It’s Friday, July 15th, A.D. 2022. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus.
By Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
Iranian gov’t confiscated Christian retreat center
Recently, the Iranian government has begun renovation of a Protestant church-owned retreat center, which the Muslim state confiscated and intends to repurpose, reports International Christian Concern.
The center, the Garden of Sharon in Karaj, has belonged to the Iranian Assemblies of God since the early 1970s.
Originally purchased with donations from church members, the confiscated 10,000-square-meter plot of land is valued at nearly $3 million dollars and has been used by Christians for children’s camps and family retreats.
Iran is the ninth most difficult country in the world to be a Christian.
Court grants Air Force members relief from COVID-shot mandate
On Thursday, a federal district court in Ohio, led by Judge Matthew McFarland, has granted a temporary restraining order for the entire class of the U.S Air Force against President Biden’s unlawful Department of Defense COVID-shot mandate, reports Liberty Counsel.
Thousands of these service members, who oppose receiving the COVID-shot due to their sincerely held religious beliefs, have been denied their religious exemptions.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “This is a great decision that grants protection for the religious freedom for all Air Force personnel from Joe Biden’s unlawful COVID-shot mandate. No service member should be required to choose between service to the country and service to God. Liberty Counsel will be pursuing class-wide protection for the remaining branches of the military.”
Amos 5:24 says, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
TV station releases video inside Uvalde school
On Tuesday, July 12th, KVUE, the ABC affiliate in Austin, Texas, released video inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on the day 18-year-old Salvador Ramos freely entered the school and holed up in a classroom, where he killed 19 students and two teachers.
The video is taken from security cameras outside the school and inside a school hallway.
No one can be seen being shot. No blood is shown. Plus, the audio of the screams of the children and teachers has been muted. In fact, all but one of the Uvalde families wanted this video to be released to the public.
Three moments stand out.
First, after Ramos crashed a borrowed truck in a ditch near the school at 11:28 am on May 24th, two police officers went to investigate. When they see the armed gunman emerge from the truck, they run away at full speed, one of them tripping on the ground.
Second, a little boy emerges in the hallway, after having exited the bathroom, sees the gunman at 11:33am and the resulting gunfire into the classroom. He runs down another hallway.
Third, while a variety of law enforcement personnel were present from several agencies, it takes them a heartbreaking full hour to breach the classroom and shoot Ramos dead who had been hiding in a closet after the murders.
KVUE Senior Investigative Reporter Tony Plohetski said this.
PLOHETSKI: “You see them talking on their cell phones. You can see them texting. At one point, they are clearly looking at what appears to be a diagram of the school and of that hallway.
“But the great unanswered question is, ‘Why they did not take more aggressive steps sooner?’ With experts telling us over the past several weeks that in a situation like that, what law enforcement is trained to do, are take any steps, possibly going through a window going through the roof, ripping out sheet rock. One expert said even if you must drive a car into the building, you have to do something!”
James 4:17 says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
Ivana Trump died
Ivana Trump, the Czech-American businesswoman and ex-wife of former President Donald Trump, died Thursday in Manhattan, reports the New York Post. She was 73, and appeared to have suffered from a cardiac arrest.
The 45th president announced the death of his first wife and mother of his three children, Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka, on his Truth Social platform.
He wrote, “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life. Her pride and joy were her three children. She was so proud of them, as we were all so proud of her. Rest In Peace, Ivana!”
Ivana Trump was a competitive skier in her youth, almost making the Olympic team by some accounts.
She worked as a model in the early ’70s, and met her future husband Donald Trump in New York City in 1976. They married a year later. The two divorced in 1992, but she kept her ex-husband’s famous surname. Ivana married a total of four times.
In a television interview during the Trump presidency, Ivana revealed that her ex-husband had offered her the ambassadorship to the Czech Republic.
IVANA: “I was just offered to be American Ambassador to Czech Republic. Donald told me, ‘Ivana, if you want it, I’ll give it to you. But I like my freedom. Okay. Why would I go and say bye bye to Miami in winter, bye-bye to San Tropez in the summer, and bye-bye to spring and fall in New York? I have a perfect life.”
6-year-old Idaho boy missing for a year
And finally, a week ago Friday, blue balloons were sent off into the sky in Fruitland, Idaho, with a population of 4,600 just 50 miles west of Boise, to honor Michael Vaughan, on his sixth birthday, almost a year since he’s been missing, reports KTVB7.
Michael was last seen around 6:30 p.m. on July 27, 2021 around SW 9th Street in Fruitland.
The heart cry of Michael’s mother, Brandi, is self-evident.
BRANDI: “Please, please bring Michael home. Please!”
Police Chief J.D. Huff has not released any names of persons of interest in this case, but he says they do have many. In describing this case as a criminal investigation, he believes Michael Vaughn was abducted.
However, Michael’s mother remains hopeful.
BRANDI: “Today is about his beautiful face and his life that was brought here to us six years ago. We are going to bring him home.”
Chief Huff said, “We are working through every lead and have been able to clear a large number of leads.”
Michael Vaughn’s father, Tyler, is determined to bring him home.
TYLER: “We will never give up. We have to stay vigilant.”
The reward for Michael’s safe return is more than $52,000.
Take a look at Michael Vaughn’s picture through a special link in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com. If you have any knowledge of his whereabouts, please call the Fruitland, Idaho Police Department at 208-642-6006, extension 0, or by email: findmichael@fruitland.org.
Please, add Michael Vaughn’s safe return to your prayer list.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Friday, July 15th, in the year of our Lord 2022. 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.