Watch out for 'a genderless mush'

When the Government legalised same-sex marriage, some supposed that the divorce rate in same-sex marriages would be similar to the divorce rate in traditional marriage. Others supposed that divorces in same-sex marriages would be much higher. We may never know.

The Office for National Statistics, which keeps records of marriage and divorce, is considering including marriage, same-sex marriage and civil partnerships without distinction in the same definition of "legally recognised partnerships." The break-up of relationships in the three classes would then be listed in the same single figure.

Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, says "It is vital that the ONS is completely open and transparent about the statistics it publishes on marriage, civil partnership and divorce. If we are going to be able to assess the impact of same-sex marriage on traditional marriage, the figures will need to be published separately and not merged into a genderless mush.

“Decades of research have demonstrated that a marriage between a man and a woman is considerably more stable than other types of relationship and produces better outcomes for children. The Prime Minister and some other supporters of the recent redefinition of marriage are assuming that same-sex unions will produce identical results, but without separate figures the argument cannot be settled one way or the other.

"To adopt a gender-blind approach to marriage and divorce would severely limit the ability of researchers to assess the relative benefits of different types of registered relationships and stifle healthy debate in a key area of public policy.
 
“If the Government is serious about pursuing family policy based on sound evidence, it is of the utmost importance that all the relevant statistics should be readily available and not hidden from view.”

William Oddie, of the Catholic Herald, produces figures from somewhere where same-sex marriage has been available for some time. After eight years, he says, 82 per cent of marriages of a man and a woman are still intact, 60 per cent of opposite-sex cohabiting couples are still together, but only 25 per cent of same-sex couples are still together. 

It is vital that the ONS doesn't muddy the waters, he says. "It's something we HAVE to know about." 

The ONS quietly launched a consultation on the matter on the same day it issued a report showing that female couples were almost twice as likely to end a civil partnership as male couples.

To take part in the consultation, click here, then under the heading Downloads, click on "Consultation document." Your response to the consultation can be sent by e-mail. The consultation closes on December 17.

Supreme Court to rule on 'right to die'

Nine of Britain's most senior judges will meet within the next few days to hear attempts to introduce a ”right to die” under human rights legislation.

A full panel of Supreme Court judges, headed by Lord Neuberger, president of the Supreme Court, will hear the culmination of three separate legal challenges to the current ban on assisted suicide. The three cases have been put into one “super case,” the Telegraph reports, to allow a sweeping judgment on the current state of the law in England and Wales.

Tony Nicklinson, a 58-year-old father of two who was almost completely paralysed after a

 stroke, fought a long and public campaign for a doctor to be allowed to help him end his life. He died  last year after refusing food following the rejection of his case at the High Court. His wife, Mrs Jane Nicklinson, was granted special dispensation to continue the case in his place, taking it to the Court of Appeal and now the Supreme Court.

Paul Lamb (57), a former lorry driver, was left quadriplegic by a car accident 23 years ago.

A man known only as Martin wants to go to the Dignitas suicide clinic in Switzerland, but his wife has made clear that she feels morally unable to help him die. All three cases have been rebuffed by lower courts.

“I am hopeful. We would not be doing this if we didn’t think we had some prospect of success,” said Mrs Nicklinson. “I know it is a huge thing we are asking for, but the fact that we are sitting in front of nine judges shows that they are taking it seriously.” 

Legal papers for Mrs Nicklinson and Mr Lamb refer to "the extraordinary and cruel consequences for them of the current law prohibiting assisted suicide in England and Wales under [the] Suicide Act 1961.”

Papers from Martin’s legal team make his case to end his life in stark terms. “He can move his eyes, and communicates, painfully slowly, by spelling out words on the screen of a special computer that can detect where on the screen his eyes are pointing,” they say. “Martin finds his circumstances undignified, distressing and intolerable. 

"He is not going to recover. He wants to end his life. That decision is settled, consistent, and reached with capacity.”

The three people's lawyers plan to draw on legal arguments developed by Lord Falconer, whose private  bill for assisted suicide will be heard in the House of Lords shortly. They will argue that the 1961 Suicide Act, which makes it a criminal offence to assist someone taking their own life, imposes “extraordinary and cruel” limits on individual freedom.
 
They will say the ban has already been partially unravelled by official guidelines issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions four years ago, amounting to “de facto decriminalisation” of assisted suicide for those who take loved ones to Switzerland to end their lives.
 
