Wednesday, April 19th, in the year of our Lord 2017
By Adam McManus
Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Is Denied Meeting with His Lawyers
Since February 27, four weeks after the much-reported torture of Chinese human rights lawyer Xie Yang who has been imprisoned since July 2015, the two family-appointed lawyers of Yang have repeatedly been denied meeting with him, reports China Aid.
Recently, without the family’s knowledge or consent, a lawyer named He Xiaodian visited Yang in custody at least once, apparently at the bidding of the authorities, in an attempt to get Yang to appoint lawyers who will cooperate with the government.
Yang’s wife, Chen Guiqiu, a professor of environmental science at Hunan University, wrote a gutsy letter on April 5th to this Communist attorney which might result in her own prison sentence or worse yet, her disappearance.
Read some compelling excerpts of her letter in our print stories section in today’s transcript.
Tennessee Stops Enforcing Abortion Regulations
Tennessee’s attorney general has announced that the state will cease enforcing two abortion law regulations in response to a lawsuit leveled by abortion mills, reports the Christian Post.
Tennessee agreed to cease enforcing the regulations that mandated that abortion mills have hospital-admitting privileges and mandated that the facilities have hospital quality surgical standards.
The decision was reached partly because of a United States Supreme Court decision last year striking down two similar regulations in the state of Texas.
Church Attendance in Scotland Down 45 Percent Since 1984
The Christian Post reports church attendance in Scotland has dropped by about 45 percent since 1984, according to the 2016 Scottish Church Census. Of the 390,000 churchgoers, around 42 percent of them are over 65 years of age.
The World View spoke to Scottish-born film producer, homeschool father, and activist Colin Gunn about the decline of the church in Scotland.
“The Scottish church has been in decline for a century and a half and we see it at it’s nexus or it’s complete evaporation from culture. There are so few people who go to church now in Scotland it’s so noticeable. And the number of churchgoers is a tiny percentage of the population… So, what we’re looking at is the complete decline of the church over a period of a hundred and fifty years and it’s very sad thing to see.”
Gunn said the greatest need of the Scottish Church is to repent, but that there is a faithful remnant present there.
“So what we’re seeing and what I’ve recognized in my own experience beyond these kinds of surveys is that there is a remnant that is faithful and has been faithful. They’re small in number, and they need our prayers, and they need our support, but they are there. And what we find is they’re being sanctified, which means they’re being more and more faithful. They’re correcting errors of their past, and being strengthened as they’re being chastised as they’re country is being chastised over our spiritual apostasy.”
As the Apostle Paul wrote, “So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.” (Romans 11:5)
Three People Killed in Shooting in California
Three people were shot and killed after a man went on a shooting rampage yesterday in Fresno, California randomly shooting at four white men, killing three, before he was taken into custody, reports the Fresno Bee.
The 39-year-old suspect, identified as Kori Ali Muhammad, is also suspected in the fatal shooting of a security guard outside a Motel 6 on Blackstone Avenue in central Fresno last Thursday. He is facing four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Muhammad had expressed dislike of whites in Facebook posts; all of the victims were white.
Officers found Muhammad running south on Fulton. Muhammad dove to the ground and yelled “Ali Akbar” which means “Allah is greater than your God” before he was taken into custody.
Supreme Court Hears Religious Liberty Case
Today, the United States Supreme Court with Justice Neil Gorsuch sitting on the bench will hear a long anticipated religious liberties case, reports World News Service.
In 2012, Trinity Lutheran Church applied for a Missouri state program to reimburse non-profits for rubber playground surfaces made from recycled tire scraps.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources ranked Trinity Lutheran’s application for the $20,000 grant fifth out of the 44 entities bidding for the tire scraps. The state awarded grants to 14 applicants, but Trinity Lutheran’s preschool was not one of them because it’s a church.
Gorsuch will most likely side with Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito. So the toss-up vote is Anthony Kennedy who has a long record of upholding state funding of religious schools.
Just another reason why Christians are pleased that Donald Trump was elected president to bring some sanity back to the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Rejects Arkansas’ Request to Allow Execution of Murderers
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court rejected Arkansas’ request to lift a stay late Monday that would have allowed the state to conduct its first execution since 2005, reports Fox News.
Justices turned down Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s request to vacate a stay for Don Davis, who was set to die Monday night by lethal injection. It’s the second time in seven years Davis has come within hours of execution before the courts intervened.
Arkansas had planned to execute eight inmates before the end of April, when one of its lethal injection drugs expires.
The inmates are all convicted murderers, including one found guilty of raping and murdering a mother of two and another convicted in the torture-killing of a 15-year-old boy.
Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.”
The Case for Christ Film Makes $8.5 Million in Box Office
Lee Strobel was the former Chicago Tribune journalist who tried to disprove Christianity when his wife Leslie became a Christian. But after nearly two years of investigation, he was overwhelmed by the avalanche of evidence for the deity and the claims of Christ leading to his own conversion which he documented in his 10-million copy bestseller The Case for Christ.
Now, the film The Case for Christ has risen to the number nine spot at the box office and, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, the film has grossed $8,500,000 so far.
But not only is the film making money, it is the first film from Pure Flix studios to receive more positive than negative ratings from the critics.
Although the studio’s previous films, such as God’s Not Dead and its sequel, were popular with Christians audiences, they didn’t receive favorable reviews from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
Muslims Gather to Defend Christians on Easter Sunday
Just a week after 45 people were killed and over 120 were injured in Islamic suicide bombings at two Coptic churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday, The Jordan Times reports that Muslim youth across the Sunni kingdom banded together to defend their Christian neighbors as they worshipped on one of the holiest days of the year for followers of Christ.
