Thursday, June 22nd, in the year of our Lord 2017
By Jonathan Clark
Proposal to Ban Christianity in Malaysia Gets Knocked Down
Last week the CEO of the Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy, Azril Mohd Amin, proposed that Christianity should be banned in Malaysia due to the high number of Muslims becoming Christians in the country. Thankfully, after receiving significant criticism, Azril stated he would not push the proposal forward.
The World View spoke to Daniel Harris of International Christian Concern about religious liberty in Malaysia.
“In a lot of these countries there is this competing dynamic where they want to appear to have religious freedom, and they enshrine that religious freedom in the Constitution. But at the same time they say, ‘We are a Muslim nation,’ and that gets implemented to varying degrees among countries.”
Harris also shared how Malaysian Christians are persecuted for their faith.
“One of the more famous cases this year, a Malaysian pastor, a pastor named Raymond Koh, was abducted and hasn’t been heard from since. And he had received threats from doing ministry that helped Muslims.”
Please pray for these Malaysian Christians as they could risk being kidnapped and killed for sharing the love of God with others.
The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 1:7-8, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.”
Attempt to Attack Church in Finland Foiled by Police
Finnish police foiled an attempted terrorist attack on Sunday against a church in the middle of Helsinki, reports EuroNews.
The police dispatched several units to address the threat near the Temppeliaukio Church, a popular tourist location, although a tad difficult to pronounce I must confess. The church was built right into solid rock, called the Rock Church, and is located very close to the Finnish Parliament building.
ISIS Blows Up Mosul Mosque
The US and Iraq report ISIS blew up the famous Old City mosque in the Mosul yesterday which was the birthplace of the Islamic caliphate.
ISIS claims US warplanes destroyed the mosque, but US officials stated that was “1,000% false.” The Iraqi prime minister described the blasting of the mosque by ISIS as “an official announcement of their defeat.”
Samoa Officially Declares Itself a Christian Nation
Early this month, the Parliament of Samoa unanimously passed a constitutional amendment to become an openly Christian state, according to The Pacific Islands Report. The Explanatory Memorandum to the bill states, “The object of the bill is to insert in the Constitution that Samoa is a Christian nation, to declare the dominance of Christianity in Samoa.”
Samoa’s attorney general said the amendment would “enshrine Christianity from within the body of the Constitution which effectively provides a legal definition of the State’s religion.” The new wording of the Constitution would read, “Samoa is a Christian nation founded of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”
Psalm 22:27-28 says, “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. . . For kingship belongs to the Lord, and He rules over the nations.”
Kenya Bans Cartoons That Promote Homosexuality
The Kenyan government recently banned six Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network shows aired on DStv for “normalising, glamorising or even glorifying homosexual behaviour,” reports Channel 24.
Kenya’s Film Classification Board stated the cartoons are “intended to introduce children to deviant behaviour” and has “written to MultiChoice, the owners of DStv, to cease with immediate effect the airing” of these shows.
Pray that America repents of its worldliness and begins to fear God afresh.
California Court Drops Most of the Charges Against Daleiden and Merritt
Back in March, California State Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed charges against pro-life heroes, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, of The Center for Medical Progress in connection with their undercover exposure of Planned Parenthood.
I’ve got some wonderful news to report! Just yesterday, the California court dismissed 14 of the 15 criminal charges! The only one remaining is one count of conspiracy to invade privacy, according to Life News.
Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, representing Daleiden and Merritt, said they are working on getting the final charge dismissed.
Anthem Insurance Withdraws from ObamaCare Exchanges
Anthem, the second largest health insurer in the US, announced yesterday they plan to withdraw from ObamaCare exchanges in the Midwest, specifically Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
The insurance company cited market volatility and uncertainty in federal operations and guidelines for this move away from the ACA exchanges.
Sailor Rescues at Least 20 of His Fellow Sailors Before His Death
As previously reported on the The World View, seven sailors aboard the USS Fitzgerald died after the Navy destroyer collided with a Philippine-flagged merchant ship off the coast of Japan last Saturday.
The death count could have been much higher if not for the valiant sacrifice of one of the seven who died, 37-year-old 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr. Rehm went down to rescue at least 20 sailors before he and six others met their deaths. A friend described Rehm as one who “never thought about himself.”
John 15:13 tells us, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
World View listener in Germany at the Ramstein Air Base
Joshua Lozier, a World View listener in Germany, wrote me at adam@TheWorldView.com.
