It’s Monday, September 23rd, A.D. 2024. 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 Adam McManus

Indonesian church denied building permit for 10 years

For 10 long years now, the 600 members of Christ Congregation Millenium Peace Church have gathered on an empty plot of land in the Kartasura District in Indonesia to worship God. They set up a large tent to shield themselves from the scorching sun and lay mats down on the ground.

The Muslim-majority Indonesian government refuses to grant their request for a building permit to construct their desperately needed church building, reports International Christian Concern.

Pastor Ari Suksmono said the congregation purchased land 11 years ago and requested the permit the following year.

Despite the man-made obstacles, these believers recognize the truth of Psalm 96:4 which says, “For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.”

Please pray that the Indonesian government would grant their request to build the sanctuary for Christ Congregation Millenium Peace Church.

Oprah Winfrey interviews Kamala Harris in campaign “infomercial”

Last Thursday, in a Town Hall meeting  called Unite for America that felt more like a Democratic infomercial, Oprah Winfrey interviewed Kamala Harris in Farmington Hills, Michigan, reported the New York Post.

Early on, an audience member asked about the open border.

AUDIENCE MEMBER #1: “What would be specific steps to strengthening the border?”

HARRIS: “So, it's a wonderful and important question. You know, my background was as a prosecutor, and I was also the elected Attorney General for two terms of a border state. So, this is not a theoretical issue for me. This is something I've actually worked on.”

AUDIENCE MEMBER #1: “Right.”

HARRIS: “I have prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns, drugs and human beings, I take very seriously the importance of having a secure border and ensuring the safety of the American people.”

Oddly enough, Kamala failed to talk about what she has done for the last three and a half years as Vice President and Biden’s Border Czar.

According to the American Federation for Immigration Reform, the total number of illegal aliens encountered since Fiscal Year 2020 now stands at over 9.4 million. There are at least 16.8 million illegal aliens in the United States, as of the beginning of 2023, which has led to a skyrocketing rise in fentanyl deaths and illegal violent crime.

Kamala Harris sidesteps question on bad economy

Another audience member asked Kamala Harris about the economy.

AUDIENCE MEMBER #2: “We are, like many young Americans, experiencing a very high cost of living. …Our mortgage is incredibly higher than what we thought it would be. We really would love to know what your plan is to help lower the cost of living.”

HARRIS: “Yours is a story I hear around the country as I travel in terms of both rightly having the right to have aspirations and dreams and ambitions for your family and working hard and finding that the American Dream, for this generation and so many recently, far more elusive than it's been. And we need to deal with that, and there are a number of ways. One is bringing down the cost of everyday necessities, including groceries.”

Under Kamala Harris, who has been Vice President for the last three and a half years, grocery prices are up 25% and inflation is up 17%. Forget about what her plan is for the next four years, she didn’t do it in the last four years.

Kamala Harris in trouble with staff over saying she would use gun

On guns, Kamala surprised Oprah.

HARRIS:  “I'm a gun owner. Tim Walz is a gun owner.”

WINFREY: “I did not know that.”

HARRIS: “If they break in my house, they're probably going to get shot.”

WINFREY: “Yes, yes. I hear that. I hear that.”

HARRIS: “Sorry. Probably should not have said that. (laughs) but my staff will deal with that later.” (laughs)

Most Americans believe we have the right to defend ourselves and our property. Why would she be in trouble with her staff? Because Kamala Harris has advocated for gun-grabbing policies that violate the Second Amendment.

Kamala claims Founding Fathers driven by abortion and gay marriage

And, at the very end of the 90-minute infomercial for Kamala, Oprah asked this.

WINFREY: “What is on your heart to say to the American people, as we have 47 days until November 5? What's on your heart to say to particularly those people who are still undecided or maybe indifferent or on the fence still?”

HARRIS: “I love our country. I know we all do. That's why everybody's here right now. We love our country. We take pride in the privilege of being America. This is a moment where we can and must come together as Americans, understanding we have so much more in common than what separates us. Let's come together with the character that we are so proud of about who we are, which is we are an optimistic people.

“Americans, by character, are people who have dreams and ambitions and aspirations. We believe in what is possible. We believe in what can be, and we believe in fighting for that.

“That's how we came into being, because the people before us understood that one of the greatest expressions of patriotism is to fight for the ideals of who we are, which includes freedom to make decisions about your own body, freedom to be safe from gun violence, freedom to have access to the ballot box, freedom to be who you are and to love who you love openly and with pride, freedom to just be you.”

WINFREY: “mmm”

Matt Walsh: Kamala Harris is "nonsensical and evil!"

Christian commentator Matt Walsh offered this analysis.

WALSH:  “It's nonsensical and vapid and quite verbose in the emptiest and most shallow way possible. But at the core of it, to the extent that she's saying anything at all, what she's saying is also twisted and evil.

“Because the only parts that were intelligible were the parts where she says that America is built on abortion, gay marriage and gun confiscation -- the three things that the founders of our country either specifically repudiated, in the case of gun confiscation, or, in the case of the other two, never repudiated because they were so unthinkable in those days they didn't need to be addressed. And certainly three things that are not rights enumerated in the Constitution, and yet these are the rights, the ‘freedoms,’ that Kamala Harris says the entire country is built on.

“Nonsensical and evil!”

Reformed pastor Steve Lawson resigns over sin

And finally, a Texas pastor known for his fiery preaching and frequent appearances alongside John MacArthur has been removed from ministry after an alleged "inappropriate relationship" with an unidentified woman, reports The Christian Post.

Steve Lawson, the 73-year-old lead preacher at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas and a prominent figure in the Reformed/Calvinist Evangelicalism movement, informed the church's elders about the relationship, according to a statement released by the church. 

Lawson, who holds a masters of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Reformed Theological Seminary, will no longer be compensated by Trinity Bible Church of Dallas.

The statement said, "Steve has confessed and regrets the damage he has caused to his family, the church, the reputation of OnePassion Ministries and most of all Jesus Christ. We are saddened for the glory of Christ in this matter.”

He formerly served as a teaching fellow at Ligonier Ministries and as the dean of Doctor of Ministry Studies at <a href="https://web.archive.org/web