The Man dressed in glowing white

"Jesus is moving in these Middle East nations. Many there are disillusioned and broken and just want to know the truth. Now more than ever there is a harvest among Muslims that has not been seen in history."

So says Tyler Connell, a young American who travels to faraway countries, like countries in the Middle East, then visits American universities like Harvard, Iowa State, Clemson and the University of Georgia to tell what he has seen.

He tells the story of a young man named Daniel* who works among Syrian refugees in Jordan. One day he visited a family of eight. The father was a devout Muslim. "I'm Daniel and I'm here to tell you about Jesus," he said. The family turned almost white and looked at each other. The father was yelling.

Daniel's interpreter explained that the previous night a Man dressed in glowing white opened the door of their tent and stood in the entrance. "My name is Jesus and I am sending a man tomorrow named Daniel to tell you more about Me," He said. Then He disappeared.

When Daniel arrived at their doorway and told them his name they were undone. The whole family gave their lives to Jesus and are now planting underground churches in Jordan.

The father got a large mobile phone bill and asked his 15-year-old daughter about it. "It's because I'm telling all our relatives in Saudi Arabia about Jesus," she said.

You can see more here.

*Name changed for security reasons.
          

Muslims 'sick of Islam'

A 21-year-old Iraqi woman who escaped after being tortured and kept as a sex slave by ISIS, speaking in London, appealed for the world to "come on board" in fighting the terrorist group. ISIS were  criminals, she said, and needed to be tackled by the world community.

Nadia Murad said her mother saw ISIS fighters kill six of Nadia's brothers, then they took her mother and killed her. "I was already orphaned because I didn't have a father. All I had was my mother."

Nadia was taken as a sex slave along with 5,000 other Yazidi girls and women. "When they took me to Mosul and raped me, I forgot my mother and brothers, because what they were doing to the women was more difficult than death.

"Until now girls as young as nine are being rented and sold out. A year and a half has passed and the genocide against the Yazidis is continuous. We die every day because we see the world silent in face of our plight."

A hundred women who escaped ISIS when their mountain stronghold was attacked in 2014 are now fighting alongside Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Another 500 are waiting to be trained. "We will do whatever is asked of us," they said.

Christian Aid Mission reports that more and more Muslims in Iraq are hungry to know about Christ after witnessing the brutality of groups like ISIS. "They're just sick of Islam," said one ministry leader.
        

How Ingrid Bergman found Christ

Gladys Aylward was a housemaid in London. For years she had dreamt of being a missionary in China. When the China Inland Mission turned her down, she decided to go alone.

She saved for months for the fare, then travelled overland - the cheapest way to go - carrying a suitcase of baked beans, hard-boiled eggs and cream crackers to feed her on the journey.

In China, she learned to speak fluent Chinese and had some amazing adventures, not least when she led more than 100 orphan children through Japanese-occupied territory to freedom.

It was decided to make a film of her life called The Inn of the Sixth Happiness; Ingrid Bergman was chosen to play "the small woman" (Gladys Aylward was just 4ft 10in tall). Gladys was critical, having heard that Bergman had had children out of wedlock with film director Roberto Rossellini.

Bergman was so moved by the story of Gladys Aylward that she felt she must meet her. She travelled to Taiwan, where Gladys was living. Unfortunately, by the time she arrived, Gladys had died.

Kathleen Langton-Smith, who had gone out to Taiwan to help Gladys, showed her the room where Gladys had lived and the bed in which she had slept. Bergman was so overcome she fell to her knees in tears. Kathleen used the occasion to lead her to Christ.

You can read more details of the story here.
   

Taking human life without restriction

I suppose it had to come - but it speaks volumes about the hard-as-flint state of our hearts regarding the disposal of unwanted human life.

A new organisation has made its appearance, called We Trust Women. It points out that abortion is still a crime (subsequent legislation did not alter the fact; it simply said that there would be no prosecutions if abortions were carried out according to certain circumstances).

We Trust Women says this harms women, restricts women's fundamental rights - though there has never been a right to abortion - and suggests a woman's body is her own, without making mention of the body of the unborn child. It wants all legislation sweeping away, so that nurses and midwives would be able to perform abortions, women would be able to have abortions - including sex-selection abortions - at any time without reference to doctors, and women would be able to take the abortion pill at home.