They will say the current arrangements discriminate against people who are unable to travel abroad, or take other steps themselves to end their lives, because of the severity of their condition.

 Crucially they will argue that a series of previous cases already establish a qualified “right” for people to choose how they die, but one which those with severe disabilities can not use, which amounts to a breach of human rights and renders the ban on assisted suicide “unjustified state interference."

Tribute to a remarkable woman

Alison Davis was born with severe spina bifida. She suffered from hydrocephalus, emphysema, osteoporosis and arthritis. She was doubly incontinent and sometimes had intractable pain.

For years she tried to find happiness without God, but found it didn't work. She attempted suicide several times, until friends persuaded her that life was worth living. The former atheist turned to Christianity and the former abortion advocate became pro-life.

Her pro-life conversion came when a Dr Donald Garrow starved and dehydrated a disabled baby to death. He made a video of the baby's last days, and the video was shown on TV. Alison was horrified. She wrote to Dr Garrow and told him she was disabled in just the same way the baby had been, and she felt he had made a horribly wrong decision.

Dr Garrow invited her to speak to his hospital team. "I can't remember exactly what I said, but I pointed out that life with spina bifida and hydrocephalus could be full and happy, and that it was in any case wrong to deliberately kill any child on grounds of disability."

Alison became head of the handicap division of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which later became No Less Human. She appeared on radio and TV and her erudite letters often appeared in newspapers.

Despite being confined to a wheelchair, she was widely travelled. She went to India to visit seriously disabled children and became "mother" to 130 of them. She established a charity to support them and learned Telugu so she could write to them in their own language.

She once said: "Sometimes what desperate people, disabled or not, need is to be given hope. What they definitely don't need is to be told they are right to feel so unhappy and that they would be better off dead. This is simply the moral equivalent of the practical example of seeing a person about to jump off a high bridge and giving them a push." 

Alison died this week. She was 58.

Earth's loss is heaven's gain.

"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."  Rev 21:4.

Television worth watching

Well, I hope you caught it. The Bible, that is. By which I mean the first almost two-hour TV instalment of the Bible story on Channel 5 on Saturday evening.

The Bible was conceived by husband and wife team Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, who wanted to show how the Old Testament connects seamlessly to the New Testament. "How they are one sweeping story with one grand, overriding message. God loves each one of us as if we were the only person in the world to love."

The series showed in the US in March and became the number one show on cable TV with the biggest  cable TV audience of 2013. The first instalment covered from Creation to the Israelites about to enter into the Promised Land, with the stories of Noah and the Ark, Abraham and Isaac, Moses and Pharaoh, the ten plagues and the deliverance from Egypt. The parting of the Red Sea was spectacular, and Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac had me in tears.

If you missed it, you can see it at www.channel5.com/demand5. I recommend it. The remaining episodes you can see on Channel 5 each Saturday evening to the end of the year. Television worth watching.

Anticipating heaven

When was the last time you heard a sermon about heaven?

American negro slaves sang regularly of heaven ("Swing low, Sweet Chariot, coming for to carry me home"). Former generations sang about heaven ("We're marching to Zion."  "Shall we gather at the river?")

Not quite so these days. In Christianity, there may be less interest in heaven than at any other time in history. Having settled that they'll go there one day (not by living a good life, or going to church, or doing good deeds, but by trusting in the atoning work of the Saviour) Christians seem in no particular hurry to get there. The truth is they seem to be having too comfortable a life down here, thank you.

In a new book about heaven*, Edward Donnelly bemoans the fact that many people who think they are going to heaven aren't.

"There is no evidence in their lives that they are joined to Christ. They are nurturing a false hope. We hear the flippant comments that are passed when famous men and women die. Someone says that they are looking down from above, pleasantly surprised by the large and impressive attendance at their funeral. We hear about how golfers are enjoying playing golf and fishermen are getting huge catches in heaven. They may have shown little interest in the things of God, they may never have professed faith in the Saviour, but it is taken for granted that heaven is where they now find themselves. To suggest otherwise is to be branded a ghoulish bigot. We talk to people who assume that they are going to heaven and yet they have no good reason for their careless assumption. They are facing a most appalling shock."

God offers to sinful, miserable human beings an eternity of unimaginable happiness. Jesus can bring you to glory forever. But Donnelly says we are not telling people that.

He goes on: "Most of the teaching about heaven in Scripture is not for evangelism but for pastoring the people of God. He explains heaven in his Word primarily for his own children's sake, to help and comfort us, to encourage and strengthen us, to make us more holy, to fill us with joy. . . It is an immense blessing to know much more about heaven. And we can know. . . With his Word in our hands we can know about heaven."

