It’s Wednesday, January 25th, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
Pakistan’s new law punishes Christians with 10-year prison sentence
Last Tuesday, Pakistan’s National Assembly passed a bill to make the country’s blasphemy laws more stringent.
Under the new bill, the person who insults Islam’s false prophet Mohammed faces 10 years in prison and a fine of over $4,000.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws already criminalize insulting Islam which carries a death sentence or life in prison. Religious minorities, including Christians, are concerned the new measure will be used to target them.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide President Mervyn Thomas said the bill was “approved without debate by Pakistan’s parliament despite the fact that existing blasphemy legislation has resulted in extra-judicial killings and countless incidents of mob violence based on false accusations.”
Former homosexual pleads with nations to pray for his trial
As The Worldview reported yesterday, a Christian charity worker in Malta, the island near Sicily, is facing criminal charges for allegedly discussing and advertising “conversion practices.”
Last year, 33-year-old Matthew Grech told PMnews Malta about how he stopped practicing homosexuality after converting to Christianity. In the interview, Grech said, “I understood that in the Bible, homosexuality . . . is a sin. Just like every other sin, one can repent from it and ask God for forgiveness and ask Him for strength to overcome.”
Grech now faces trial on February 3. Malta was the first country in the European Union to ban so-called “conversion therapy” in 2016.
He said he hopes his case will overturn the ban.
GRECH: “Joined with me in prayer, join with us here in Malta, that God would use the situation to overturn things and to revoke this evil ban on so-called ‘conversion therapy.’ And that it would have a ripple effect across the nations, so that righteousness would prevail again.”
Isaiah 61:11 says, “For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.”
Thousands attend France’s March for Life
On Sunday, thousands of people took to the streets of Paris for the French March for Life.
The annual event coincides with the anniversary of the country’s legalization of abortion in January 1975.
This year’s march protested plans by the French government to legalize euthanasia and to include support for abortion in their constitution.
America’s explosive $31 trillion debt
Last Thursday, the U.S. government hit its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling established by Congress.
The Treasury Department implemented extraordinary measures to temporarily keep the government from defaulting on its debt while lawmakers debate terms for raising the limit.
For decades, both Republicans and Democrats have been increasing the debt ceiling to finance wars, tax cuts, social security, emergency measures, and other federal spending.
Under Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, the national debt grew $12.7 trillion dollars. It has grown $13 trillion under the Democrat administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Parents concerned with children’s potential anxiety
A new report by Pew Research found that the top concern of U.S. parents is if their children struggle with anxiety and depression.
When it comes to aspirations, most parents prioritize financial stability and job satisfaction for their children.
Parents also said it was very important for their kids to be honest and ethical, hardworking, and helpful to those in need. However, very few parents said it was important for their children to share their own religious beliefs.
Protestant parents were notably more likely to want their children to carry on their religious beliefs.
Psalm 78:4 says, “We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and His might, and the wonders that He has done.”
Oldest human alive today just died at age 118
And finally, Lucile Randon, known as Sister André, died at the age of 118 in the southern French city of Toulon last Tuesday. She was the oldest known person in the world at the time.
The nun devoted her life to service, caring for children during World War II and spent decades supporting the elderly and orphaned at a hospital. She’s lived under 18 French presidents, including President Emmanuel Macron who sent her a handwritten birthday note last year when she turned 118.
Sister André not only survived the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918 but also beat COVID-19 at the age of 116.
Of course, the oldest person in world history was Methuselah, who died at the age of 969 according to Genesis 5:27.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Wednesday, January 25th in the year of our Lord 2023. 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.