The new organisation appears to be largely the work of BPAS, Britain's largest abortion provider. (Ann Furedi, BPAS's chief executive officer, has always been honest about wanting abortion to be legal at any time for any reason.) BPAS is supported by a number of pro-abortion groups - and the Royal College of Midwives.

You might have thought that midwives. being actively involved in bringing new life into the world, might not have been in favour of such an extreme position, but the college has lent its support reportedly without having consulted its members. You can express your concern and request they consult their membership here or here.

The respected group 40 Days for Life, described as the largest internationally co-ordinated pro-life movement in history, uses three methods: prayer and fasting, community outreach and peaceful vigils. It has had remarkable successes in 32 nations.

A number of women from the group Abortion Rights accuses 40 Days for Life of coercion, harassment and intimidation. The women, "representing various denominations of Christianity" - the denominations are not specified - have founded a new organisation, Christians for Choice.

One of the founders, Edem Barbara Ntumy, writes: "I believe being pro-choice and being a Christian are not diametrically opposed." She does not explain how she reconciles the deliberate taking of innocent human life with the teachings of Christ.
       

When we make a mistake

We all make mistakes.

I have made mistakes in the Christian life, which I have later bitterly regretted. When that happens, we have a tendency to despair. We think "I've made a mess of it. What's the use of trying now?"

Consider the story beginning at Matt 26:36. They were in Gethsemane, shortly before Jesus was crucified. He asked His disciples to pray with Him. They fell asleep. Twice.

He said "The hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going." The damage was done, and could not be undone. But Jesus did not condemn. It was as though He was saying "Come on. Let's go on to what's next." 

I remember once when I was bemoaning my failings. It was as though God spoke to me. He said *You're my son." Just three words. But those three words kept me going for days.

If we make a mistake, it isn't the end. There are still lessons to be learned; still more victories to be won. Pick yourself up and keep on going. Have we entered into a personal relationship with Christ? We are still citizens of the kingdom. Still sons of a loving Heavenly Father.
    

The BBC and assisted suicide

The BBC, described as a cheerleader for assisted suicide, has again been accused of bias after the broadcast documentary this week of a man taking his own life at a Swiss clinic.

Simon Binner, a British businessman, had motor neurone disease. His wife Debbie was opposed to his taking his own life. "Watching him plan his own death, while I still wanted more time, was overwhelmingly traumatic," she said. "He had rights, but how much of his life was mine?"

The BBC was said to have made last-minute changes to the documentary, How to Die: Simon's Choice, after early copies were released to journalists. Footage of Mr Binner's corpse and scenes involving the drug used were edited after an executive from the Samaritans raised concerns that the BBC might fall foul of guidelines that prevent broadcasters from giving detailed guidance about suicide methods.

Leading blogger Archbishop Cranmer said of the programme: "This wasn't human action morally scrutinised, but political policy advanced emotively. How to Die wasn't so much concerned with how to die as why on earth not? . . .

"When will the BBC sensitively follow a pregnant woman through her BPAS or Marie Stopes counselling? When will they explore the views of her distraught partner as he weeps and longs for a chance to become a father? When will they broadcast the contentious performance and harrowing process of carrying out an abortion, and justify it all to the Guardian on the grounds of it being 'ambitious,' 1compelling,' 'groundbreaking' TV journalism of 'one of the toughest decisions there is to make'? 

"Or is it that changing the law on abortion is simply not on the BBC's political agenda?"

A petition has been organised protesting the BBC's bias and requesting them, in the interests of journalistic responsibility, to air a documentary about someone who is terminally ill and deeply opposes assisted suicide.

You can sign it here 
     .

Lessons learned in prison

Daniel Waheli, with his wife and children, was serving as a missionary in a predominantly Muslim country in Africa. One night, six men came. Four of them had guns. They took him and put him in a small cell with a thin mattress.

He had been questioned by authorities before. He would tell them that he loved their country and he had started a successful business there. Then he noticed the writing on the wall of the cell: "Oh God, it has been more than five months. Please, help me to get out of here." He realised this might take longer than he had thought.

Work had kept him busy. Here, he had time to listen to God's voice. He prayed for hours at a time. God began to speak to his heart. He could barely keep up with all the things God told him. After they gave him his Bible back, he pulled strings from the mattress to serve as bookmarks. He looked at the places he had marked each day to remember the things God had told him. Eventually, he had more than 120 bookmarks.