The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi:

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labour; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.

For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.  Phil 1:21 - 24.

When David Watson became ill with cancer, David Pawson wrote to him and pointed out that there is a difference between being willing to go to be with the Lord, but eager to stay, and being eager to be with the Lord, but willing to stay. It's said that David Watson took the words to heart, and prayed through until he was eager to go, but willing to stay.

I have no desire to go before my life's work is done, but the moment that time comes I want to experience the glories of heaven, and I long to see my Saviour's face.

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
  Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love him."
But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit.  1 Cor 2:9, 10.

* Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust.

A recipe for disaster?

Iranian negotiators agreed to curb some of Iran's nuclear activities in a six-month interim deal in Geneva at the weekend - in return for £4.3 billion in sanctions relief. The deal, with several world powers, followed secret talks between the US and Iran.

Iranian military forces launched a series of massive military drills across nine provinces codenamed Towards Jerusalem as negotiations were going on.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said "Iran is committed to giving up the prospect of nuclear weapons. It's perfecly clear." US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted the deal had made the world a safer place. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he thought Iran was "very sincere."

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal was a "historic mistake."

"Today the world has become  a much more dangerous place," he said. "For the first time, the world's leading powers have agreed to uranium enrichment in Iran while ignoring the UN Security Council decisions that they themselves led. Sanctions that required many years to put in place contain the best chance for a peaceful solution. These sanctions have been given up in exchange for cosmetic Iranian concessions that can be cancelled in weeks.

"We cannot and will not allow a regime that calls for the destruction of Israel to obtain the means to achieve this goal."

Israeli officials seemed incredulous that US President Obama could enter into such an arrangement. Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said the current deal could actually bring Iran closer to the bomb . Middle Eastern Arab nations are also suspicious.

A step towards peace? Or a recipe for disaster?

Time will tell.

Forbidden to ask for help?

Homosexual propaganda seems to have seeped into every aspect of life in Britain.
 
This Friday, November 22. the House of Commons will vote on the Counsellors and Psychotherapists (Regulation) Bill at its second reading. The bill aims to ban therapists from offering assistance to people who want to reduce unwanted homosexual feelings and behaviours.

It would be a ban on the human right of people to ask for help if they wish to do so. It is based on the absolute insistence of the homosexual lobby - without any scientific proof - that a homosexual has the condition from birth and it cannot be changed. It flies in the face of the evidence of the many people who have repented of a homosexual lifestyle and have been set free from it.

Many homosexuals appear angry against non-homosexuals. Their worst anger seems to be reserved for ex-homosexuals. 

People who support the bill claim that practitioners of reparative therapy are motivated by homophobia and do not advance the welfare of the individual. They claim such therapy can cause harm.

People who oppose the bill say reparative therapy is about helping people who voluntarily seek change in sexual preference and expression, and not about coercing people or forcing them to change against their will. Banning therapy would deny them the right to seek treatment and force them to accept a sexual identity they were unhappy with.

Christian organisations are asking people to e-mail their MP before Friday to ask him or her to vote against the bill. Contact findyourmp.parliament.org, find your MP's name and click on the name to find his or her contact details.

Protecting the vulnerable

One of the remarkable things about euthanasia becoming legalised in countries in Europe is the rapid rate it increases in numbers and in scope.

In the Netherlands the number of deaths by euthanasia increased by 64 per cent between 2005 and 2010. The population grew by two per cent during the same period. Disabled newborn babies, including babies with spina bifida, are euthanised under the Groningen protocol, on the grounds of "their perceived future suffering or that of their parents." The Dutch are now discussing euthanasia for people with dementia, despite huge concens about informed consent.

Belgium is currently considering extending euthanasia to children. Euthanasia in Belgium has begun for organ donation, and for prisoners.

A new coalition, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of Europe, has just been launched to protect vulnerable people in Europe from the threat of euthanasia.

Says the organisation's co-ordinator, Dr Kevin Fitzpatrick of Not Dead Yet UK: "The UK, France and Germany are currently considering legislation, but overwhelming evidence from jurisdictions where euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide is legal, such as Belgium and the Netherlands, demonstrates beyond doubt how quickly and how easily euthanasia is extended to others, especially disabled people and elderly people.

"High profile cases have provoked international outrage, leading communicators to think of Belgium as the new world leader in exploiting euthanasia against those with disabilities and mental health issues."