He said, “I just wanted to say I really like listening to The World View every morning at work on the Ramstein Air Base here in Germany! I listen on my Overcast app. Thank you so much for all you do to bring news from a Christian perspective. It really keeps me informed about all that is important without the agenda of other media outlets.
“We’re here on a three-year tour. I just credit God because I was searching for a news podcast when I came across The World View. I downloaded it and had no idea it was Christian-themed until I listened for the first time. Overcast is an app which allows you to download podcasts. Thank you again for what you do!”
Joshua, with a name like that, leadership must be in your DNA. Thank you for your service to our country. I am delighted to learn that God providentially directed you to The World View.
Our fundraising update in just a moment.
The $20,000 finish line is in view. Can you help us get across?
Each day, our team spends 8-9 hours working on The World View between researching, interviewing, transcribing, writing, text editing, voicing the newscast, and audio editing. In order to help keep The World View on the air, we need to raise $20,000 of pledges by tomorrow night, June 23rd at 12 midnight. Among the tens of thousands of our listeners, we are looking for the remnant to step up to the plate so people like Joshua Lozier, serving in Germany, will receive a Biblical perspective on the news.
As of yesterday morning, we stood at $17,130 toward our $20,000 goal. Now, for the latest update. Drum roll please.
Four new World View listeners made pledges in the last 24 hours.
Our sincere thanks to Bryan for his $10/month pledge, to Joe for his $20/month pledge, to Carrie for her $25/month pledge and to James who gave a whopping $500 one-time gift. Those four gifts bring us to a new total of $18,890.
If only 1 final donor pledged $50/month and 4 final donors pledged $25/month, we will have just squeaked past that finish line which is now clearly in view.
Would you be the answer to our prayers that God would provide for this ministry?
Stay tuned for a Special Report immediately following the newscast about what the Christian response should be to the refugee crisis, written and compiled by Emily Swanson.
Special Report: Refugee from Iraq Testifies of Need for Christians to Minister to Refugees
By Emily Swanson
With the pressing questions of the refugees streaming into Europe and America, The World View wanted to bring you a Special Report from a man who personally experienced what it’s like to be a refugee in a foreign country.
Jalil Dawood, pastor of the Arabic Church of Dallas and founder of World Refugee Care, wrote a book entitled, “The Refugee: A Story of God’s Grace On One Man’s Road to Refuge.” Jalil was concerned that the refugee issue had become unnecessarily politicized.
He is encouraging the church of Jesus Christ to react differently to the refugee crisis. Pastor Jalil told The World View about his family fleeing persecution.
“My parents were born in Iraq. So am I. In Iraq also is a lot of pressure, persecution, and war.”
Jalil said that he fled to Rome when the political turmoil in Iraq became dangerous.
“When the political turmoil and war and religious persecution came all at the same time, my family thought that it’s better for me to leave and protect my life and also to protect them from suffering and hardship if something were to happen to me; because I was about to be drafted to the army. And the Lord helped me escape Iraq.”
Pastor Jalil said that an American Christian who discipled him in Rome made a huge difference in his Christian walk.
“The man also not only prayed with me on that night, but he also started doing discipleship lessons with me, strengthening me in the faith. And also he was a caring person, a loving family. He would share a meal with me that reminded me of my family.”
Jalil said that the job of the Christian is different from the job of the government with respect to refugees.
“The government’s job is to defeat the enemy, to crush the enemy, to protect the nation. The Christian’s job, the church’s job is to love the enemy, and to do good to the enemy. So we have two different mandates.”
Jalil said that Christians have a golden opportunity to minister in this situation.
“If we are to love the enemy, that’s how we show that we have a living God who we trust in changing people’s lives.”
Jalil emphasized that ministering the Gospel to refugees will be the “ultimate protection” for the nation against terrorism.
“That will be the ultimate protection for this nation because if these people came to Christ, then our nation is protected. We hit two birds with one stone. It’s not about statistics and numbers. It’s about people.”
Jalil said that it won’t help the Christian church if believers stay on the sidelines.
“We will see more and more terror attacks, more and more persecution, more and more of our people will be suffering and hurting. So that’s where we need to take a different path than the government path. We need to pray and support the government, but we have a different calling.”
Finally, here’s a reminder from 2 Timothy 1:7-8 for Christians as we look for ways to minister to refugees, both Muslim and Christian.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.”
To learn more about the ministry which God has given Pastor Jalil, go to www.WorldRefugeeCare.org.
This has been another Special Report. I’m Adam McManus
And that’s The World View in Five Minutes.