He was released after almost three months. The presence and the voice of Jesus were clearer to him than ever they had been before. 

Waheli says God taught him five principles about suffering that every follower of Jesus should remember:

1.  Be ready for persecution. Suffering is promised for every person who seeks to live a holy life before God, regardless of calling (2 Tim 3:12).

2.  Rejoice in your sufferings. Suffering can help us develop character which can lead to a hope that does not disappoint (Rom 5;3 - 5).

3.  You are blessed by God in your suffering (1 Pet 4:14; Matt 5:11).

4.  Seek to "bless those who persecute you" (Rom 12:14). The power of love and forgiveness in action helps suffering Christians to bless their persecutors. Pray that God gives you eyes to see your persecutors as people who know not what they are doing and who deeply need Jesus.

5.  Suffering will help you comfort others. God often allows something to happen to you so that you can learn and "be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (2 Cor 1:4).

God intends to build our character to help us better serve Him in love and perseverance. Waheli says his suffering induced indescribable peace, joy and hope in God and in His promises that with and through Him, we will lack nothing.

May we endure hardship with joy and perseverance.
               

Law chief intervenes in 'gay cake' case

An appeal in the Ashers "gay cake" case in Northern Ireland was halted at the last minute this week after an intervention by Northern Ireland's Attorney General.

The McArthur family, who run Ashers Baking Company, was asked to bake a cake bearing the slogan "Support gay marriage." The McArthurs, who are committed Christians, declined. They were taken to court by the Equality Commission of Northern Ireland (with £40,000 of public funds).

Judge Isobel Brownlie decided the McArthurs had unlawfully discriminated against homosexual activist Gareth Lee on grounds of sexual discrimination and they were ordered to pay £500 compensation.

They arrived at court this week expecting their appeal to be heard before Northern Ireland's Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, but the appeal was postponed after an intervention from John Larkin QC,  Attorney General of Northern Ireland, apparently on the grounds of a potential conflict between Northern Ireland equality legislation and European human rights laws.

The Court of Appeal will meet in March to hear legal arguments on the compatibility of Northern Ireland law with European law, and the appeal will now not be heard until May.

Homosexual campaigner Peter Tatchell, who originally supported the claim against Ashers, announced this week that he had changed his mind. He said the claim against the bakers was well intended, but was "a step too far." The request to bake the cake was refused not because Mr Lee was homosexual, but because of the message that was asked for on the cake.

"Should Muslim printers be obliged to publish cartoons of Mohammed? Or Jewish ones publish the words of a Holocaust denier? Or gay bakers accept orders for cakes with homophobic slurs?" There was a difference, he suggested, between discrimination against people and discrimination against ideas.

He's right. There's a big difference between having the legal right to do what you want and forcing everybody to like it.
      

'Oldest hatred' js increasing

Antisemitism in Europe has reached an unprecedented level. 

Last year antisemitic incidents in London rose by more than 60 per cent. Jewish emigration from Europe had a record year, with 7,000 French people arriving in Israel. In Germany, according to an EU agency, 64 per cent of Jews avoid the public display of symbols which would identify them as Jewish.

In American universities, three quarters of Jewish students had witnessed antisemitism on campus, with a worsening of incitement and hatred.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said antisemitism was not merely growing among immigrant communities, but gaining traction across Europe. "Even respected Western opinion leaders have become affected with hatred for the Jewish people and the Jewish state," he said.

"Islamic extremists incorporate the most outrageous antisemitism into their murderous doctrines. We see this in Gaza; we see it in Raqqa; we see it in Teheran.

"The Palestinian terrorists don't want to build a state; they want to destroy a state, and they say that proudly. They want to murder Jews everywhere and they state that proudly. They don't murder for peace, and they don't murder for human rights.

"While across the region, Islamist militants brutalise entire populations, enslave and rape women,  murder Christians and gays, the UN Human Rights Council repeatedly condemns Israel. More than North Korea. More than Iran. More than Syria. More than all of them put together. Some things just don't change.

"When a state like Iran and movements like ISIS and Hamas openly declare their goal of committing another Holocaust, we will not let it happen. But Europe and the rest of the world must stand up together with us. Not for our sake; but for theirs."

