It’s Wednesday, June 28th, A.D. 2023. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com)
By Jonathan Clark
Indian pastor: “We feel like strangers in our own land.”
The U.K.’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief has shared a report on Christian persecution in India.
The report looks at recent violence in India’s Manipur State. The violence had “a clear religious dimension” as radical Hindus destroyed hundreds of churches and Christian villages. 66,000 people have been displaced, many of whom are Christians.
A local pastor shared, “Our churches are being burned down, and we have not been able to gather together for worship or prayer since May 3rd, 2023. We feel like strangers in our own land, and we are, in effect, being required to choose between our faith or our land.”
Global Christian Relief has opened two emergency relief centers in a nearby Indian state, offering food, shelter, clothing, and medicine.
For $70, you can help one Indian brother or sister in Christ.
German pro-life victory
A top court in Germany delivered a victory for pro-lifers last week.
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig ruled that banning peaceful prayer vigils outside abortion mills violates constitutional rights to freedom of assembly.
Alliance Defending Freedom represented a German-based 40 Days for Life chapter in the case. Germany’s Federal Minister for Family Affairs has been pushing for censorship zones around abortion mills.
Pavica Vojnović with 40 Days for Life said, “I am grateful that we can continue our prayer vigils. Every human life is precious and deserves protection.”
Proverbs 24:11 says, “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.”
Update on Timotheos Foundation Malawi story
Yesterday, The Worldview reported on a law in Malawi, Africa that bans homosexual relations.
The law is being challenged by a missionary named Jan Willem Akstar. He was charged with homosexual behavior in 2020 while working with the Timotheos Foundation.
As an update to the story, the Timotheos Foundation let Akstar go as soon as they heard of the allegations against him. And he is no longer connected to the Timotheos Foundation Malawi.
Disney has lost $900 million on last 8 films
Valliant Renegade, a box office analyst, reports Disney has lost nearly $900 million on its last eight studio releases.
The releases include Lightyear, Thor: Love and Thunder, Strange World, The Little Mermaid, and Elemental. Many of the films contained homosexual or transgender elements.
Altogether, the latest releases cost the entertainment giant $2.75 billion, while only bringing in $1.86 billion.
This year, Disney has laid off about 7,000 employees as it tries to cut costs.
Your son’s purity
Today, as I guest host Generations Radio, I chat for a third and final time with Rhonda Stoppe, author of Moms Raising Sons to Be Men. She offers Biblical insight for moms on how to navigate the turbulent waters of adolescence.
We tackle three helpful chapters entitled:
- Impart the Vision: The Man He Will Become
- Tools for Autonomy: Equipped for Independence
- Even If You Don’t Know What to Say: How to Talk to Your Son about Sex and Purity.
STOPPE: “When you enter into a sexual relationship with anyone that’s not your spouse, it quenches the Spirit in your heart and your mind and your life. And now you’re no longer led by the Spirit.
“Now, you marry someone because you’ve just been having sex with them and you figure that it’s the next thing to do. But you don’t know if that’s really what God would have for you.
“Because if you’re a believer, you are sinning against God. You’re quenching the leading, the guidance of the very One who can lead you into a relationship of lifelong love with a spouse that can love you with Christ’s love. But once you start having sex, now, your best bet is your best bet. And so talking that through with our kids, instead of just saying because it’s wrong, and God said, ‘No!’ Like, okay, why? God’s a good Father, and this is what He has for you.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 asks, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, Who is in you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.”
To hear my entire 41-minute interview, go to Generations.org/radio.
U.S. church attendance down since COVID
And finally, Gallup reports U.S. church attendance is showing a small but noticeable decline since the COVID-19 pandemic.
For decades, Gallup has asked Americans if they have attended religious services in the last seven days. The percentage who said “yes” stood at an all-time high of 49% in the 1950s. That number decreased to 40% by the 1970s and plateaued until the mid 2000s. Since then, attendance has dropped significantly.
Only 34% of U.S. adults attended services during the years leading up to the pandemic. And now, it’s down to 31%!
Since 2020, Protestant attendance dropped from 44% to 40%, and Catholic attendance dropped from 37% o 30%.
In Romans 11:4-5, Paul asked, “But what does the divine response say to him? ‘I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
Close
And that’s The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Wednesday, June 28th in the year of our Lord 2023. 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.