The coalition's aims are to oppose the legislation of euthanasia and assisted suicide and work to repeal existing laws allowing them; to promote the best care and support for vulnerable people who are sick, elderly or disabled; and to affirm life through helping people find meaning, purpose and hope in the face of suffering and despair.

We wish them well.

When all you have is God

Eric Foley is co-founder of Seoul USA, an American missionary organisation which has dropped 50,000 Bibles into North Korea by balloon this past year.

Bibles are rare in North Korea. Houses are searched by Government officials. If a Bible is found, the family is either sent to a concentration camp or executed.

Christians don't reveal their faith to their spouses until years after marriage. They can't tell their children of their faith until they are at least 15, as teachers are trained to extract such information from pupils.

There are ways, however. One grandfather gathered his family together each week to give them the same 10 pieces of advice. Later, a grandson realised he was passing down the 10 Commandments. Christians can't risk gathering together because spies are everywhere. They worship in their own homes, or walking down the road out of the earshot of others.

When Communism took over and Bibles were banned, Christians chose four pillars of Christianity to pass on to new believers - theology through the Apostles' Creed, prayer through the Lord's Prayer, ethics through the 10 Commandments and worship through the Lord's Supper.

Foley estimates there are 100,000 Christians in North Korea, about a third of them in concentration camps. They regard concentration camps as a mission field, their purpose to carry out the task God has given them regardless of cost.

Foley asked a North Korean believer how he could pray for them. "Pray for us?" the Christian asked. "We pray for you. South Korean and American churches believe challenges in the Christian faith are solved by money, freedom and politics. It's only when all you have is God you realise God is all you need."

Establishing the kingdom (4)

The Bible says that Jesus will return to earth when the Jews are ready to receive Him, to deal with His enemies and set up His kingdom.

(If anyone tells you that God has washed His hands of the Jews, take no notice. It isn't true. Look at Rev 21:10 - 14, which tells how at the end of time the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven:

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

having the glory of God. And her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal,

Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel, and the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

If people tell you that God has finished with the Jews, ask them what the names of the 12 tribes of Israel are doing on the gates of the New Jerusalem.)

The glories of Christ's kingdom are described in many places in the Old Testament, for instance Micah 4:1 - 3:

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
  That the mountain of the Lord's house
 Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
  And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.

Many nations shall come and say,
  "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
  He will teach us his ways,
And we shall walk in his paths."
  For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples,
  And rebuke strong nations afar off,
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
  And their spears into pruning-hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
  Neither shall they learn war any more.

We are told to pray that His kingdom will come (Matt 6:10). We are told that His is the kingdom, and the power and the glory (Matt 6:13).

The first five verses of Psalm 2 tell us how the kings and rulers of the earth will seek to shake off God and His anointed, but God will hold them in derision. Then comes verse 6, surely one of the most reassuring verses in Scripture:

"Yet I have set my King
On my holy hill of Zion."

Establishing the kingdom (3)

The Bible says that the Jews are going to become a believing nation. How is this going to happen?

The Bible says there is going to be what is known as the rapture:

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  1 Thess 4:16, 17.

After the rapture will come the tribulation, a time of terrible suffering for those who remain on the earth. The Old Testament calls it the time of Jacob's trouble (Jer 30:6 - 9; Matt 24:15 - 28; Rev 7:13 - 17).

There may be a number of reasons for the tribulation. But one reason certainly is to bring the Jews back to God. How will they come?

In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness  Zech 13:1. What fountain is this?

There is a fountain filled with blood,
 Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
 Lose all their guilty stains.

They will wash as Gentile believers have washed, trusting for forgiveness in the shed blood of the Jewish Messiah. See Zech 12:10 - 14. Then Jesus will return. Jesus cannot come back to earth until the Jews are ready to receive Him. Which seems like a very good reason to pray for the Jewish people. (In speaking of His return, I do not speak of the rapture, which could occur at any time. He does not come to earth at the rapture, but appears in the clouds to take His people home.)


His return is recorded in Rev 19:11 - 16:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on is head were many crowns. He had a name written that no man knew except himself.

He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.

Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And he has on his robe and on his thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS

AND LORD OF LORDS.

He will come back in power and great glory. All who have refused His forgiveness will find judgment. Those who went to be with Him at the rapture will return with Him. He will set up His kingdom on the earth.

What days!