●  What is the reason for the world's "oldest hatred"? People won't understand antisemitism until they recognise it is spiritual in origin. The enemy provoked Pharaoh to kill the Israelites in Egypt and Haman to kill the Jews in the Persian empire in an effort to prevent God's promises being fulfilled in the birth of Christ. He failed. He had Herod kill all the young children in Bethlehem in an effort to destroy the Saviour. He failed. He is now trying to prevent Christ's second coming, for it signals his doom. He will fail there too.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psa 122:6).
            

Were Sodom and Gomorrah man and wife?

It has been said that Christianity in the United States is "miles wide and inches deep." There's some truth in that. But can it be even worse than we have supposed? The facts quoted by leading American evangelical Al Mohler, if true, are profoundly shocking.

He says that, according to researchers:

●  Fewer than half of all adults can name the four gospels.

●  Many Christians cannot identify more than two or three of the disciples.

●  Sixty per cent of Americans can't name five of the Ten Commandments.

●  Eighty-two per cent of Americans thought "God helps those who help themselves" is a Bible verse. (Born-again Christians did better - by one per cent.)

●  At least 12 per cent of adults believe Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.

●  Fifty per cent of graduating high school seniors thought Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.

Americans revere the Bible, Mohler suggests, but they don't read it.

Churches must recover the centrality and urgency of biblical teaching and preaching. We will not believe more than we know, and we will not live higher than our beliefs.

But parents, he says, are to be the first and most important educators of their own children. They cannot franchise their responsibility to the congregation. Children must see their Christian parents as teachers and fellow students of God's Word.

God help us. 
            

The life of Neriyah Arabov

Neriyah Arabov was the only Jewish pupil at his school in Uzbekistan. "The name Neriyah stuck out against all the Mashas, Sashas and Pashas," he says. When he was 17, he and his family emigrated to Israel. He grew to love the country, and rejoiced that he would never again be called a dirty Jew by his own countrymen.

He got a job with the Tel Aviv municipality, where he met  a man who read the Bible and said Jesus was the Messiah. He realised the man knew the Bible better than he did, so he began to read the Bible in order to prove him wrong.

What he saw in Isaiah 53 shook him. He realised the prophets were speaking about Jesus. As he read the Bible one day, he asked God to show him the truth about a personal matter no one else knew anything about. God answered.

He prayed a second prayer. Again, God answered. Unable to resist any longer, he fell to his knees and accepted Jesus as his Saviour.

Now he had opposition from his family. "How could you do such a thing?" they said. "Why do you believe in Yeshua? Is the synagogue not good enough for you? What are you looking for with the Christians? Why are you getting into something that is not Jewish?"

Neriyah went to Bible college. While at Bible college, he began to suffer from severe headaches, and found that something was wrong with his kidneys. But God, it seemed, had a plan for that too. . .

Neriyah and his wife now lead a messianic fellowship in Israel. They distribute food packages to needy families, do free tours to holy sites and care for Holocaust survivors.

For more details of Neriyah's story, see here.

●  Record numbers of Jews from Europe are moving to Israel as antisemitism in Europe increases. This Wednesday, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, is also Holocaust Memorial Day UK. For details of the day, see here.

          

The church isn't dead yet

According to the latest poll, the number of white Britons who say they have no religion is greater than the number who claim to be Christian.

YouGov did  the poll for Professor Linda Woodhead, co-director of the Institute for Social Futures at Lancaster University, last month. 

Of a sample of 1,500 people, 46% said they had no religion. This was up from 42% in February, 2015, and 37% in January, 2013. This figure rose to more than 50% among white British.

The non-religious trend was most pronounced among under-40s. Among under-40s of all races, 56% had no religion, while 31% said they were Christian. Some 16.5% of those who said they had no religion believed that there was definitely - or probably - some higher power. Only 5% were absolutely convinced that God did not exist.

Andrew Brown, who writes on religion for the Guardian, points out that 95% of children of non-religious parents remain non-religious, while only 40% of the children of Christian parents continue to call themselves Christian. To me, he always appears to criticise the church for standing for what it believes, and seems almost impatient for the church to die and be replaced by "some kind of organised humanism."

I am confident he will be disappointed. We might live in dark days, but the church isn't dead yet.
          

GM babies: 'Dangerous' research planned

Permission is likely to be given shortly to UK scientists to perform genetic engineering on human embryos using a powerful new technology whose use has been banned in more than 40 countries.

