It’s Thursday, April 10th, A.D. 2025. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 125 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
Sharp rise in persecution of Christians in Pakistan
A new report from Human Rights Focus Pakistan documented a sharp rise in victimization rates against religious minorities in Pakistan during the first three months of this year.
Religious minorities, including Christians, faced more attacks, murders, blasphemy charges, abductions, forced conversions, and forced marriages.
Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, said, “Pakistan’s latest wave of atrocities against Christians in 2025 is not an aberration — it’s a grotesque culmination of centuries of state-sanctioned brutality and indifference.” As of January, at least 20 Christians have been imprisoned for their faith in the Islamic country.
Pakistan is ranked eighth on the Open Doors’ World Watch List of nations where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Barcelona, Spain looking to close 17 Evangelical churches
Evangelical Focus reports that 17 Evangelical churches are facing the threat of closure in Barcelona, Spain. This comes as the local government plans urban development that will affect buildings that churches own or rent.
The Evangelical Council of Catalonia warns this could leave thousands of believers without a place to worship. Guillem Correa, the executive director of the group, said, “We understand that the case affects freedom of worship, and what characterizes the exercise of this right is that people can meet in the place of worship throughout the week. Without this, there is no religious freedom and no community life.”
Man guilty of targeting churches with fake bombs
In the United States, a federal jury returned a guilty verdict last Thursday for a 45-year-old man convicted of targeting churches.
Zimnako Salah left fake bombs at churches in Arizona and California in 2023. Authorities discovered he was also building an actual bomb.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “This Department of Justice has no tolerance for anyone who targets religious Americans for their faith. The perpetrator of this abhorrent hate crime against Christians will face severe punishment.”
Psalm 5:4-6 says, “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”
Trump’s 90-day pause on tariffs except China
President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs for imports from most nations yesterday.
Trump’s baseline tariff of 10% remains in place. Meanwhile, much of the additional “reciprocal” tariffs are on hold as countries negotiate with the United States.
CNBC carried Trump’s remarks on the White House lawn to reporters.
TRUMP: “Last year, China made $1 trillion off trade with the United States. That’s not right. And now I’ve reversed it for a short period of time, but we’re making now $2 billion a day. Somebody had to do it.
“Charles Schwab was here a little while ago, one of the great financial people. He said he’s been waiting for 40 years for somebody to do what I did over the last month, and if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have a country. It wouldn’t be sustainable.
“So, I’m honored to have done it. Nothing is over yet, but we have tremendous amount of spirit from other countries, including China. China wants to make a deal. They just don’t know how quite to go about it. They’re proud people. President Xi is a proud man. I know him very well, and they don’t know quite how to go about it, but they’ll figure it out. They want to make a deal.
“We have many other countries, as you know. Many more than 75. They’re all calling, ‘How do we do this?’ They all want to make a deal. I did a 90-day pause for the people that didn’t retaliate, because I told them, ‘If you retaliate, we’re going to double it.’ And that’s what I did with China, because they did retaliate.”
Indeed, China was the one country which is not getting relief. Trump said he would raise tariffs on imports from China to 125%.
TRUMP: “They will be fair deals for everybody, but they weren’t fair to the United States. They were sucking us dry, and you can’t do that. We have $36 trillion of debt for a reason. People took advantage of our country, and they ripped us off for decades.”
Stocks surge
U.S. stock markets surged in response to Trump’s 90-day pause on tariffs.
The S&P 500 rose 8.5% yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up over 7%, and the Nasdaq Composite surged 11%.
Big tech companies led much of the stock market rally. Nvidia stock was up 15%. Tesla was up 17%. And Apple, Amazon, and Meta were up about 10%.
Lowe’s closes on Resurrection Sunday
Lowe’s is closing its stores nationwide for this coming Resurrection Sunday.
The home improvement chain will close its 1,700 locations on April 20 and give its 300,000 employees a paid day off.
Lowe’s CEO Marvin Ellison said, “In recognition of our teams’ continued hard work, we are pleased to provide a well-deserved day off so they can spend Easter with their loved ones.”
It’s the sixth year in a row that Lowe’s has done this.
Send a thank you note to Marvin Ellison to let him know you appreciate that. Send it to: Marvin Ellison, Lowe’s, 1000 Lowe’s Blvd, Mooresville, NC 28117.
66% of U.S. adults have made a personal commitment to Jesus
And finally, George Barna released its State of the Church 2025 report.
The study found 66% of U.S. adults say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today, That’s up from 54% in 2021 but similar to what it was 20 years ago.
This growth was fueled by young people, especially young men.
Sixty to seventy percent of men from the Gen Z and Millennial cohorts said they have made a personal commitment to follow Jesus that is still important today.
However, many who made these commitments don’t necessarily identify as Christian, indicating a patchwork of religious beliefs and identities.
Lamentations 3:40-41 reminds us, “Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the LORD; let us lift our hearts and hands to God in Heaven.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview on this Thursday, April 10th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Subscribe for free by Amazon Music or 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.