Establishing the kingdom (2)

When the Jews rejected Jesus, what did Jesus do? Note what He said in Matt 23:37 - 39:

"O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem," - He was talking to the Jews - "the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

"See! Your house is left to you desolate;

"for I say to you, you shall see me no more" - note He did not say you shall see Me no more forever - "you shall see me no more till" - there's an 'until'! - "till you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

Jesus was saying that the Jews would see Him no more until they were prepared to welcome Him.

After the Jews rejected Jesus, God opened the gates of salvation to the Gentiles (Rom 11:11). The good news is that after the fulness of the Gentiles is come to faith, then God will turn again to His Jewish people:

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

And so all Israel will be saved.  Rom 11:25, 26 (but read the rest of the chapter).

Israel is going to become a believing nation. When God turns again to the Jewish people, they will be ready to welcome Him. The Jews must come to faith, because of God's promises. God cannot forget His promises.

Establishing the kingdom (1)

Jesus didn't come to the Gentiles: He came to the Jews. "He came to his own, and his own did not receive him" (John 1:11).

When Jesus sent out the 12 disciples, He told them: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Matt 10: 5 - 7).

Mark tells how a Syro-Phoenician woman came to Jesus asking for healing for her daughter. Jesus told her: "Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs" (Mark 7:27). Why did He say that? Because she was a Gentile. (It's only fair to point out that she got what she asked, but Jesus made it clear His ministry was not to the Gentiles.) 

The Jews were God's chosen nation, through whom He wanted to reveal Himself to the world.

And when Jesus came to the Jews, what did He preach? He preached the kingdom of heaven. "Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" (Matt 4: 17). "Now Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom" (v23).

Look at Matthew 13. "Another parable he put forth to them, saying: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field'" (v24). "Another parable he put forth to them, saying: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed'" (v31). "Another parable he spoke to them: 'The kingdom of heaven is like leaven'" (v33). "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom" (v38). "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that offend" (v41). "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (v43)."Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field" (v44). "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls" (v45). "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea" (v47). The kingdom is mentioned more than 50 times in Matthew's Gospel alone.

Jesus came to bring the kingdom. But the Jews couldn't have the kingdom, because they rejected the King.

The common people received Him gladly. Crowds followed Him. The Old Testament contained many prophecies of the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled all the ones that had to be fulfilled at that time. He did what He could to certify His Messiahship. He performed miracles they believed only the Messiah could perform. But the religious leaders of the Jews were another matter. They didn't like His message and they didn't want the man.

The Jews' final rejection came in Matthew 12:

Then one was brought to him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.

And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the son of David?"

But when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  Matt 12:22 - 24. 

So when the Jews rejected Jesus, what did He do?

It's love that makes the difference

Anglican ministers and lay leaders, concerned at the falling away from biblical orthodoxy in parts of the worldwide Anglican communion, met in Jerusalem in 2008 and formed the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.

The second GAFCON conference is in Nairobi this week. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, was unable to be present because of prior commitments. (No, that isn't the subject of this blog post.) He sent a videod message to the conference. One of the things he said was this:

The gospel has to be proclaimed by a church that is in unity. That's really tough - I don't underestimate the difficulty of that. It doesn't mean being unanimous, all saying exactly the same thing in exactly the same way. It means that, as Jesus prays in John 17, that we demonstrate by our love for one another that Jesus is the Son of God and therefore people are drawn to believe in Him. We've got to find ways of doing that and I don't underestimate the challenge that is to all of us. 

I pray. . . that you will find the determination, together with all other Christians, in passionate unity and love for one another, expressing disagreement graciously yet with powerful truth, to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and there is no other.

"My word," I said, "he's got it."

Christianity isn't a religion so much as a relationship: a personal relationship with a living Saviour. May those who have this relationship show such a love that the world cannot fail to be moved.

Music saved her life

Alice Herz-Sommer, who lives in London, is the oldest living Holocaust survivor. She is also said to be the world's oldest living pianist.

Born in Prague with a remarkable musical gift, she became a concert pianist. After the Germans invaded, she was sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp, a "show camp" of artists, writers and musicians.

She gave more than a hundred concerts for the starving inmates. They had only a little black coffee and a little watery soup, but music kept them alive. "This was their food," she says.

She survived the war, and moved to London some 25 years ago. She is 109.

I wrote a blog post about her almost two years ago. Now someone has contacted me to tell me of the release of a full-length film, The Lady in Number Six, telling the story of her life.

You can see extracts from the film here.

