It’s Monday, April 27th, A.D. 2020. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
Persecution of Christians is not on lockdown
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, some governments are taking advantage of this crisis to tighten their grip on already vulnerable Christian communities or to deny them food aid. Unfortunately, persecution is not on lockdown. This has left some Christians on the brink of starvation, reports International Christian Concern.
For example, in one village alone, 100 Christian families in Pakistan were denied food aid from the government. That’s why International Christian Concern is stepping in to provide emergency food packages in three nations desperate for help: India, Pakistan, and “Country X,” (unnamed for security reasons). This is a crisis situation. Please prayerfully consider giving if you are able through a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com.
1 John 3:17 says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?”
Will a woman take over North Korea?
North Korea’s male-dominated Kim dynasty may be about to hand over the keys of the Hermit Kingdom to a woman, reports the New York Post.
With speculation that Kim Jong Un might have died or be in a vegetative state after having a stent implanted in his heart last month, all eyes have turned to his sister and closest confidant, Kim Yo Jong, as his most likely successor.
She shares her brother’s secrecy, penchant for lashing out against political adversaries, and has a reputation for aggressively pushing North Korean propaganda.
Trump’s re-election bid in trouble over COVID-hobbled economy
President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak, the worsening economy, and a cascade of ominous public and private polling have Republicans increasingly nervous that they are at risk of losing the presidency and the Senate if President Trump does not put the nation on a radically improved course, reports the New York Times.
The scale of the G.O.P.’s challenge has crystallized in the last week. With 26 million Americans now having filed for unemployment benefits, Mr. Trump’s standing in states that he carried in 2016 looks increasingly wobbly: New surveys show him trailing significantly in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, and he is even narrowly behind in must-win Florida.
CDC triples coronavirus symptoms
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tripled the number of coronavirus symptoms it lists on its website, reports the Sacramento Bee.
In addition to fever, cough and shortness of breath, the additional symptoms of COVID-19 include “chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and new loss of taste or smell.”
Michigan Democrat Rep censured for thanking Trump
Michigan Democrat state Rep. Karen Whitsett, who recently survived a bout with coronavirus, thanked President Donald Trump for recommending the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine which she said saved her life, reports Fox News.
Sadly, a group called the 13th Congressional District Democratic Party censured Rep. Whitsett for daring to say something nice about the Republican President, reports the Detroit Free-Press.
WHITSETT: “I got the news that I will be censured by the 13th congressional district just for simply thanking the President of the United States for taking care of me and ensuring that I had the quality health care that I needed with hydroxychloroquine. A simple thank you has gotten me censured. Can you believe that? I thought I have First Amendment rights, but I guess I don’t. The Democratic Party is showing me that I don’t.”
The gradual reopening of U.S. economy will be bumpy
Georgia, Oklahoma, Alaska, and South Carolina have already taken steps to restart their economies. But it appears to be a bumpy road ahead since there are so many interlocking pieces in the U.S. economy, reports DNYUZ.
For example, how can one factory reopen when its suppliers remain shuttered? Or how can parents return to work when schools are still closed?
Diane Swonk, chief economist for the accounting firm Grant Thornton, warned, “It’s going to take much longer to thaw the economy than it took to freeze it.”
Colorado, Mississippi, Minnesota, Montana and Tennessee will begin to reopen without the testing and contact-tracing infrastructure health experts say is needed to prevent a resurgence of infections.
Samaritan’s Purse bashed for being Christian despite help in crisis
In his Christian Post column, radio talk show host Michael Brown wrote, “It was bad enough that Franklin Graham’s evangelistic ministry in the UK was opposed because of his pro-Bible comments regarding sexuality and marriage. These days, that is the price for taking a stand for biblical truth and for opposing radical LGBTQ revisionism.
“But it’s far worse when Graham’s humanitarian arm, Samaritan’s Purse, which selflessly serves the sick and hurting worldwide, is opposed because their statement of faith is Christian. What on earth has happened to our society?
“As John Hirschauer noted in the National Review, ‘the volunteers for Samaritan’s Purse put themselves in harm’s way, acting as backstops for a municipal hospital system at risk of being overrun with coronavirus patients. The group’s Evangelical Christian volunteers expose themselves to infection and disease at no charge to patients, treating the sick without regard to race, religion, sexual orientation, or any of the other identity groups under putative ‘siege’ in the United States.’
“Yet [on] Tuesday, April 15, NBC News reported that, ‘a group of LGBTQ activists stood several yards away from the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital on the East Meadow lawn and blasted city and state officials and Mount Sinai Hospital for partnering with the evangelical humanitarian relief organization treating overflow patients suffering from the coronavirus.’”
Priscilla Shirer: “Don’t let Satan discourage God’s people”
And finally, Priscilla Shirer, the daughter of Rev. Tony Evans, encouraged Christians to use the coronavirus pandemic as a time to “stand firm against the schemes of the enemy,” warning that Satan will use every opportunity to “discourage God’s people”, reports the Christian Post.
She said, “God is who He says He is. He’s still seated on the throne, and He is not shaken by what shakes us. … We have to then choose: Are we going to operate like victors or are we going to operate like the victims that the enemy wants?”
Romans 8:37 reminds us that “in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Monday, April 27th 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 Christ.
Print stories
COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York down dramatically
New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that hospitalizations in the state continue to decline amid the coronavirus pandemic, reports TheHill.com.
On Friday, 1,100 people were admitted to hospitals in New York. Cuomo said the state is trying to find out how it can return to a point where only hundreds of people are entering hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms daily.
CUOMO: “We are back where we were 21 days ago. 21 days of hell. But we’re back to where we were. What we need to find out is when we will be back to the point where only several hundred people showed up at the hospitals every day with a COVID infection.”
Right now, nearly 1 million Americans have the coronavirus and 55,000 Americans have died.
Plant shutdowns will lead to meat shortage
Plant shutdowns are leaving the U.S. dangerously close to meat shortages as coronavirus outbreaks now spread to suppliers across the Americas, reports Bloomberg.
Almost a third of U.S. pork capacity is down, the first big poultry plants closed on Friday and experts are warning that domestic shortages are just weeks away. Brazil, the world’s No. 1 shipper of chicken and beef, saw its first major closure with the halt of a poultry plant owned by JBS SA, the world’s biggest meat company.
Taken together, the U.S., Brazil and Canada account for about 65% of world meat trade.
Brett Stuart, president of Denver-based consulting firm Global AgriTrends, said, “It’s a lose-lose situation where we have producers at the risk of losing everything and consumers at the risk of paying higher prices. Restaurants in a week could be out of fresh ground beef.”
1,000 food inspectors are off job
Almost 1,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture food inspectors, or about 15% of the workforce, are off the job as the coronavirus outbreak left workers sick, quarantined or facing a high risk to health, figures provided by the union showed, reports Bloomberg.
The ranks of ailing employees from the USDA’s Food Safety & Inspection Service swelled as the virus roils the nation’s meat industry, spurring shortage concerns.