Monday, Independence Day, July 4th, in the year of our Lord 2016
By Adam McManus
Terror Attack in Baghdad
It was the deadliest terror attack in Iraq in a year and one of the worst single bombings in more than a decade of war. The Associated Press reports that the Islamic State blew up a truck yesterday morning in downtown Baghdad on a bustling commercial street, killing 115 people and wounding another 187. Many of the victims were women and children who were inside a multi-story shopping and amusement mall.
Donald Trump Addresses Conservatives in Denver
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump spoke at the Western Conservative Summit in Denver on Friday, the largest gathering of conservatives outside of Washington DC. The Summit was sponsored by Colorado Christian University, and featured Pastor John MacArthur, Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson, talk show host Hugh Hewitt, and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Trump promised massive tax cuts if he’s elected.
“We’re going to have massive tax reform and simplification, a big lowering of the taxes, the biggest of anybody by far. Hillary Clinton is raising your taxes! She’s raising your taxes substantially, and there won’t be simplification. We’re lowering your taxes, you watch what’s going to happen with the economy. We’re lowering your taxes, big league, and tremendous simplification.”
Trump in Process of Choosing a Running Mate
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is Donald Trump’s first choice for vice president, according to a report from The Blaze. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stands in second place. And the same attorney who vetted former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for VP in 2008 is vetting Gingrich and Christie.
Trump Calls for Charges Against Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump is calling for charges to be filed against Hillary Clinton after she met with the FBI for 3 hours about sending classified information through her private email server.
Decision America Tour Comes to Olympia, Washington
On June 30th, Franklin Graham brought his Decision America Tour to Olympia, Washington.
“I am running a campaign, but it’s a campaign to put God back in the political process, okay? They said in the last election 20-30 million Christians stayed home.”
The Seattle Times reported that Graham said, “You’re just going to have to ask yourself which of the two do you think we as Christians will at least have a voice with?. . . Now, you might have to hold your nose.”
Percentage of Americans Believing in God Down 7% from 1944 According to Gallup
A new Gallup poll has found that 89 percent of Americans say they believe in God, according to the Christian Post. When Gallup first asked the question in 1944, that number was 96%.
English Millennials Object to Brexit
CNN reports that 50,000 English, mainly millennials, took to the streets of London on Saturday, objecting to the 52-48 percent vote in favor of Britain leaving the European Union.
ChristianMingle.com Opens to Homosexuals After Being Sued
After they were sued by two homosexuals, the on-line Christian dating site ChristianMingle.com has agreed in court to opening up the service to homosexuals. The plaintiffs claimed the privately owned website violated California’s anti-discrimination law according to the Wall Street Journal report.
Nonetheless, the Word of God still reminds us, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Leviticus 18:22)
Auschwitz Survivor Elie Wiesel Dies
Elie Wiesel, the Auschwitz survivor who became an eloquent witness for the six million Jews slaughtered in World War II, died on Saturday at 87 at his home in Manhattan, reports the New York Times.
The author of 60 books, including the 10-million-copy bestseller Night, Wiesel was liberated from the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp at the age of 16. On the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Holocaust Memorial Museum three years ago, Wiesel spoke about the heroic people who resisted the Nazis.
“I remember I was going from one to the other; members of the Resistance in Poland, and in Hungary, and in everywhere; I said, ‘Tell me, what gave you the courage to resist? What gave you the courage to become a hero?’ And all of them answered me, ‘We, heroes? We were not heroic at all.’ And one said, ‘Look, if a child was running in the street, how could I not open the door, to save him or her?’ And I said to myself, ‘Woe unto us; in those times it was enough to be human, to become a hero!”
Those gutsy heroes of The Resistance during the Nazi Final Solution lived out the command of Proverbs 24:11 to “rescue those being led away to death.”
Russian Legislation Passes Bill Prohibiting Evangelism Outside Churches
Russian Christians are praying for President Vladimir Putin like never before. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, the country’s upper legislative house passed measures prohibiting Christians from evangelizing or handing out evangelistic literature other than inside their own churches. If Putin signs the bills into law, a Russian could even be fined if they share their faith in their own home or on line, and foreigners will be deported, reported Religion Today.
Lebanese Christian Women Arm Themselves After Recent Terrorist Attacks
Christian women in Lebanon are fighting back. The Christian Post reports that the day after eight Islamic terrorists killed five and wounded many others in suicide attacks in the predominantly Christian border village of Qaa, Christian women in the town were photographed patrolling the streets armed with assault rifles. “Jihadists think they go to Hell if they are killed by women,” said one anonymous woman. “We will send them straight to Hell.”
Declaration of Independence Complained About Tyranny
On this July 4th, I remind you that the Declaration of Independence ratified on this day in 1776, complained about “the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states” and that all men have been “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
And that’s The World View in Five Minutes.