Seven million lives snuffed out

The number of babies who die in the UK by abortion each day equals two Lockerbie disasters. The number of babies aborted each week is greater than the number of people killed at the World Trade Centre on 9/11. The number aborted in three years equals the casualties in the whole of the Second World War.

More than seven million have been killed by abortion in the UK in the past 45 years - equal to a tenth of the total population.

According to Government figures, 203, 419 babies were killed by abortion in England, Wales and Scotland in 2012. Some 98 per cent were social abortions; one per cent were because of suspected handicap.

A series of studies regarding children with Down's syndrome by a clinical fellow in genetics at a Boston children's hospital produced some remarkable results.

No less than 99 per cent of parents said they loved their Down's syndrome child; 97 per cent were proud of them. Four per cent regretted having them.

More than 96 per cent of brothers and sisters of Down's syndrome children indicated they had affection for them; 94 per cent of older siblings expressed feelings of pride. Less than five per cent said they would trade their brother or sister for one without Down's syndrome.

Of children with Down's syndrome, nearly 99 per cent said they were happy with their lives, 97 per cent liked who they were, and 96 per cent liked how they looked.

Yet more than 90 per cent of babies in the UK found to have Down's syndrome before birth are aborted.

This coming Sunday, October 27, is the National Day of Prayer about abortion, organised by Image, the Christian pro-life organisation. Will you join in? You are asked to pray with friends, in church or at home. You can find details and suggested prayer topics at www.imagenet.org.uk.

Hatred, persecution. . . and love

Why are Coptic Christians in Egypt undergoing their worst persecution since the 14th century, with horrific levels of violence, to the almost complete unconcern of the West?

Pre-planned destruction of scores of ancient churches, monasteries, schools, orphanages and businesses are said to have gone unreported for days across the West. Yet it has been the worst persecution for 700 years of the largest remaining Christian minority in the Middle East.

Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute Religious Freedom Centre in Washington, told a meeting in London organised by Lapido Media and the Henry Jackson Society that US newspapers, asking what difference Islamists winning elections in Egypt in 2011 would make, suggested merely that women would be prohibited from wearing skimpy clothing and Sharm el Sheikh would be closed as a tourist resort. This was "utterly trivial."

The media had failed to ask the most basic questions. Why were the Copts singled out? There was enough evidence to show that the violence was part of a plan to drive out the Copts, to terrorise them into leaving.

Historian Tom Holland said in terms of the sheer scale of hatreds and sectarian rivalries, we were watching something on the scale of horror of the European Thirty Years War.

Dr Jenny Taylor said the media's job had been impeded by "secular blinders." They tended to report the Middle East's religions as a "variant of a Westminster debate" with "left-wing underdogs and right-wing overdogs and Christians getting lumped in with the overdogs, if they get mentioned at all."

The Coptic Church in UK’s Bishop Angaelos said Muslims had often protected Christians. The church and civil society together were against the extremists.  Many Muslims had turned against the Muslim Brotherhood when it became clear there was no economic plan. He agreed there had been what felt like silence from Western churches, governments and indeed Western Muslims after the attacks.
 
Meanwhile 11,000 young people from 250 churches of all denominations were attending a three-day conference in a church conference facility in the desert 70 miles north of Cairo, despite a curfew and the fact that Egypt's railway system was suspended. Many watched the conference sessions live on two Christian TV channels, and thousands more on the internet.

The main prayer for the conference, titled One Way 2013, was that God would set apart these young people as a sacred generation for Himself, ready to do His work on earth.

A Muslim journalist, who visited the conference with Muslim friends out of curiosity, wrote: "We were overwhelmed by the spirit of love that spread out all over the place, from people who have just been facing a severe wave of attacks, burning, looting - people who had been severely suffering by fanatic Muslims. I was surrounded by a massive crowd of people who were taught to love and forgive. Their genuine spirit of love and angelic worship did not leave my thought!"

Putting the gospel into practice

Marie Monville was brought up in an evangelical church in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In her late teens, she married Charles Roberts. They had three children and almost 10 years together.

Over the years, Charlie's faith began to falter. The more Marie asked him to seek help, the more he withdrew. Apparently he was suffering from clinical depression.

On the morning of October 2, 2006, Marie led a prayer meeting at church. She and Charlie then walked their two oldest children, aged five and seven, to the bus stop, kissing them goodbye before Charlie left for work.

Later, Charlie telephoned. "I had never heard Charlie's voice sound like that before," said Marie, "not in almost 10 years of marriage. Something was horribly wrong."

