Risk to a complete generation of children

The way children in care homes have become involved with paedophile gangs shows there is something sadly wrong with our care system.

But there is another serious threat to a complete generation of children that demands urgent attention. I refer to online pornography.

In a recent investigation, a sex education consultant who is regularly asked into schools to discuss sex and relationships went into a class of 20 youngsters aged 13 and 14 at a highly regarded specialist sports college in the North of England. These were not children in care from broken homes but children neatly dressed, all in school uniform, from apparently good homes.

To find out how much they knew, he asked them to write an A to Z of sexual terms they were familiar with. They had a more extensive range of sexual terms than any adult in the room - including the sexual education consultant. Every one of the 20, boys and girls, had watched pornography.

A group of children aged 14 and 15 at the school said there was no parental control on the internet at home. Their parents trusted them. Their parents had no idea what they were watching and would be shocked if they knew.

Pornography is highly addictive. We are going to see a complete generation addicted to pornography, sexually violent and lacking in social responsibility.

Will someone please open their eyes, open their ears and do something?

A very mistaken prognosis

Professor Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at 21 and told he had two or three years to live.

He's now 71 - which shows how wrong men (even professional men) can be. He still has motor neurone disease and depends on a wheelchair, but he has lived a purposeful and fulfilled life.

The scientist and author told the BBC: "I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives and those who help them should be free from prosecution. 

"But there must be safeguards that the person concerned genuinely wants to end their life and they are not being pressurised into it or have it done without their knowledge or consent, as would have been the case with me." (When Hawking had a bout of pneumonia, his first wife was given the option of having his life support turned off. She refused.)

Stephen Hawking being Stephen Hawking, his quote will be widely disseminated. But what needs to be borne in mind is that the great proportion of politicians, doctors and activists for the disabled are opposed to assisted suicide - largely because of the danger to vulnerable patients and the very real possibility of abuse.

Medical organisations clearly opposed to assisted suicide are the World Medical Association, the British Medical Association, the Association for Palliative Medicine, the British Geriatric Society and the Royal College of General Practitioners.

Disability organisations opposed to a change in the law are SCOPE, Disability Rights UK, Not Dead Yet UK and the UK Disabled People's Council.

Proponents of assisted killing, we ought to remember, are vociferous, persistent, but still a minority.

60 die in mayhem at the mall

Two suicide bombers blew themselves up as worshippers left a church in Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 80 and injuring 120 in the deadliest attack ever on Pakistan's Christians.

Also at the weekend, Islamist terrorists took control of a shopping mall in Nairobi, killing more than 60. Muslims were allowed to leave; non-Muslims were shot. A witness said hostages were asked the name of Mohammed's mother. Those who were unable to answer were killed.

Bodies of hostages reportedly had their hands removed and faces burned to prevent recognition.

And there are people still under the misapprehension that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. They don't. Allah is not the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Neither do Christians shoot people, slit people's throats and blow themselves up and use biblical texts as their reason for doing so.

'The nicest man in the world'

A remarkable story has come to light this month. Brigitte Hoess, a German woman who lives in the United States, worked in Washington for 35 years for a Jewish couple who fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

Brigitte's father, Rudolf Hoess, was the commandant at Auschwitz, where 1.1 million Jews were killed, along with 20,000 gypsies and tens of thousands of Russian and Polish political prisoners. After the war, Rudolf Hoess was captured and executed.

Brigitte travelled to Spain and worked as a model for dress maker Balenciaga, then to the US, where a Jewish store owner asked her to work for her. Soon after she was hired, she got drunk and confided that Rudolf Hoess was her father. The Jewish lady said she could stay, as she had committed no crime herself and was not responsible for her father.

The son of the store owners said they had employed Brigitte out of a sense of humanity. "I am proud to be their son," he said.

Brigitte was tracked down and interviewed by British writer Thomas Harding, whose great uncle, Hanns Alexander, captured Rudolf Hoess hiding on a German farm in 1946.

