Monday, February 13th, in the year of our Lord 2017.
By Adam McManus
Iraqi Christians Struggle With Decision of Whether to Return Home
Iraqi Christians are still battling the decision about whether to make a new life outside of Iraq or return home.
The World View spoke to William Stark of International Christian Concern about the concerns of those who are known as Internationally Displaced Persons or IDPs. He said the life they knew before ISIS is no more.
“A number of IDP’s I’ve talked to have actually returned to some of these areas like Qaraqosh and Bartella and what they’re finding is that all the physical representations of their life are gone. They’ve been burned. The churches have been destroyed. It’s going to be a really, really difficult thing for them to recover from this.”
Stark said one of the biggest prayer requests for Iraqi Christians is their fear about returning to predominantly Muslim areas.
“The really unfortunate side effect I’ve seen in a lot of Christians in Northern Iraq is they’ve lost trust in almost every single Muslim that they know. These Christians from Mosul are a great example. The reason they won’t go back to a place like Mosul is because they will be in the minority again. They only want to move to areas where Christians will be in the majority and they can feel a sense of security.”
Arrests of Criminal Illegal Aliens Follow President Trump’s Promise
Making good on President Trump’s promise, Immigration and Customs Enforcement made more than 200 arrests of criminal illegal aliens in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Kansas and Missouri by day’s end Friday, reports CNN.
The ICE enforcement operation targeted “criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants, and immigration fugitives,” the majority of those arrested “had criminal convictions” like child sex crimes, weapons or assault charges.
Senate Confirms Pro-Life Congressman Tom Price
The U.S. Senate confirmed pro-life Congressman Tom Price in a vote of 52-47 early Friday morning as the next secretary of Health and Human Services, reports LifeNews.com. The orthopedic surgeon with a 100% pro-life voting record according to the National Right to Life Committee was confirmed despite objections from Planned Parenthood and yet another Democratic filibuster.
Price is expected to lead the charge to roll out a replacement for Obamacare , which funds abortions.
Trump Considers Crafting New Immigration Ban
After a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, California shot down President Trump’s executive order 90-day ban of immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations, he said aboard Air Force One on Friday he is now considering crafting a “brand new order,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
President Trump Waffles On LGBT Order
President Donald Trump appears conflicted on the issue of homosexuality. On the one hand, he vowed to support the religious liberty of pastors at the February 2nd National Prayer Breakfast. A leaked draft of an executive order would instruct government departments to protect freedom of conscience for those who believe marriage is a union between one man and one woman. But, so far, the Trump administration has given no indication whether the president plans to sign the document.
Michael Brown, radio host and author of Outlasting the Gay Revolution, said social conservatives moved Trump to a more pro-life stance, but had less success on the marriage issue, reports World News Service. Brown said he believes Trump genuinely wants to protect religious freedom but has not decided how to separate that from his desire to appease the LGBT community.
Christian Pastor Reaches Settlement in Georgia Case
Three cheers for Dr. Eric Walsh! Justice was served and Georgia gave him $225,000 in a settlement after this Christian public health expert and lay preacher was fired by Georgia’s Department of Public Health in 2014 over his faith, reports the Christian Post.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council described Dr. Walsh’s initial firing as something he “would have expected to see in a totalitarian, Soviet-era Communist country, not America.”
Acts 5:29 says, “We must obey God rather than man.”
Did Dominican Republic Mistake Alec Baldwin for President Trump?
The Dominican Republic’s oldest newspaper El Nacional printed a photo on Friday of Alec Baldwin doing his impression of President Trump on “Saturday Night Live” in a lead article about Trump and Israel. The photo was used side-by-side with a photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The newspaper apologized for their use of the photo. It wasn’t clear whether they genuinely mistook Baldwin for Trump or they were trying to claim that Trump is just a caricature.
Meryl Streep Continues Criticism of the President
Meryl Streep continued her criticism of President Donald Trump, defended her now-infamous Golden Globes acceptance speech and vowed to “stand up” against “brownshirts” and “trolls” during her acceptance speech Saturday night at the pro-homosexual Human Rights Campaign’s annual New York City dinner gala, reports Breitbart.com
While accepting the National Ally for Equality Award at the dinner, the 67-year-old Oscar-winning actress lamented that “fundamentalists of every stripe” are seeking to undo the United States’ progress on civil rights and dedicated her honor to her homosexual and transgender teachers, mentors and colleagues.
“If we live through this precarious moment, if his catastrophic instinct to retaliate doesn’t lead us to nuclear winter, we will have much to thank our current leader for. He will have woken us up to how fragile freedom is.”
Streep noted that “the authority of the executive, in the hands of a self-dealer, can be wielded against the people, their Constitution and Bill of Rights. The whip of the executive, through a Twitter feed, can lash and intimidate, punish and humiliate, delegitimize the press and imagined enemies with spasmodic regularity and easily provoked predictability.”
Chicago-Based Restaurants Selling Cookies for Planned Parenthood
A handful of Chicago-based restaurants are baking cookies and selling them through February 24, with the proceeds benefitting the abortion group Planned Parenthood, reports the Chicago Eater.
While the Planned Parenthood of Illinois Bake Sale website inaccurately claims that the killing machine is “an amazing organization”, LifeNews.com notes that Planned Parenthood is responsible for at least 6,803,782 abortion deaths of children since Roe vs. Wade in 1973.
Small Business Owner Confronts Sanders On Obama Care
When a small business owner named LaRonda Hunter told the self-avowed socialist Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during a CNN health care debate that Obamacare has been hurting her business, she got a lecture.
“I’m from Fort Worth, Texas. I own five Fantastic Sams hair salons. We employ between 45 and 48 employees. My original plan was to open more salons and employ more people. However, under Obamacare, it requires me to furnish health insurance if I employ more than 50 people.
