It’s Friday, July 16th, A.D. 2021. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Adam McManus
Chinese pastors mandated to include President Jinping’s key points in sermons
Pastors in China were ordered to adjust their sermons to incorporate elements of President Xi Jinping’s speech delivered on July 1, the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, reports ChristianHeadlines. He celebrated their Marxist roots and threatened the West and Taiwan.
According to Bitter Winter Magazine, Three-Self leader Xu Xiaohong provided a model sermon featuring nine points taken from the July 1st speech.
Among the points were instructions for pastors to highlight that the Communist party is the “people’s party,” encourage Christians to trust the Chinese Communist Party because it has “successfully” governed China over the last 70 years, and praise President Xi Jinping and the communists’ ability to bring about the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” Pastors were also told to tell Christians that “only socialism can save China.”
If any of the Chinese pastors abided by this outrageous request, it would give new meaning to 2 Corinthians 11:14 which says, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
South Africa deploys 25,000 troops to end week of rioting
South Africa‘s army began deploying 25,000 troops Thursday to assist police in quelling the weeklong riots and violence sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, reports Fox News.
In the largest deployment of soldiers since the end of White minority rule in 1994, the South African National Defense Force has also called up all of its reserve force of 12,000 troops. In a show of force, a convoy of more than a dozen armored personnel carriers brought soldiers into Gauteng province, South Africa’s most populous, which includes the largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria.
The violence erupted last week after former President Zuma began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court for refusing to comply with a court order to testify about allegations of corruption while he was president from 2009 to 2018.
The protests in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal escalated into a spree of theft. For example, the South Africa Pharmacy Council reports that 90 pharmacies have been destroyed and looted beyond recovery. Entire fridges full of insulin were stolen. The South African Canegrowers Association reports over 353,000 tons of sugar cane lost to arson, reports Frontline Fellowship.
Community radio stations have been attacked and looted, 113 cell phone towers vandalized, and thieves looted 200 shopping malls and tens of thousands of businesses.
By Tuesday evening, July 13th, the official death toll had risen to 72. At Ndofawa Mall in Meadowlands, Soweto, ten people died in a stampede of looting.
Amir Sheikh, an Africa Diaspora Forum spokesman, said, “This is domestic terrorism. I don’t believe this thing is sporadic because it is well executed and well-funded.”
Los Angeles County mandates masks again
Los Angeles County has decided to mandate masks indoors again, reports the Los Angeles Times. The county has been recording more than 1,000 new cases each day for a week.
Dr. Muntu Davis, a Los Angeles County health officer, made this announcement at a virtual press conference.
DAVIS: “We will be implementing an order requiring masking indoors regardless of vaccination that will go into effect at 11:59 pm on Saturday, July 17. Wearing a mask, when indoors with others, reduces the risk both of getting and transmitting the virus. It does add an additional layer of protection even for those who are fully vaccinated.”
Matt Vespa, Senior Editor at TownHall.com, describes the mandate as “non-stop theatrics about the COVID Delta variant, which is neutralized by all three vaccines. Even those who have been vaccinated must wear the masks that even Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted are ineffective against the virus. So, is this following the science? Is it giving people a false sense of security? If the store-bought masks don’t work, what’s the point? Why are the experts peddling snail oil safety protocols?”
Vespa concludes, “The war against COVID isn’t meant to be won. It’s meant to be continuous. The Democrats can continue their power trip by locking down states and telling people to wear store-bought masks that don’t work to earn brownie points in the ‘we did something’ category even though none of their mandates work. It’s a show to them. It’s not about saving lives. It’s about maintaining an authoritarian power structure that invades the lives of its residents.”
WA Pastor: Don’t Force My Church to Pay For Abortions
And finally, Pastor Jay Smith of Cedar Park Church in Washington state wrote a column entitled “Don’t Force My Church to Pay For Abortions.”
He says, “Imagine, 75 years ago, some British officer lining up a group of young Indian children against a wall in Bombay, handing some bullets to Mahatma Gandhi, and ordering him to load soldiers’ rifles so that they could execute the youngsters. Would you expect Gandhi to go along with that? Why would an officer even give such an order – except to humiliate Gandhi and mock what he stood for?
“Perhaps that gives you some idea of how it feels for the people of my congregation, Cedar Park Church, to be ordered by Washington state officials to provide an insurance plan that covers abortions.”
Listen to Pastor Smith.
SMITH: “How can the state compel every employer and every insurance plan to cover abortion?”
He wrote, “Directly paying for abortion coverage is as unimaginable to us as putting bullets in a gun we know would be used to end a child’s life. It is antithetical to everything we preach, teach, and believe.”
SMITH: “Every one of our employees sign our statement of faith upholding and defending the teachings of Scripture that tell us that life originates from God. We distinctly do not cover abortion because it’s the antithesis of who we are.”
Kristen Wagoner, his attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom, explained how vindictive Washington State is for those who disobey their pro-death edict.
WAGONER: “This law requires pro-life churches to violate their religious convictions about life. a violation of this law would not only mean the church would face fines, but actual prison time.”
(That’s why they filed a lawsuit.)
SMITH: “We believe the sacrificial death of Christ for all people underscores the value of every human soul.”
SMITH: “What we’re defending and standing for are the rights of people of faith, to not be forced into being complicit to something that’s inconsistent with our faith.”
ADF attorney Wagoner echoed Pastor Smith’s concern.
WAGONER: “It’s important to challenge this law because the government should not have the power to force people to pay for abortions, let alone a church that has a religious conviction that life begins at conception.”
Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, July 16th, in the year of our Lord 2021. 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.