It’s Friday, February 23rd, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Adam McManus
Ukrainian priest likely killed by Russian occupation forces
The bruised body of a Ukrainian priest, who was detained by Russian occupation forces, turned up on a village street last Thursday, with an unconfirmed report of a bullet wound to the head, reports The Christian Post.
The Rev. Stepan Podolchak, age 59, of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, disappeared on February 13 in the Ukrainian village of Kalanchak after Russian occupation forces took him away for questioning in his bare feet with a bag over his head. The priest had chosen to remain with his church after Russians invaded the village in southern Skadovsk District of Kherson Region in early 2022.
Podolchak’s battered body was taken to the morgue after a passer-by found it, and a morgue staff member phoned his shocked wife to ask her to identify it. His family buried the priest’s body in Kalanchak on Sunday.
In 1 Chronicles 16:22, God warns, “Do not touch My anointed ones; do My prophets no harm.”
German taxi driver, a convert from Islam, fined over Bible quote sticker
A German taxi driver and Christian convert from Islam has been fined over a Bible quote sticker on his car’s rear window due to what his city refers to as unlawful “religious advertising,” reports LifeSiteNews.com.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom, Jalil Mashali was threatened with a fine of up to 1,000 euros in October due to a small sticker on his taxi that displays a cross and reads, “Jesus – I am the way. The truth. And the life.” (John 14:6) The city of Essen argues that the sticker violates an ordinance applying to taxis that prohibits religious advertising.
The Christian convert refused to remove the sticker, and city authorities are now demanding a fine of $95.
Mashali is challenging the fine with the backing of ADF International. He argues that “due to the content, location, and small size of the sticker,” it does not constitute advertising.
He said, “Jesus is the best thing I could recommend to anyone because He changed my life. That’s why I have the sticker on my car for anyone who is interested to see.”
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.”
In the worst case scenario, Mashali could lose his taxi driver’s license.
Nikki Haley: “70% of Americans don’t want Trump or Biden!”
Appearing on Fox News with Faulkner Harris, GOP presidential contender Nikki Haley explained why she is a better option than Trump in the primaries and Biden in the general election.
HALEY: “Seventy percent of Americans have said they don’t want Trump or Biden.”
HARRIS: “True.”
HALEY: “They are the most disliked politicians in America; 60% of Americans have said Donald Trump’s too old and Joe Biden’s too old to run for president.
“We have to win. And we need a new generational leader that can put in eight years of hard work day and night, making sure we get things done. No drama, no vendettas. Just results for the American people. I’m determined to go to every single state and give people the right.
“If 70% don’t want Trump or Biden, let them have another option. Let’s let them vote. Let’s let this play out. Ten days after South Carolina, 20-plus states and territories will vote. Let’s let that happen.”
Is Nikki Haley staying in race in case Trump is convicted?
As pollster Frank Luntz guested on CNN, anchor Abby Phillip speculated about what might be truly motivating Nikki Haley to stay in the presidential race despite the fact that she has no clear path to victory in the primaries.
PHILLIP: “When she says, Frank, that she’s going to stay in until the last vote is counted, how much of that calculation is about just staying in the race to be a failsafe if something were to happen and Trump gets convicted of a crime?”
LUNTZ: “There are a lot of people who think that’s the reason. And I know that Nikki Haley has future ambitions. Now, make no mistake. There are significant forces just outside the mainstream of the GOP that does not want Trump and is looking for an alternative.
“As a pollster, who’s been doing this now for more than three decades, I see no evidence whatsoever that Nikki Haley is going to be a significant force in the 2024 election. Super Tuesday, all these states are up. I don’t think she wins a single one of them.”
Trump has 200,000 fewer donors now than 2020
Donald Trump entered the 2024 election year with about 200,000 fewer donors than in the previous presidential campaign four years ago, raising questions about his fundraising machine just as legal bills eat into his war chest, reports the Financial Times.
The Trump campaign, and affiliated political action committees, attracted roughly 516,000 donors in the second half of last year, compared with 740,000 at the same stage of his last race for the White House.
Plus, The Los Angeles Times reports that over the last two years, Trump’s Save America political action committee, his presidential campaign, and his other fundraising organizations have devoted $76.7 million to legal fees.
Cellphone outage hits AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers
Tens of thousands of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile customers reported outages on Thursday morning for their home phone, internet, and mobile phone services, reports Fox Business.
Newsweek added that AT&T customers are unable to make necessary 911 calls to operators in an emergency.
Forty percent of customers currently reporting being affected say they have no signal at all, and 9% of users say their mobile internet is down.
No cause for the outage was given. A defense official told Fox News that there was “no indication it was a cyber attack.” That outage may have been caused by “human error“, according to one expert, but a “solar flare” has also been cited as a possible explanation for the cell problems.
Pharmacies hit by cyber attack
And finally, The Daily Express reports that pharmacies all over America experienced delays in prescription orders on Thursday due to a cyberattack on one of the biggest healthcare technology companies in the nation known as Change Healthcare.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, February 23rd in the year of our Lord 2024. 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.