Charlie told Marie he would not be coming home. She pleaded with him to come home, but he hung up.

Charlie went to the one-room Amish schoolhouse with a handgun, a rifle, a shotgun, a stun gun and two knives. He ordered the teacher, a teacher's help and the boys to leave. He bound 10 schoolgirls and lined them up against a blackboard. He boarded up the windows, and shot the 10 girls one by one - five were killed and five seriously injured - before turning the gun on himself.

Some time later, Marie was in the kitchen at her parents' home when she saw some Amish men coming down the street. "I knew they were coming to my parents' house," she told Piers Morgan in a television programme last week.

"I went to my mom and dad and said 'What do I do? Do I go out to talk to them?' My dad said 'You can stay inside. I'll go out and talk with them.'

"He met them on the driveway. I continued to watch from the window. And although I couldn't hear the words they spoke, I saw the embrace. You know, I saw them put their arms around my dad and put their hands on his shoulder. Everything about their gentleness conveyed the words I couldn't hear.

"When my dad came back in, we all are waiting to hear from him what they said. And he collected his thoughts, you know. And I knew it had been a deeply moving time for him as well.

"He said that they had forgiven Charlie and that they were extending grace and love to our family. They were concerned about me and concerned about our children."

Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.  Matt 5:44.

Dying can be a great opportunity

What's the worth of a human life? If it's my life, can I do what I want with it? Do I have the right to end it when I feel like it?

Listen to John Wyatt, emeritus professor of ethics and perinatology at University College, London, writing in the current issue of Catalyst, published by CARE:

Many insist that we are like chimpanzees with extra brain, just one more species on the planet. Others believe we are basically machines, with brains like computers made of flesh instead of silicon and wires.

Another common attitude is narcissism or the elevation of the self, which is a form of idolatry. 'Everything that improves my life is great. Anything that diminishes it is negative. I have the right to choose how to live my life and also when it should end.' This mindset sees suffering as something to avoid, dismissing the idea that it could ever be of positive value. We see young people caught up in addictions that deaden the pain in and around them.

In secular thinking, human beings can be 'categorised' according to their value with high achievers and celebrities at the top all the way down to those who are totally unproductive and burdensome. Just think where this leads. 'Provided I am independent and able to choose, life is worth living but once I become frail, vulnerable, limited, I become less valuable - putting me out of my misery might be doing me a favour.'

Genesis 1 is clear that every human life is made in God's image. Psalm 139 describes us as 'knit together in our mother's womb. . . fearfully and wonderfully made.' Ephesians 2:10 says 'we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.' Jesus became human like us, choosing to be vulnerable, experiencing human fragility.

God chooses for us to live in a web of dependency on Him and others. We did not choose the circumstances of our birth and arrived completely helpless. As we grow, others may rely on us, and later we might need looking after again. In love, God calls us into existence by name; His plan for us reaches beyond the grave. For someone with dementia, this is crucial. They may forget who they are, but God knows, and remembers, holding their identity safe.

Christians should be particularly concerned about protecting the most vulnerable!  The brain-damaged, the disabled baby, someone severely harmed by life's circumstances, a frail older person - are they not made in God's image - all equal, special beings?. . . 

Palliative care is about living, helping to maximise someone's final days positively. I know of many who have 'died well' - finding time to restore relationships, say goodbye and let go as they focused on meeting God, many receiving Christ as saviour. Vulnerably ill people sometimes express suicidal thoughts but skilled and compassionate caring support transforms the situation. Dying can, by God's grace, be a great adventure and an opportunity, right up to the end, for a person to find purpose in their life.

In the midst of darkness, the light shines

There has been a Christian church in Syria since the days Paul the apostle was converted on the road to Damascus. Never has the Christian church in Syria faced greater difficulties.

There were 2.3 million Christians in the country. Because they were allowed freedom to practise their faith by President Assad, opposition fighters - many of them militant Islamists - assume they support his regime. Christians are being kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered.

Almost the entire Christian population of one city - some 60,000 -  have fled. Some have been dying because of hardship and lack of medicines.

Some have been held for exorbitant ransoms families cannot pay. Some families have asked for their loved ones to be killed outright rather than face brutal torture. Christian homes have been invaded and pillaged.

One church leader said "I am not very optimistic that our Christian community will survive." Those left face a cold winter with no income.