Asked about her father, Brigitte, now 80, says he was "the nicest man in the world." There must have been two sides to him, "the one I knew, and then another." He was, she says, "very good to us." She remembers them eating together, playing in the garden, and reading the story of Hansel and Gretel.

She does not deny what happened in Auschwitz, but questions that so many people were killed. Above her bed hangs her parents' wedding photograph, taken in 1929.

Homosexuality and 'jackboot thuggery'

Twenty-five years ago, almost two-thirds of the British public opposed same-sex relationships because they believed they were morally wrong. Today, according to the new British Social Attitudes Survey, only one person in five disapproves of homosexual relationships in principle.

How could there be so major a change in attitude in so short a space of time?

For one thing, homosexual activists have taken patently false facts - like people are born homosexual and cannot be changed - and shouted down anyone who dares to oppose them. Oppose them, and you are automatically "homophobic" and "a bigot."

They have campaigned vociferously for their human rights as a persecuted minority. And they have created a politically-correct worldview which people have not cared to contradict.

Here's Bill Muehlenberg again:

The militant homosexual lobby has long ago stopped pretending it is about achieving “equality” and “tolerance”. They have instead made it clear that they will settle for nothing less than the complete homosexualisation of society. All resistance will be ruthlessly opposed, and everyone will be expected to embrace, promote and even favour the homosexual agenda.

It is no longer a question of the normalisation of homosexuality, but the glamourisation and forced exaltation of the lifestyle. Our coercive utopian leaders are now telling us, ‘You will love and embrace homosexuality. You have no other option. All resistance will be punished.’

I have of course already documented case after case of this state-enforced promotion of homosexuality, with recalcitrants facing the music. Every time I think I should get my new book off to the printers, a whole new bunch of cases arise.

Last year the state of California for example led the way by banning reparative therapy for homosexuals. So even though a person may desperately want to get out of this lifestyle and change his ways, the Californian tyrants have declared that to be verboten.

It does not matter if you have a strong longing to get out of homosexual bondage. The state has decided that this desire is wrong, and anyone daring to help such a person will feel the full force of the law. And now New Jersey has just become the second state to pass such a draconian and totalitarian law. . .

So the forcible prevention of changing one’s lifestyle and sexual preferences has now become the business of the Totalist State. Simply add this bit of jackboot thuggery to the never-ending list of other outrages perpetrated by the homosexual militants and their state supporters, and you have a recipe for a genuine Police State rivalling anything Huxley or Orwell might have dreamt up.

The real target of course is the church. The activists know that once they shut down Christianity for good, then their free rein to totally transform society will be complete. Silence all dissenting Christians, and the homonazi agenda can go through unimpeded.

As Matt Barber has correctly observed, “‘Gay pride’ necessitates anti-Christian hate. It must. ‘Gay marriage’ and other ‘sexual orientation’-based laws do violence to freedom and truth. They are the hammer with which the postmodern left intends to bludgeon bloody religious liberty and the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic”. . .

“Ken Hutcherson, an influential black pastor from the Seattle area, put it well: ‘It has been said loudly and proudly that gay marriage is a civil rights issue. If that’s the case, then gays would be the new African-Americans. I’m here to tell you now, and hopefully for the last time, that the gay community is not the new African-American community. Don’t compare your sin to my skin!’

“Some things never change. Other things do. Today’s liberals seek to ‘rehabilitate’ Christians to their way of thinking under penalty of law. Liberals of old just threw us to the lions. I guess that’s what they mean by ‘progress’.”

Syrian Christians raped, butchered

Be aware of the plight of Syria's Christians.

"It's a catastrophe," said Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, international director of the Barnabas Fund. "Over seven million refugees, internally and externally. Just over a third of the population.

"In Aleppo, the Christian community is completely surrounded by rebel forces. When the rebels take over an area, particularly where they are linked to al Qaeda, all the churches and Christian institutions are destroyed.

