It’s Monday, August 17th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I’m Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus U.S. missionary freed after 9 months captivity from Niger, Africa On August 14th, Kevin Rideout, a 50-year-old American missionary who was kidnapped in Niger, Africa last October, was released and will be reunited with his extended family, reports ABC News. According to Serving In Mission International, an evangelical mission agency which works in 70 countries, 98% of the population in Niger is Muslim. The mission group said Rideout is “in good health in the care of U.S. officials” and that his wife, Krista, and the rest of his family “are profoundly grateful for the prayers offered on their behalf by people around the world throughout his captivity.” Psalm 135:3 says, "Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good.” Rideout was kidnapped outside his home in Niamey, Niger on October 21, 2025 by three gunmen. Christian persecution has especially increased in Niger, Africa since 2023 after a military coup led by General Omar Tiani, head of the presidential guard unit, deposing democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum. After that coup, Niger's new military regime switched its alliances, choosing to start working with Russia and turning against Western allies. Indeed, the new regime ousted Western partners On Truth Social, President Donald Trump wrote, “I am proud to announce that Kevin Rideout, a wonderful Christian missionary, is back in United States custody. Kevin was kidnapped by Jihadi terrorists in West Africa — the epicenter of Islamist terrorism, where there have been more deadly attacks in the past year than anywhere else on Earth. Kevin, the United States of America looks forward to welcoming you HOME. Glad to have helped!” The full details surrounding Rideout’s release are unclear. According to the Christian Broadcasting Network, the news comes the same week as the U.S. secured the release of another American, Robert Gilman, who had been held captive by Russia for four years. Gilman's health was failing in prison, and the U.S. and his family said he had been falsely accused and held by the Russian regime for political purposes. Earthquake hit Indonesia A magnitude 7.7 earthquake shook eastern Indonesia early Saturday, killing at least five people and touching off dozens of aftershocks, one measuring magnitude 6.1, reports the Christian Post. Flores island’s Sikka Regency, which is part of East Nusa Tenggara Province, was the most affected area, where officials reported the earthquake’s five deaths and several injuries. (Sikka Regency is a coastal district on the northeastern shore of Flores with a population of 346,000 spread over 647 square miles.) This Indonesian earthquake comes on the heels of an earthquake in Columbia on August 10th which killed 288 people and another earthquake in Venezuela on June 24th which killed 6,125 people. Please pray that God would comfort the families whose loved ones were killed in these three natural disasters. Dressed as Muslim, James O’Keefe exposes how Minnesota enables voter fraud Investigative reporter James O’Keefe with the O’Keefe Media Group has exposed how Minnesota enables voter fraud by allowing registered voters to “vouch” for up to eight people living in the same precinct who are not registered to vote, reports LifeSiteNews.com. Dressed as a Muslim and accompanied by Cam Higby, who wore a burka, O’Keefe visited polls across Minneapolis and “presented an intentionally extreme scenario to expose the sheer lunacy of Minnesota’s ‘vouching’ system,” he explained on X. O’KEEFE: “In Minnesota, you can show up on election day and vouch for up to eight unregistered voters. Members of the Justice League dress up in traditional Muslim attire and put this vouching law to an extreme test on primary day, August 11.” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “The vouching?” POLL WORKER: “They’re vouching for you?” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “I vouch for them.” POLL WORKER: “Oh.” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “Is that okay?” POLL WORKER: “Yes!” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “How does that work?” POLL WORKER: “Well, if you're all in the same precinct.” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “Yes.” POLL WORKER: “And you are already registered, which looks like you are, then you, you can vouch for them, as ID for them.” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “Oh, good.” KEEFE: “I say they do not need ID. She says, ‘You are the ID.’ ANOTHER UNDERCOVER PERSON: “He is the ID.” KEEFE: “I am the ID.” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “And no ID needed. I just vouch for them.” POLL WORKER: “You're the ID.” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “I am the ID. That's good. How many people may I vouch for?” POLL WORKER: “Eight.” UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “Eight? I can vouch for eight people?” POLL WORKER: “Mm-mm.” (Nodding affirmatively) UNDERECOVER KEEFE: “Eight people. No ID. We come right back. Thank you.” Poll workers explained to him “again and again” that the people accompanying him did not need to present ID to vote as long as he vouched for them and that he could vouch for up to eight precinct residents. O’Keefe explained that this is all legal in the state, citing Minnesota Statute § 201.061 which says, “A registered voter can sign an affidavit affirming that they know another individual resides in the same precinct, allowing that person to register at the polls without presenting standard proof of residence. One registered voter can vouch for up to eight people.” Liberty Counsel urges President Trump to end mail-order abortion And finally, Liberty Counsel Action sent a letter to President Donald Trump and senior federal officials urging the administration to reverse the Biden-era policy of allowing mail-order abortion. The letter is an advocacy measure stating Abortion Kill Pills prescribed through the mail, without an in-person medical visit, endangers women, weakens state pro-life protections, and strips numerous other health and safety measures, the group explained. Under Biden, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed the requirement for an in-person clinic visit for the prescription of abortion pills, and the Department of Justice nullified enforcement of the federal Comstock Act of 1873, allowing abortion drugs to be sent through the mail. Since the removal of in-person visits and unfettered mail-order access, data shows the rate of severe complications from chemical abortions, between 2017 and 2023, rose by 13 percent. In his Faith and Freedom podcast, Liberty Counsel President Mat Staver said this. STAVER: “You can get these abortion drugs tele-med without ever seeing a doctor. Used to be that you needed to see a doctor at the very beginning, then you would get the prescription. Then, if you took the drug, you had to see a doctor as a follow-up because you could have complications. Now, there's no in-person visit before or after, and you can get this by tele-med. So, it's become very dangerous.” Liberty Counsel Action recommended “the immediate revocation of the Biden-era policy permitting the mailing of abortifacient drugs, whether by restoring the FDA’s pre-Biden abortion pill safety protocols, enforcing of the Comstock Act, or both.” President Trump has previously declared that the states must determine their own abortion laws. In the letter, Liberty Counsel Action also advocated for that stated position noting that “abortion policy should be left to the states,” and pro-life state laws should not be “undermined by out-of-state providers illegally mailing abortion drugs across state lines.” The current policy has “stripped away vital safeguards” leading to numerous health risks, such as: An inability to verify gestational age whereby pills can be dispensed beyond the FDA’s 10-week gestational limit where complications are significantly higher. An inability to effectively diagnose ectopic pregnancies that can easily be mistaken as the effects of the abortion pill, which left untreated, could lead to maternal death. An inability to verify age, leading to potential abuse of minors and violations of parental rights. An inability to detect forced or coerced abortions from abusive partners, traffickers, or family members. Beyond the potential harm to the mothers, the Abortion Kill Pill, which is now used in at least 63% of all abortions, takes the life of the innocent baby. Proverbs 24:11 says, “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter." Send a polite, 3-sentence letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, urging him to prohibit the abortion industry from sending the dangerous Abortion Kill Pills in the mail. The address at the Justice Department is 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20530. You can find that address in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com. Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, August 17th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I’m Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.