But in the midst of darkness, the light shines. "When you hear about one Muslim coming to Christ, it's a great thing, and everybody rejoices," said a contact of Voice of the Martyrs in Syria. "Today in Syria I'm not talking about one person. We're talking about hundreds and even thousands of Muslims coming to Christ."

Muslims have attacked 85 churches in Egypt. Almost 80 Christians were killed outside a church in Pakistan. Forty students were shot dead in their beds in Nigeria.

Two Christian organisations providing aid are Barnabas Fund (www.barnabasfund.org) and Open Doors (www.opendoorsuk.org).

Whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.  1 John 3: 17, 18.

So God goes out - or does He?

In November last year, Julie Bentley became chief executive of Britain's Girl Guide movement. Ms Bentley, a leading campaigner for abortion and former head of the Family Planning Association, described the Guides as "the ultimate feminist organisation."

In June this year came the announcement that the Guides' promise, "I promise that I will do my best to love my God, to serve the Queen and my country, to help other people, and to keep the Guide law," was to be changed.

It was to become "I promise that I will do my best to be true to myself and develop my beliefs, to serve the Queen and my community, to help other people, and to keep the Guide law."

Secular meddling, you might think, with something that has served a good purpose for a long time.

"Sounds like a self-help manual," wrote someone. "Being true to oneself is what leads to the queue for X Factor auditions," said someone else.

In August, a group of leaders at St Paul's United Reform Church in Harrogate said they were going to use the old promise. They were threatened with expulsion: only the new promise would be recognised, said Girlguiding UK. "So much for diversity," wrote someone. "Secular totalitarianism."

St Paul's United Reform Church leaders were reported to have capitulated after a meeting with the organisation.

Enter Jesmond Parish Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The vicar, the Rev David Holloway (a founding member of the Christian Institute and a council member and trustee of Reform, the Church of England reform organisation), said the church's Brownie and Guide units were refusing to use the new promise, and were right to do so for five reasons.

First, he says, the charitable object of Girlguiding is to help girls "develop emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually," and according to the Guiding manual members are encouraged to be active in a religious faith. Jesus and the apostles made it clear that sometimes a person's self is a dark and conflicting source of deception and to be resisted. Eph 4:18 - 24 says we are to put off our old self and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. To which self are we to be true?

Second, being true to a self that is materialistic and gives free rein to sexual and other instincts is surely not in line with the charitable object of Girlguiding.

Third, men and women by nature do not put God first, others second and themselves last; they put themselves first. This can result, like the Guides, in "developing their own beliefs."

Fourth, the promise does not help girls deal with guilt. To encourage a girl in her delusion that there is no objective divine moral law, but all is from her own self, is cruel as well as spiritually and psychologically damaging.

Fifth, the new promise is illegal. The doctrine of the (established) Church of England, defined by law, refers to the Thirty-Nine Articles, which forbid "vain" or "rash" promise-making.

Jesmond Parish Church Brownies and Guides do not propose to disband, said Mr Holloway, but will be enrolling girls using the old promise.

"Their founder Baden-Powell would be horrified."

The city without a river

Jerusalem is a capital city without a river. Rome has the Tiber, Paris has the Seine, London has the Thames, but Jerusalem doesn't have a river.   

But it will have.

Says Zechariah:

And in that day it shall be
 That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem,
Half of them towards the eastern sea (the Dead Sea)
  And half of them towards the western sea (the Mediterranean); 
In both summer and winter it shall occur.  Zech 14:8.    

The prophet Ezekiel describes it:

Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple towards the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. . . 

Then he said to me: "This water flows towards the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed.

"And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.

"It shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglaim; they will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be of the same kinds as the fish of the Great Sea, exceedingly many.

"But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be given over to salt. 

"Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail.They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine."  Ezek 47:1 - 12.

Joel mentions it too:

And it will come to pass in that day
 That the mountains shall drip with new wine,
The hills shall flow with milk,
 And all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water;
A fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord
 And water the Valley of Acacias.  Joel 3:18. 

Jerusalem, of course, is where Jesus died and rose again. It's where He will reign when He returns, and it's where the nations will go up to worship:

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
 That the mountain of the Lord's house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
 And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it. 

Many nations shall come and say,
 "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
 He will teach us his ways,
And we shall walk in his paths."
 For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples,
 And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
 And their spears into pruning-hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
 Neither shall they learn war any more.  Mic 4:1 - 3.
  
We are exhorted to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Psa 122:6).  Next Sunday, October 6, is the Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem. You can find details at www.daytopray.com.