"We have churches being used as public toilets. Christian women are being systematically raped. We have Christian men who are being kidnapped. It's a condition which is wholly appalling. . . 

"Christians are being wiped off the map of Syria. We are helping families with prayers, support and aid. . .The latest thing that we are now looking at is the provision of trauma counselling for children. So many children have been affected: they are in a terrible emotional state."

There has been fierce fighting in Maaloula, an ancient Christian village in the mountains north-east of Damascus. Maaloula is one of the few places where the people speak Western Aramaic, a variation of the language that Jesus spoke.

The village had 3,300 residents. Most have now fled, leaving most of their possessions behind. The rebels took possession of the village over a week ago. A sizeable proportion of the rebels are said to be from the ruthless al Nusra Front.

One resident described how they attacked Christian homes and churches. "I saw the militants grabbing five villagers and threatening them and saying 'Either you convert to Islam, or you will be beheaded.'"

Another resident said “They shot and killed people. I heard gunshots and then I saw three bodies lying in the middle of a street in the old quarters of the village. Where is President Obama to see what has befallen us?”

Details of what you can do to help are at barnabasfund.org.

By their fruits you will know them

In the months in which God was speaking to me before I became a Christian, I had a theory: All good things come from God, and all bad things from the devil. One thing I hadn't taken into account: the devil is a deceiver, transformed at times into an angel of light.

The Lord Jesus Christ, second person of the Trinity and the Saviour of the world, gave an infallible measure to those who would avail themselves of it: By their fruits you will know them. A good tree, He said, cannot bring forth bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

Says Bill Muehlenberg, writing about Islam:

 A political ideology which sees as its goal the overthrow of the West and the establishment of a universal caliphate is always going to be a worrying sort of religion. 

It was spread by bloodshed, maintains power by bloodshed, and intimidates its opponents by bloodshed. Most things that we greatly value in the West are held in contempt by Islam, things such as freedom, democracy, Christianity, the dignity of women, and pluralism.

Throughout its 1400-year history we find these core values trampled upon in Muslim-majority nations, and wherever Islam gets a solid foothold in the West. Examples of this are simply the stuff of daily newspaper headlines. Here I offer four new cases of Islamic intolerance, hate, and contempt for so much which is good.

Perhaps the worst case comes out of Yemen. It is horrific, but tragically far too typical in Islam. Here is how one Arabic source presents this shocking story: “Al Nahar, Lebanon, has reported that an eight year old child bride died in Yemen on her wedding night after suffering internal injuries due to sexual trauma. Human rights organizations are calling for the arrest of her husband who was five times her age. The death occurred in the tribal area of Hardh in northwestern Yemen, which borders Saudi Arabia. This brings even more attention to the already existing issue of forced child marriages in the Middle Eastern region.”

As I said, this is not uncommon. “It is reported that over a quarter of Yemen’s young girls are married before the age of 15. Not only do they lose access to health and education, these child brides are commonly subjected to physical, emotional and sexual violence in their forced marriage”. . .

Muhammad, the ideal example of humanity. . . married Aisha for example at age six, and consummated his relationship with her at age nine. So Muslim men are encouraged to do the same, often with the same tragic results as this poor girl.

But as I mentioned, the West is not immune from the wrath of Islam. While churches are burning in Egypt and Syria, they are also burning in places like Sweden. In Muslim areas there, churches are not altogether safe, with one Pentecostal church destroyed by an arson attack just recently, although police investigations are still ongoing.

Meanwhile back in Syria the anti-Christian rebels there have declared that Bibles are worse than chemical weapons. Says one report, “A video apparently made by some of the Islamists fighting and killing each other and the population in Syria reveals quantities of Bibles and biblical materials, such as the Book of John, as a narrator describes them as being ‘more dangerous than chemical weapons.’

“The video appeared yesterday, just as reports were coming out of Syria about how the Islamist rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s army were ‘liberating’ villages, and then forcing Christians there to convert to Islam or be beheaded.”

