is the most powerful thing we do.”
On Tuesday, President Obama presented a plan for shutting down the detention facility located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a plan that involves releasing 91 detainees and moving others to a yet-to-be-determined facility in the U.S, according to Fox News. The president indicated that his plan is in the interest of improving security, but it will still need to be approved by Congress before taking effect.
The U.S. Senate will not be having a hearing for any nominee President Obama might put forward to replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put it rather bluntly, “Presidents have a right to nominate, just as the Senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent. In this case, the Senate will withhold it.”
Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s own Presbyterian church’s leadership disagrees with Trump on immigration. Trump’s views are hardline against illegal immigration: “The fact is—since then, many killings, murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, our money going out, and the drugs coming in. And I said, ‘We need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly.’ And I don’t mind having a big, beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally.” According to The Guardian, Trump was baptized as a child into the Presbyterian Church (USA). Gradye Parsons, the most senior elected officer in the PC(USA), indicated that his denomination has voted in favor of a path to legal status for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the country. Parsons said, “Donald Trump’s views are not in keeping with the policies adopted by our church by deliberative process.”
Unlike others in the computer industry, Microsoft founder Bill Gates is backing the FBI in their dispute with Apple to hack into the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. Gates compared this situation to the FBI’s inquiry into bank and telephone records, but he added that there should be controls on when the government is allowed to access such information.
Since Jeb Bush dropped out of the Presidential race, his accomplished donor network is moving towards supporting Marco Rubio. Bush donor and former Minnesota senator Norm Coleman told Fox News, “The folks I was working with on the Bush campaign, my sense is almost unanimity in them moving over to Team Rubio.”
Now here’s an example of a servant heart. A Starbucks cashier in Leesburg, Virginia, learned sign language so she could communicate with Ibby Piracha, a regular customer who is deaf. Piracha got a note that said, “I’ve been learning ASL just so you can have the same experience as everyone else.” The cashier then asked what he wanted to drink in sign language. As of Tuesday evening, Piracha’s Facebook post about this service has received over 16,000 “likes”!
Scripture teaches us, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:4-5).
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.