Miami Dolphins’ rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa unveiled his new number Tuesday, and he says it has a connection to his Christian faith.

The former University of Alabama quarterback will wear No. 1 for the Dolphins, who finished 5-11 in 2019 and drafted Tagovailoa fifth overall in the first round last month.

“For the Audience of 1,” Tagovailoa wrote on his social media accounts alongside an emoji of praying hands. He also posted a picture of himself in his new jersey, with eyeblack crosses emblazoned on each cheek.

For the Audience of 1🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/kZYXaYVD1R

— Tua. T 🇦🇸 (@Tua) May 6, 2020

“Audience of One” is a popular phrase used by Christian athletes.

“The intent of the phrase is to help Christian players remember that everywhere in life – even in a stadium full of people – ‘we live and move and have our being in Him,’ and it’s His pleasure we should pursue above all else,” Athletes in Action’s Ed Uszynski wrote on the ministry’s website.

In week 13 of the 2016 NFL season, several Christian players for the Philadelphia Eagles wore customized cleats with the Audience of One acronym, “AO1,” on one side of the shoe and “Romans 5:8” on the other. They also recorded a video explaining the meaning behind Audience of One.

“What does AO1 mean to us?” they explained in the video, rotating lines. “It means that we are…

A biblical scholar says the coronavirus pandemic is “very serious foreshadowing” of the End Times.

Mark Hitchcock, who has written more than 30 books on biblical End Times prophecies, says Scripture tells of plagues in the End Times, The Christian Post reports.

He pointed to Luke 2:11, Revelation 6:8 and the prophecy of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

“In fact, Scripture tells us these plagues will kill 25% of the people in the world. It’s literally going to be biblical proportions,” he said.

Hitchcock told The Christian Post that he doesn’t believe COVID-19 is one of the plagues referred to in the Bible, but it is a “preview of what’s coming.”

“It’s a wake-up call for people to come to Christ in light of what’s coming in the future, which is going to be far worse,” he said. “It’s a very serious foreshadowing of what’s to come.

“I think it reveals the globalism of today. One person in China got this sometime in the fall and now it’s in some 190 countries. It’s also a picture of how small our world is today and how things are set up for the world ruler, the Antichrist, who is coming. I see just a lot of foreshadows and previews in the coronavirus, but I don’t see this as a fulfillment of a specific prophecy.”

He also emphasized that there is no way to know when Jesus will return.

“But I do think it should create within us a sense of urgency…

Ohio Representative Nino Vitale says he refuses to wear a face mask because “we are all created in the image and likeness of God.”

“This is not the entire world,” Vitale wrote in a Monday Facebook post. “This is the greatest nation on earth founded on Judeo-Christian Principles. One of those principles is that we are all created in the image and likeness of God. That image is seen the most by our face. I will not wear a mask.”

Vitale posted the statement on Facebook after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine strongly encouraged people to wear masks in public. He did not mandate the wearing of masks, Relevant Magazine reports.

“It became clear to me that that was just a bridge too far,” DeWine said. “People were not going to accept the government telling them what to do.”

Ohio Department of Health Dr. Amy Acton also advised wearing masks in public to help stop the spread of COVID-19. She said it could be a year before it is safe to go in public without masks, according to News Week.

“Don your mask,” she said. “Don your cape.”

Vitale, however, said he didn’t want to cover people’s faces. He also said it is time the state reopens.

“This is not based on logic,” he said. “This is based on fear and propaganda and every statistical, data-driven study done in the last 2 weeks says death counts are low, the models were wrong and…

Religious gatherings are now allowed in Kansas City, Missouri as long as churches maintain social distancing guidelines.

The city’s website outlines a new 10/10/10 rule in which “in-person religious gatherings (including weddings and funerals) may resume, subject to the 10/10/10 rule (if held inside), or limited to 50 people outside, provided social distancing precautions are followed.”

“The 10/10/10 rule specifies that these businesses must limit the number of individuals on-site (inclusive of employees and customers) to no more than 10 percent of building occupancy or 10 people (whichever is larger),” the city’s website adds.

While it is not mandatory, churches and businesses that are re-opening are also encouraged to record the names of customers or attendees in order to help the Kansas City Health Department “more quickly trace, test, and isolate individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19 if an employee or customer had the virus at the time they frequented the business.”

The city’s website asserts that “all data will remain confidential and will be used only to address public health concerns and contact individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19.”

Failure to comply with any of the required provisions will be considered to be a violation of the City’s Code of Ordinances and can be met with “fines, orders to suspend business operations, and…

NEW DELHI, May 5, 2020 (Morning Star News) – An attempt by Hindu nationalists and media in western India to blame Christians for the mob killing of three Hindus threatens to provoke violence against Christians, sources said.

A tribal mob on April 16 killed the three men, two of them Hindu ascetics, in Gadchinchale village, Palghar District in Maharashtra state.

“Linking this gruesome incident to the church looks like a deliberate attempt to malign the Christian community and can increase attacks on Christians not just in Palghar district but also elsewhere,” Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), told Morning Star News. “Rumors spread through social media, and vicious attacks by cow vigilantes have resulted in several incidents of lynching throughout India in the recent years, and we condemn each and every one of them. The Christian community has lost at least four of our own to these senseless killings; the Muslim community has lost many more.”

Hindu ascetics Mahant Kalpavruksha Giri, 70, Sushilgiri Maharaj, 35, and their driver, Naresh Yelgade, were traveling when forest guards who had previously stopped them due to the coronavirus lockdown stopped them again as they were returning to Mumbai. At a check post near Gadchinchale, about 55 miles from Palghar town, they were in an area tense from social media warnings against gangs…

Israeli scientists searching for an antidote for the coronavirus announced a major advancement Monday in a joint statement with the Ministry of Defense.

Scientists at the Israel Institute for Biological Research said they had isolated a key coronavirus antibody and developed a “monoclonal neutralising antibody” that “can neutralise” the coronavirus “inside carriers’ bodies,” Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said in the statement, according to Reuters.

Bennett visited the research facility Monday and was briefed on a “significant breakthrough in finding an antidote for the coronavirus,” the statement said.

“I am proud of the Biological Institute staff, who have made a major breakthrough,” Bennett said. “The Jewish creativity and ingenuity brought about this amazing achievement.”

The research team has completed the development phase and is seeking a patent, the statement said. After it is patented, the Israel Institute for Biological Research will seek a “contract for its commercial development,” The Jerusalem Post reported.

The antibody is the latest positive development in the battle against the coronavirus.

Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last week he believes it’s possible to have hundreds of millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine ready for the general public by January. It’s part of…

The Trump Department of Justice has sided with a small Virginia church in its effort to hold in-person church services for society’s disadvantaged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pastor of Lighthouse Fellowship Church in Chincoteague Island, Va., was cited with a criminal citation April 5 for holding a 16-person church service, even though each attendee in the 225-seat sanctuary was sitting at least six feet apart and the church had sanitized the common surfaces and required everyone to use hand sanitizer, DOJ says. 

An order from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam bans in-person gatherings of more than 10 people.

The Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest May 3 urging a Virginia federal court to issue an injunction favoring the church. It questions why Virginia carves out exceptions for liquor stores, home improvement stores, and dry cleaners but not churches.

“For many people of faith, exercising religion is essential, especially during a crisis,” said Eric Dreiband, the DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Commonwealth of Virginia has offered no good reason for refusing to trust congregants who promise to use care in worship in the same way it trusts accountants, lawyers, and other workers to do the same. The U.S. Department of Justice will continue to monitor any infringement of the Constitution and other civil liberties, and…