And these are the rebels being supported by Obama. As Thomas Sowell comments, “Whatever the Obama rhetoric, the reality is that his policies in Egypt and Libya have led to replacing stable regimes, at peace with Israel and the West, and tolerant of their own Christian minorities, with chaotic regimes in which fanatical anti-Western terrorists have played a large and growing role, with hostility to Israel and murderous attacks on Christians in their own country.”

Syria offers us more of the same. But Australia too has its issues. Consider Sydney, where the name Muhammad is becoming one of the most common names given to newborn baby boys. As one news item states, “In a sign of the state’s cultural and religious diversity, Muhammad is now officially one of our most popular baby names". . .

As I have discussed elsewhere, when Muslims reach a critical mass in any given Western nation, the demands for sharia law and a two-tiered society increase exponentially. The demographic revolution usually precedes the stealth jihad revolution.

So problems we witness elsewhere increasingly become our problems. Thus these trends need to be monitored closely, and we need to be aware of what is taking place in other countries. While we are always to love, pray for, and share our faith with individual Muslims, none of us should be ignorant of or naive about political Islam, and all the damage, destruction and death that occurs whenever it is given free rein.

Is it the CPS's job to interpret the law?

You will know by now that doctors who were secretly filmed in a Telegraph investigation agreeing to an abortion which the mother said she wanted because the baby was a girl are not to be prosecuted. (Abortions on the basis of the sex of the baby are illegal in Britain.)

The Crown Prosecution Service said there was sufficient evidence for a prosecution, but that a prosecution was "not in the public interest." The excuses they made for not prosecuting were, frankly, shameful.

According to Fraser Nelson, sources close to the investigation say the CPS regarded the issue as "sensitive" and "political." He says:

In deciding not to prosecute the doctors exposed by the Daily Telegraph, part of the CPS's argument was that doctors are given "wide discretion" to "interpret" the law. This is a polite way of saying that the law is almost entirely ignored. In theory the mother's health should be at risk before the abortion is authorised. In practice, Britain offers abortion on demand.

The  Christian Legal Centre is considering asking for a judicial review.

If you wish to register your protest - and widespread protest is important - write to the Attorney General at correspondence@attorneygeneral.gsi.gov.uk.

Saving babies

According to the doctors, John Barros shouldn't be alive.

He had cancer, which needed four operations. He had two brain aneurisms, which needed two more operations. And someone ran into his back with a vehicle, which needed more operations.

One day, while sitting outside an abortion clinic, John prayed "God, if you really want me to sit here, if you really want me to call out to these people full time, please take care of my family." And in sometimes miraculous ways, God has.

For the past three years, he has been outside the late-term abortion clinic in Orlando, Florida, nine hours a day, six days a week. In three years, he has seen more than a thousand babies saved from abortion.

The story of every girl who comes to the clinic is different. "But the answer is the same," he says. "The answer is always found in Jesus Christ. That's what we're here for, to lead them, point them to Jesus Christ. I just show up here, and watch Him show off." 

About all his physical challenges, John says, "As I look back God was just stripping me of all my pride, everything I held valuable, everything I held dear. . . All these things I thank God for, because they've all shown me that He's in control, every bit of it; that He's sovereign."

You can see an eight-minute film of John here.

"I think the problem in the church," he says, "is not that the church has tried and failed, but that the church has failed to try.

"Jesus loves to use broken vessels. He is calling for His people to rise up, so please go and see what He will do through you.”  

'We are trusting God' - Syria's Christians

A military strike against Syria will probably achieve little in the civil war going on there - but it will mean further trouble for Syria's Christians.

Islamists have already forced many Christians out of the country. Others have been murdered or kidnapped and churches have been destroyed. 

One Syrian pastor appealed for prayer.

"Obama, he could care less for the Christians in Syria and the Christians around the world," he said. "We know God has given promises, that God is going to protect the Christian community in Syria and our trust is not in any powers - not in the regime, not in the US - no one else. We are trusting God Himself that He sees and He hears the cries of the Christians."