Dr Kathy Niakan, of the Francis Crick Institute in London, made her case for performing genetic modification to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority last Thursday. The authority will give a ruling later this month. Research could begin as early as March.

Philippa Taylor, head of public policy at the Christian Medical Fellowship, points out that there are two types of genetic editing. It can be done to "somatic" cells in an individual patient where sperm and eggs are not affected - a "one off" cure. Or it can be done to "germline" cells in sperm or eggs or early embryos, which would pass the genetic change down through all future children.

Dr Niakan wants to use the new technique, called CRISPR/Cas9, to edit genes in day-old human embryos left over from IVF. She plans to start with a gene called Oct4, using 20 to 30 donated embryos. If this is successful, she plans to test three or four other genes, again using a further 20 to 30 embryos. The embryos will then be destroyed.

Apart from the problem of destruction of human life, any genetic change would be in every cell, including reproductive cells, meaning the changes would be passed on through future generations.

Work on germline cells has until now been prohibited and widely condemned because of the many unknown risks to future generations. The discoverers of CRISPR say the technique should not be used at this time. American scientists have said that creating gene-edited humans is "dangerous and ethically unacceptable."

Why is the UK keen to do this research? Philippa Taylor says there are plaudits and money involved. An American professor says that since the 18th century the British have been fascinated by breeding. Galtonian eugenics sprang from University College London in the 19th century.  

Ms Taylor says the British rejected eugenics after the Second World War, but IVF developers Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards voiced eugenic aims for their IVF research. The discoverers of DNA, James Watson and Francis Crick, were both eugenicists. And there is a group of neo-eugenicist philosophers and biologists pushing a eugenics agenda.

It is not certain that permission for the research will be refused. "The HFEA can never say no to scientists," was the verdict of one doctor.

For a fuller report, see here and here.  
            

The problem of the universe (1)

The problem for people who want to pretend God doesn't exist is where the universe came from.

Some people say the universe was never created. It has always existed. But that won't do. Scientists have discovered that the world is winding down. It is now generally accepted that the world will have an end. If it will have an end, then it must have had a beginning.

Some would try to say that the universe created itself. This denies the law of cause and effect. Out of nothing, somebody said, comes nothing.

Some would say that the universe was created by chance. But that's not a valid argument. Chance is not an entity, with the power to create.

Some would even argue that the world is not real. Suppose the things of the world are just an illusion. But where did the illusion come from?

Go outside your house on a clear night and gaze up at the millions of stars twinkling above you. You'll find it difficult just then to say there's no God. You really will.

Psalm 19 says "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork." That's much easier to believe.

What do you think? 
           

Christian persecution on the increase

The persecution of Christians across the world is getting worse - and getting worse fast.

Each January Open Doors publishes a World Watch List of the 50 countries in the world where it is most dangerous to be a Christian - in other words, the 50 countries where persecution is at its most severe. Its World Watch List 2016 is published today.

It shows that well over 7,000 Christians were killed for faith-related reasons in the reporting period - a rise of almost 3,000 on the previous year. This does not include North Korea, Syria and Iraq, where accurate records do not exist.

Around 2,300 churches were attacked or damaged, more than double the number for last year.

Systematic  religious cleansing is widespread across Africa and the Middle East. Every year well over 100 million Christians are persecuted because of their beliefs. Extreme Islamic fundamentalism is rising most sharply in sub-Saharan Africa, where more people are killed for their Christian faith than anywhere else in the world.

North Korea tops the list of offending countries for the 14th successive year. In North Korea there are estimated to be about 70,000 Christians imprisoned in labour camps. Christians who worship in secret face death if they are discovered.

Iraq, where a 2,000-year-old church is on the verge of extinction, is second. Eritrea is third, followed by Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Iran and Libya.

More than 120 MPs were expected to attend a meeting at the House of Commons this afternoon to discuss Christian persecution.

You can read more details here. 
       

Preparing for battle

If, as Barnabas Fund suggests, 2016 will be remarkable for the battle for religious freedom, what's to be done about it?

It's worth mentioning that the religious freedoms we have long enjoyed in this nation were won - and maintained - in a Christian culture. Religions who want to impose alternatives by force are no friends of freedom. And atheistic organisations who want to prevent Christians from practising their beliefs are no friends of freedom either.

