It’s Monday, July 13th, A.D. 2020. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
Christians in modern-day Ninevah
Aid to the Church in Need released a report last week, detailing the challenges faced by our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Nineveh Plains of Iraq after the defeat of the Islamic State.
Christians there face internal security issues, unemployment, and administrative corruption. Since the devastations of ISIS, the Christian population in the Nineveh Plains has fallen from 102,000 in 2014 to 36,000 today. The population could fall to 23,000 by 2024 based on emigration trends.
Please pray for these Iraqi Christians who now experience life as second-class citizens in the land of their ancestors just for their faith.
Turkey turning iconic former church into a mosque
Sadly, Turkey is turning the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul back into a mosque after a high court ruling last Friday.
Byzantine Emperor Justinian the Great built the famed cathedral nearly 1,500 years ago. About 500 years ago, the Ottoman Empire conquered the city, then known as Constantinople, and converted the Christian cathedral into a Muslim mosque. Since 1934, the structure has been a museum.
UNESCO decried the decision to turn the World Heritage Site into a place of Muslim worship.
Psalm 135:15, 18 says, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. … Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.”
European Union belatedly looking at religious persecution
European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas announced Wednesday that the EU would finally be renewing the function of Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief.
This follows months of delay as EU parliamentarians and campaign groups called for the renewal of the position in light of persistent persecution against religious minorities around the world.
Small Business Administration demands $60 million back from Planned Parenthood
Last week, the U.S. Small Business Administration released the names of the 650,000 companies that received relief aid during the COVID-19 pandemic, confirming that 43 Planned Parenthood affiliates received at least $60 million.
The Small Business Administration told Planned Parenthood to return the funds and that it could face severe penalties, but the abortion giant has not complied yet.
Trump revisits federal funding of leftist universities
President Donald Trump announced last Friday he has instructed the Treasury Department to re-examine the tax-exempt status and funding of many universities and school systems for being driven by “radical left indoctrination.”
During his July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore, Trump criticized the influence of the left-wing cultural revolution on education.
TRUMP: “The violent mayhem we have seen in the streets and cities that are run by liberal Democrats, in every case, is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism, and other cultural institutions. Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country, and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but were villains.”
Psalm 78:4 reminds us of the purpose of education. “We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.”
Supreme Court: States can insist that electors support state’s popular vote
Ahead of the November presidential election, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously last Monday that states can require presidential electors to support the candidate who won the state’s popular vote in the Electoral College.
The ruling upholds laws in 32 states that binds electors to the winning candidate in the state’s popular vote.
U.S. presidential candidates need 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
New York Times unfairly blames churches for dramatic rise in COVID cases
The New York Times published an article last Wednesday entitled “Churches Were Eager to Reopen. Now They Are a Major Source of Coronavirus Cases.”
However, the article found only 650 coronavirus cases linked to churches across the U.S. With about 3.2 million cases, the church-related cases amount to only 0.02 percent of cases.
Later, the New York Times updated their headline to simply “Churches Were Eager to Reopen. Now They Are Confronting Coronavirus Cases.”
Exodus 23:1 says, “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.”
U.S. COVID-19 deaths have fallen 20-fold
And finally, praise God for His mercies! Although U.S. COVID-19 cases have surged by a factor of three, deaths from the virus have fallen by a factor of nearly 20.
A month ago, the number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. was about 20,000 per day. That number has tripled now with new daily coronavirus cases at about 60,000 per day, according to the CDC.
However, the number of new weekly coronavirus-related deaths has actually gone down from 5,817 deaths during the first week of June to only 302 deaths over this past week.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Monday, July 13th, in the year of our Lord 2020. 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.