According to TeleSUR, Kazem Kharabsheh was one of the organizers of the initiative in Balqa and posted a call on his Facebook page for Muslims to guard Christians on Easter Sunday.
He posted this statement on Facebook. “Some Mercenaries [are] threatening our internal security and trying to intimidate them from entering churches, as in Egypt the other day.”
“I and my Muslim friends [will be] guarding Balqa churches that night, to [let] our fellow Christians worship as they want without concern.”
Wife of Imprisoned Chinese Lawyer Writes Scathing Letter to Communist Attorney
Excerpts from the letter that the wife of a prisoner wrote a Communist attorney.
She wrote, “Though it’s nothing unusual in today’s society, your eagerness to do the government’s bidding still gave me a shock. Did you know that for the last month his own defense lawyers have been prevented from seeing him? Their legally stipulated rights have not been protected, and yet you were allowed to pay a visit. Can you tell me why?
“You’re over 50 years of age, yet you still allow yourself to be led by the nose. Is it that you need to help frame up Xie Yang so you can bolster your political credentials? Or is it that they promised you a huge cash reward for cooperating?
“Do you know the details of how my husband has been tortured for more than a year? Did you know that, because we exposed the details of the inhumane torture he was subject to, I was summoned, interrogated, and threatened at the end of last year?
“What I’m thinking is: even though you may be gaining benefit from doing this, and gaining illicit privilege, you may not be able to enjoy peace for the rest of your life.
“The right and wrong in this case is so clear that a four-year-old would understand!”
35 Percent of Tax Return Filers Pay No Taxes This Year
Yesterday was Tax Day. And if the year 2014 was any indication, a significant percentage of filers will pay no taxes. In 2014, despite record collections, 52,062,499 filers paid no income taxes, reports CNSNews.com
Of the 148,606,578 individual income tax return filers that year, or 35 percent, filed what the IRS calls “nontaxable returns,” which means they paid no net individual income taxes.
One of the biggest reasons why is the “Earned Income Tax Credit” which can be up to $6,143 for taxpayers with three or more qualifying children. Credits like that wipe out taxes owed, and in some cases, actually involve the government giving the taxpayer what appears to be an undeserved “refund”.
Woman With Two Sets of Reproductive Organs Is Expecting Miracle Baby
At first blush, The Daily Mail story almost sounds like a tabloid headline in the same category as “Elvis is still alive” or “Aliens abducted housewife.”
But 32-year-old Krista Schwab did indeed have a rare condition in which her body housed two sets of reproductive organs, two uteruses, two cervixes. She was told that she would never be able to carry a child.
For 10 years, she and her husband C.J. tried to conceive a child. After losing two babies in miscarriages, the couple said they almost gave up hope.
But now the Washington state couple are expecting their miracle baby, a boy, who is due in August.
Krista said, “Never let anyone tell you miracles can’t happen because they do.”
Bill O’Reilly Sexual Harassment Scandal Continues
While Bill O’Reilly has six days left on his pre-planned vacation in Rome, it’s doubtful that he is relaxing much since allegations against him of sexual harassment remain front and center in the news.
The Hollywood Reporter documents that an African-American secretary at Fox News has come forward and reported that O’Reilly leered at her and called her “hot chocolate” when no one else was around.
This comes on top of the April 1st New York Times story which revealed that during O’Reilly’s tenure at Fox news at least five women have been paid off to keep silent.
But the darker cloud yesterday appears to be Matt Drudge’s tweet.
The reclusive Drudge sent a rare and ominous tweet about O’Reilly yesterday, writing that the embattled Fox News host “has had a tremendous run, ” reports TheHill.com.
Drudge also said, “Very few in the business get to decide when and how things end,” Media is most brutal of all industries.”
“The O’Reilly Factor” is by far the highest-rated program on cable news. But most of O’Reilly’s advertisers abandoned the show in the wake of the Times’ story.
Pastor Abedini Bashes His Divorced Wife and Franklin Graham on Facebook
For years, American Christians prayed for the release of Pastor Saeed Abedini from an unjust prison imprisonment in Iran.
His most devoted advocate was his wife Naghmeh who ultimately alleged that he was abusive and unfaithful.
Now that the divorce has been finalized, Abedini is lashing out at her, complaining in a series of Facebook posts that Naghmeh had sold their home, emptied their joint accounts, and that he has very little opportunity to be in his two young children’s lives, reports the Christian Post.
Plus, he has also taken a shot at prominent Christian leaders like Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. Abedini alleges that Graham’s motivation for talking about his previous imprisonment was strictly for “media attention” and that Graham has not been especially helpful since his release.
Mariam Ibraheem, the Sudanese Christian mother who was sentenced to death in 2014, says she is disheartened to see Abedini use social media to broadcast his personal issues.
President Trump Goes to Wisconsin to Promote “Buy American, Hire American”
President Donald Trump came to Wisconsin on Tuesday to talk manufacturing and sign a “Buy American, Hire American” executive order, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I am proud to announce that we are about to take bold new steps to follow through on my pledge to ‘Buy American and Hire American’. We’ve lost 70,000 factories since China joined the World Trade Organization. But this election, the American people voted to end the theft of American prosperity. They voted to bring back their jobs and bring back their dreams into our country.”
And that’s the World View in Five Minutes.