John 8:36 says "If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Gal 5:1 says "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free."

(Freedom is not freedom to do as you please. That's not freedom. Freedom is freedom to do the right thing. That's freedom.)

There are two things that a Christian can do here. He can compromise, pretending that any religion will do, accepting any sort of sexual lifestyle, or believing that there is more than one way to heaven. (There isn't.) Or he can stand.

Ephesians 6 says:

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Not just words of comfort. Not just words of encouragement. But words of detailed instruction in preparation for the battle.
           

The battle for religious freedom

Political Islam, an increasingly intolerant humanism and the development of a new civic religion will be the major battleground in 2016 for the future of religious freedom, says Christian charity Barnabas Fund. 

Political Islam in much of the world is the greatest threat in its attempts to enforce sharia law, either through the political process or through violence. Last year ISIS extended to new areas of Syria and Northern Iraq. Boko Haram spread its attacks on Christians from Nigeria to Niger and Chad.

Acer province in Indonesia began enforcing sharia; in Tanzania the government attempted to introduce sharia courts to the mainland, where Muslims are a minority. Brunei and Somalia banned the public celebration of Christmas.

Humanists have campaigned against Christian moral standards, attempting to enforce their own secular version of morality. They have tried to prevent parents from sending their  children to Christian schools, wanting children to attend entirely secular schools that reflect humanists' own belief system. They have sought to prevent schools from including any Christian aspect in Christmas celebrations.

We are seeing, says Barnabas, the emergence of a new civic religion in the West in which all beliefs and lifestyle choices are equally valid, and no one, including churches, is allowed to discriminate against them. It claims to be based on tolerance, but is in fact profoundly intolerant of anyone holding historic biblical Christian beliefs.

One of the results is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to hold public office as a teacher, social worker, judge or politician without at least nominally subscribing to a particular set of beliefs. Freedom of speech is being undermined, with attempts even being made to prosecute pastors for comments made from the pulpit deemed to be offensive to such as Muslims, as evidenced in a recent court case in Northern Ireland. 
        

Veteran Belfast preacher cleared

There's still some hope for free speech.

James McConnell, 78-year-old former senior pastor at Belfast Metropolitan Tabernacle, was yesterday found not guilty of making "grossly offensive" remarks about Islam.

District Judge Liam McNally said at the court in Belfast that while the words on which the charges were based were offensive, they did mot reach the high threshold of being "grossly offensive."

"The courts need to be very careful not to criminalise speech which, however contemptible, is no worse than offensive," he said. "It is not the task of the criminal law to censor offensive utterances."

Mr McConnell described Islam as "satanic" and "a doctrine spawned in hell" in a sermon at the church. A video of his sermon was streamed on the church website. 

He made a public apology to anyone he might have unintentionally offended, but refused to accept a caution from the police. "The police tried to shut me up and tell me what to preach," he said. "It's ridiculous."

He was charged with improper use of a public electronic communications network and causing a grossly offensive message to be sent by means of a public electronic communications network. He denied the charges. "I didn't mean to offend anyone," he said. "I believe in free speech."

Mr McConnell had a Roman Catholic priest, a Muslim cleric and an MP lined up as defence witnesses. After several  preliminary hearings, the case was eventually heard in December, but the judge reserved his judgment until yesterday.

 In a separate matter, the Government is proposing registration and inspection by Ofsted of "intensive education" in out-of-school settings for more than six hours a week. This could affect churches, Christian holiday clubs and Christian camps. 

It could involve censorship of teaching which did not agree with "British values," such as the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, sexual ethics and the sanctity of human life.

Organisations and individuals are invited to send observations to the Department for Education by post or e-mail by next Monday, January 11. You will find details at the website of Christian Concern (www.christianconcern.com).
        

Happiness one day at a time

When Lillian Weber's husband died at 97 years old, she began to look around for something to keep her busy. She saw a mention in a newspaper of a charity providing dresses for needy children in Africa. She'd been sewing since she was 10, so she decided to help.

She set herself a target of 1,000 dresses, sewing one a day. She's passed the target easily. The remarkable thing is that Lillian is 100 years old.

She works at her home, a farmhouse in the small town of Bettendorf, Iowa. Each dress she makes is carefully decorated to make it unique.

"What would I do if I didn't sew?" she says. "I know I'm making little girls happy. That's important to me."