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.

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.