That's why it's crucial, he says, that Christians pray for their Syrian brothers and sisters in Christ because it's more than a battle for the survival of the Syrian church. "This is a battle between Jesus Christ and the enemy himself, and what's happening to the Christians in the Middle East will happen eventually to many Christians around the world and specifically in the West.

 

"God is not going to work for anyone's agenda. God is going to work for His own agenda and the purpose of the growing of the kingdom of God."

In Egypt, Muslim mobs attacked more than 60 churches throughout Egypt. They attacked and destroyed a Coptic Christian orphanage, leaving about 200 children without shelter.

The Christians who run the orphanage left a message for the attackers on the building's exterior wall: "You meant to hurt us, but we forgive you. God is love. Everything works out for good. Love your enemies."

"We respond as every other Christian has responded," Egyptian Bible Society vice president Ehad Tanas told CBN. "We are in Egypt to serve. We are in Egypt to demonstrate the Christian love. We do every effort to be self-restrained and to show the Christian love that the Lord has taught us to show."

"Pray for the Middle East."

Syria promised if it is attacked by the West, it will attack Israel. The threat still stands.

A few kind words. . .

It started as an anonymous act, but the story seems to have taken wings. . . 

 Ashley England went out for a meal in a restaurant on Friday evening with her family, including her eight-year-old son Riley. Riley has special needs. After a while, Riley began to get "a little rowdy."

"The past few weeks have been very hard and trying for us - especially with public outings," said Ashley. "Riley was getting loud and hitting the table and I know it was aggravating to some people."

A waitress walked over to the table with tears in her eyes and a note.

"I'll try to do this without crying," the waitress told the family. "But another customer has paid for your bill tonight and wanted me to give you this note."

The note read: "God only gives special children to special people."

Ashley said the kindness made her cry.

"To have someone do that small act towards us shows that some people absolutely understand what we are going through and how hard it is to face the public sometimes," she said. "They made me cry, blessed me more than they know. I felt like out of all the rude, negative comments that we are faced with, this outweighs them.

"Little did he know what struggles we had been facing lately and this was surely needed at that moment," she said. "Thank you."

A slight difference of opinion

The Rev Dr Alan Clifford, BA MLitt PhD, is pastor of Norwich Reformed Church. Following a homosexual pride march, he sent an e-mail (to one of the leaders of the march, it is supposed). The e-mail included two gospel tracts, one of them dealing with homosexuality.

In due time, a very polite policeman knocked at Dr Clifford's door. He had received, he said, a complaint of "homophobic behaviour."

"Homophobic behaviour," according to Norfolk Constabulary, is "any incident which is perceived to be homophobic by the victim or any other person." The policeman said that Dr Clifford, if he wished, could pay an on-the-spot fine of £90, which would presumably be an end of the matter.

Dr Clifford declined.

Alternatively, the policeman said, Dr Clifford could make a statement, which would be read by a senior police officer, who would decide whether or not to refer the matter to the Crown Prosecution Service. Dr Clifford said he had sent the e-mail because he wanted to report "our Christian complaint against the public display of their homosexual propaganda, which we find offensive." He agreed to provide a statement.

He pointed out that the European Court of Human Rights, in Handyside v UK (1976), made it clear that freedom of expression embraces not only information and ideas that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive, but also "those that offend, shock or disturb the state or any sector of the population. Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no democratic society."

He further pointed out that Lord Justice Sedley, in Redmond Bate v DPP (2000), said that "Free speech includes not only the inoffensive, but the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and provocative provided that it does not tend to violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having."

After all, when the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, which contains the offence of stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, was passed, Lord Waddington won an amendment to an earlier version of the law which established that no one might be prosecuted for stating their belief that homosexuality is sinful or wrong.

It read: "For the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred."

Dr Clifford has now been reported to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Adrian Hilton gives full details in an excellently written blog post.

Read it here.