U.S. missionary abducted at gunpoint, White House Press Secretary prays to Jesus before briefing, China raises duties on US goods to 125%

It’s Monday, April 14th, A.D. 2025. 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

U.S. missionary abducted at gunpoint while preaching in South Africa

Josh Sullivan, a U.S. Baptist missionary, was kidnapped at gunpoint as he preached Thursday evening at Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, South Africa, reports International Christian Concern.

According to police, four masked gunmen entered the church late last night during a prayer meeting with about 30 attendees. The assailants stole two cell phones before abducting the 45-year-old pastor and taking him in his own vehicle, a silver Toyota 4Runner. The car was later found abandoned about a mile from the church.  

A husband and father of six, Sullivan has been a missionary in South Africa since 2018. Sullivan and his family are members of Fellowship Baptist Church, an independent Baptist church in Maryville, Tennessee, where Sullivan has been on staff. His wife and children are among those who witnessed the kidnapping.

Here at The Worldview, we’re reminded of the inspiring words of Christ following Peter’s bold affirmation. In Caesarea Phillipi, Peter said that Christ was “the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” That’s when Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, that upon that revelation, He would build His church, and “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Join me and pray that the Lord would honor Josh Sullivan’s preaching and safely restore him to his family.

China raises duties on US goods to 125%

Last Friday, China hiked its tariffs on imports of U.S. goods to 125%, hitting back at Donald Trump’s decision to single out the world’s No.2 economy for higher duties, while dismissing the U.S. president’s tariff strategy as “a joke,” reports Reuters.

Investors had been waiting to see how Beijing would respond to Trump’s move on Wednesday to effectively raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 145% while announcing a 90-day pause on tariffs on dozens of other countries’ goods.

Last year, China purchased $150 billion of U.S. goods.

White House Press Secretary prays to Jesus before briefing

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is the youngest person to ever serve the president in that capacity at the age of 27.

Not only is she an articulate champion for President Donald Trump and the “Make America Great Again” agenda, but she is also an unashamed follower of Jesus Christ.

Listen to this simple, powerful, and unapologetic prayer to her Savior  just moments before she walks into the lions’ den of the White House Press Briefing.

LEAVITT: “Lord Jesus, please give us the strength, the knowledge, the ability to articulate our words, have fun, and be confident. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Gone are the days that a lesbian God-hater stands at that podium.

Judge: Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil can be deported

Last Friday, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil can be deported from America because he is a national security risk following his pro-Hamas demonstrations at Columbia, reports the Associated Press.

Immigration Judge Jamee Comans gave the green light to the Trump administration’s desire to deport Khalil.  Without such deportation, the government contended that his presence posed “potentially serious foreign policy consequences.”

Colorado Governor signs anti-gun law

Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a self-professed homosexual who has entered into a faux marriage with his “husband,” has dealt a heavy blow to Coloradans’ Second Amendment freedom by signing Senate Bill 3 into law, reports the Colorado State Shooting Association.

This oppressive permit-to-purchase scheme is a direct attack on their Second Amendment rights, afflicting Coloradans with bureaucratic hurdles to block their God-given liberties,

President George Washington declared, “The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference—they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”

RFK, Jr vows to know causes of autism epidemic by September

As he sat in Trump’s Cabinet meeting, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke to the autism epidemic and what he proposed to do about it.

KENNEDY: “The autism rates have gone from one in 31 from one in 10,000 when I was a kid. At your direction, by September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic.”

Kennedy noted that HHS has “launched a massive testing and research effort that’s going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world.”  Once they have identified the causes, hopefully by September, HHS will advocate for the elimination of those exposures.

Libraries partner with Planned Parenthood to offer free sex health resources

And finally, if you thought the library was a place to borrow books for a research paper or read the local daily paper, think again!

Twelve Sacramento, California Public Libraries now feature “sexual health resource cabinets” inside public libraries to give the public, including children, access to items like condoms, Sexually Transmitted Diseases tests, and pregnancy tests, reports CBS News.

These cabinets are being stocked by none other than Planned Parenthood, America’s Abortion Giant, which killed 392,715 pre-born babies in 2023 alone.  In fact, QR codes on the free literature not only enables library patrons to easily find their local Planned Parenthood affiliate, but also to get their immoral worldview through their God-forsaken website.

Michael Reed, a parent, was disturbed by the easy access to the sexual health resource cabinets, especially for kids.

REED: “It’s a little shocking. It seems a little inappropriate just to target children that way.”

But Todd Deck, the community engagement services manager for Sacramento Public Libraries, thought the libraries were doing something wonderfully noble.

DECK: “We want to remove the stigma around these resources. Libraries are essential to healthy, thriving communities. So, having resources that are of interest and needs of that community is really critical. I do believe it is our responsibility to help have an informed community regardless of the topic — that way people can make informed decisions about their health.”

Greg Burt, Vice President of the California Family Council, rejected the librarian’s absurd worldview.

BURT: “Now parents would have to be concerned. Instead of coming back with a book, they’re going to come back with a condom.

“This is really about cutting parents out. It’s about sexualizing our kids at younger and younger ages.”

In Matthew 18:6, Jesus said, “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in Me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Not surprisingly, the cabinets have been re-stocked multiple times since being installed six weeks ago as they have been set up both in the library’s main hub and in the adult section.

Elizabeth Johnston, a Christian mother of 10, is not surprised by the hostility to a Judeo-Christian worldview at the library.

The American Library Association’s one-time president Emily Drabinski, who served from July 2022 to 2024, was a self-avowed “Marxist lesbian.” She wrote a paper on “queering the catalogue” and said wildly inflammatory things about parents who do not want their children to read sexually inappropriate literature.

So, keep in mind, the library is no friend of the family. Enter with caution.

Close

And that’s The Worldview on this Monday, April 14th, in the year of our Lord 2025. Subscribe by Amazon Music or 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.

The post U.S. missionary abducted at gunpoint, White House Press Secretary prays to Jesus before briefing, China raises duties on US goods to 125% appeared first on The World View in 5 Minutes.