It’s Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, February 14th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark and Adam McManus
The persecution of Christians in Yemen
Open Doors reports that Christians in Yemen are facing increased persecution after the latest Israel-Hamas conflict broke out four months ago.
Since then, the Houthis, a Muslim terrorist group in Yemen, have supported Hamas by attacking commercial ships headed to Israel.
Christians in Yemen have become scapegoats for the group’s anger over the Israel-Hamas conflict. Samuel, a Christian convert from the country, said, “With the international situation with Israel, life for Christians in Yemen will become so much harder. … People will tell Houthis who the Christians are to make them happy. Then, they will start to punish the Christians to make the people happy.”
Yemen is ranked fifth on the Open Doors’ World Watch List of nations where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
House impeached Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
On February 13th, House Republicans successfully impeached Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas —the first cabinet official to be impeached in nearly 150 years, reports The Epoch Times. He became only the second presidential cabinet member ever to be impeached in the 236-year history of the United States government.
Mayorkas, who was appointed by President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Democratic Senate in 2021, was impeached on two counts relating to his handling of the border crisis by a vote of 214–213, with all but three Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats opposing the action.
Former Secretary of War George Belknap resigned in 1876 after the House passed five counts of impeachment against him. However, the Senate failed to convict Belknap, who was appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), who was absent from the vote last week due to being treated for blood cancer, cast the deciding vote yesterday.
The three Republicans who opposed the impeachment resolution last week opposed it the second time around. The trio includes Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado, Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, and Rep. Tom McLintock of California. You can express your frustration with those three Republicans by calling their offices through special links in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com.
The 20-page Impeachment Resolution contained two articles with multiple examples of laws that Mayorkas is alleged to have ignored or refused to enforce and illustrations of his blocking congressional oversight, including not producing requested copies of documents.
Senator Kennedy vs. Secretary Mayorkas on southern border
In a March 28, 2023 House Judiciary Committee hearing, Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana expressed frustration with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Listen.
KENNEDY: “Did you just parachute in from another planet, Mr. Secretary? Because you’re the only person in the Milky Way who believes that we’re not having massive, massive illegal immigration into America?”
MAYORKAS: “Senator, you’re putting words into my mouth.”
KENNEDY: “No sir. I am accurately describing the situation.”
MAYORKAS: “There is no question that we have a very serious challenge at our southern border.”
KENNEDY: “We can agree on that. Let me ask you another question. Why don’t you just declare a new policy that, other than children, if you present at the southern border, you claim political asylum, and you haven’t claimed political asylum at the first safe country, then you can’t come in. It would work. If you’re coming from Venezuela, and you come through Mexico, if you didn’t claim asylum in Mexico, you can’t come here. You have to leave. Why don’t you just do that?”
MAYORKAS: “Well, Senator, let me give you an example with respect to Mexico. A Safe Third Country Agreement …”
KENNEDY: “You don’t have to have an agreement with Mexico.”
MAYORKAS: “Yes, you do.”
KENNEDY: “No, you don’t.”
MAYORKAS: “I believe you do, Senator.”
KENNEDY: “You don’t. That would stop all the folks from the Northern Triangle countries [of Central America], all the folks from Venezuela, all the folks from Cuba, all the folks from the Middle East from coming into our country. You have to seek it in Mexico, or the other first safe third country, or you can’t come in. Period. Done. End of story. Why don’t you do that?”
MAYORKAS: “I don’t think that we have the unilateral authority…”
KENNEDY: “Sure you do. Other countries do it.”
MAYORKAS: “Number one. Number two …”
KENNEDY: “Try sneaking into China. … You don’t want to do it, Mr. Secretary. That’s what it’s beginning to look like because you think our borders ought to be open. And it would be more intellectually honest if you just say that.”
MAYORKAS: “That is false.”
KENNEDY: “I don’t agree with you. You have to watch, up here, what people do, not what they say, and everything else is just cottage cheese!”
Town officials upset with pastor for helping the homeless
City officials in Ohio agreed to drop charges against a pastor who took action to care for the homeless.
Pastor Chris Avell of “Dad’s Place” in Bryan, Ohio started helping the vulnerable last year. He noticed the city’s homeless shelter was often full.
In response, city officials ordered Avell to not allow overnight guests and then filed nearly 20 criminal charges against him.
First Liberty represented Avell in his case against the city. He said, “The ministry of the church is not confined to Sunday morning. … We welcome anyone to experience the love and truth of Jesus, regardless of the time of day. … Bryan is my home. I am eager to continue to serve God, my community, and the people I love.”
1 John 3:17-18 asks, “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? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth.”
Valentine’s Day birthed through Christian martyr’s death
And finally, have you ever wondered why we celebrate Valentine’s Day on February 14th?
Well, Pastor Valentine or Valentinus was a clergyman in the Roman Empire who lived during the reign of Claudius Gothicus or Claudius II. Because the Emperor was having difficulty getting young men to volunteer to serve in the army to fight his wars, he prohibited marriage which would further hurt the conscription rate.
Pastor Valentine, who celebrated God’s love and Biblical love between husband and wife, secretly married Christian couples in the forest which ultimately led to his arrest and imprisonment.
While Claudius took a liking to Pastor Valentinus, the bold preacher tried to convert the Emperor which resulted in a sentence of death.
In Romans 10:14, the Apostle Paul asks, “How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”
Valentine was beaten with clubs and stones. And when that failed to kill him, Valentine was beheaded on February 14, A.D. 269. And now you know the rest of the story.
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Valentine’s Day, Wednesday, February 14th in the year of our Lord 2024. 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.