“Unfortunately, the profit margin in my industry is very thin. My question to you, Senator Sanders, is how do I grow my business? How do I employ more Americans without either raising the prices to my customers or lowering wages to my employees?”
While Sanders lectured her about the need to provide it anyway, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas had a more empathetic response.
“There are millions of small businesses in the exact situation you’re in. You know, a couple of months ago, I was out in west Texas, was visiting a dairy farmer, driving around the dairy farm. But the farmer brought up, he said, you know how many employees I have? I said, no. He said I’ve got 49. He said, do you know why I have 49? And I said, yes, I do, because Obamacare kicks in at 50. And he said, I could hire 20 or 30 more employees right now, but Obamacare would bankrupt my business, and that’s millions of small businesses.”
6.7 Earthquake Strikes Philippines
A powerful nighttime 6.7-magnitude earthquake in the southern Philippines killed at least six people, mostly after being struck by falling debris and concrete walls, and injured more than 120, reports Fox News.
Grammy Award Winner Speaks Against Human Trafficking
Grammy Award-winner Joel Smallbone is speaking out against human trafficking, reports TheBlaze.com. You might recall the movie and book which came out last fall entitled “Priceless: She’s Worth Fighting For.”
The chorus of the song Priceless (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu5HGgrskQg) by “For King and Country” is a beautiful, Biblical anthem to every young lady who has been the victim of sexual trafficking, speaking to their value in God’s eyes.
“I see you dressed in white, every wrong made right
I see a rose in bloom, at the sight of you
I see you dressed in white, every wrong made right
I see a rose in bloom, at the sight of you, oh so priceless
you’re irreplaceable, unmistakable, incomparable, darling it’s beautiful
I see it all in you, oh so priceless”
Lego Movie Beats Out Fifty Shades Darker
The Lego Batman Movie, by Warner Brothers, won the Valentine’s Day weekend box-office race with $55.6 million from 4,088 theaters over the sexually perverted sequel Fifty Shades Darker at $46.8 million from 3,710 theaters. Sometimes nice guys do finish first!
Christian Faith Under Attack in France
Anti-Christian attacks in France rose by 38 percent in 2016, according to The Observatoire de la Christianophobie, reports Breitbart.com. Instances of “Christianophobic” attacks in France rose from 273 in 2015 to 376 in 2016, with a significant number happening in December. These include attacks on churches, other places of worship, and threats on social media.
The worst anti-Christian attack that happened in 2016 was the murder of an elderly Catholic priest named Jacques Hamel by two Islamists who slashed his throat.
Tragic Texas Obituary
A Texas man’s obituary has gone viral, but not for reasons that reflect kindly on him or his life’s work.
Leslie Ray “Popeye” Charming of Galveston, Texas, apparently didn’t earn the respect of his family throughout his 74-year-long life before he died of cancer on January 30. His family didn’t hold back in his lengthy obituary, which was originally displayed on the Carnes Funeral Home website.
“Leslie Ray ‘Popeye’ Charping was born in Galveston on November 20, 1942 and passed away January 30, 2017, which was 29 years longer than expected and much longer than he deserved….He leaves behind 2 relieved children; … along with six grandchildren and countless other victims including an ex-wife, relatives, friends, neighbors, doctors, nurses and random strangers.
“At a young age, Leslie quickly became a model example of bad parenting combined with mental illness and a complete commitment to drinking, drugs, womanizing and being generally offensive.”
The obituary mentioned Charping’s military service, but expressed it was certainly not for love of country, but to get out of a prison sentence instead. “Leslie enlisted to serve in the Navy, but not so much in a brave and patriotic way, but more as part of a plea deal to escape sentencing on criminal charges.”
It went on to describe Charping’s history of wasting his family’s money and even being abusive. “Leslie was surprisingly intelligent, however he lacked ambition and motivation to do anything more than being reckless, wasteful, squandering the family savings and fantasizing about get rich quick schemes. Leslie’s hobbies included being abusive to his family, expediting trips to heaven for the beloved family pets.”
One of the authors of Charming’s obituary told KTRK-TV that the family made the decision to publish the obituary, primarily to bring closure and also bring attention to domestic violence issue.
Hawaii Pro-Lifers Fighting Abortion Bills
Hawaii state lawmakers hope to make their state the next to force pregnancy care centers to promote abortion, reports LifeNews.com. The Democrats are trying to mandate that pro-life centers, under threat of a $500 fine, reject their very mission statement and post on the wall or hand their clients a pro-abortion statement.
Stacey Jimenez, director of A Place for Women, explained that the bills would violate the center’s freedom of religion and freedom of speech, saying, “We have had women come through our classes who have been infertile as a result of their abortion. … We shouldn’t be in a position to refer out for one of the very things that we offer recovery classes for.”
Christian Faith of Eight American Presidents Documented
As this President’s Day approaches on February 20th, ChristianHeadlines.com documents the Christian faith of eight of them.
John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, wrote, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
And, in a surprisingly candid quote, biographer William J. Johnstone (Abraham Lincoln, the Christian) quotes Abraham Lincoln who wrote, “When I left Springfield, Illinois I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus.”
Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”
President Grover Cleveland Leaves Behind Godly Legacy
President Grover Cleveland, who served two non-consecutive terms, married while in office and had five children. His oldest daughter, Ruth, popularly known as Baby Ruth, died at the age of 12 from diphtheria. Cleveland deeply grieved Ruth’s passing, but looked to God for comfort.
He wrote in his diary: “God has come to my help and I am able to adjust my thought to dear Ruth’s death with as much comfort as selfish humanity will permit.”
And that’s The World View in 5 Minutes.