A national bookstore chain have cancelled a reading of obscene and blasphemous poetry due to happen tonight after a 24-hour campaign by a Christian prayer and lobby group.
Waterstones were due to host Patrick Jones’ poetry reading in their Cardiff store tonight, but less than 24 hours after Christian Voice members began contacting the store and Waterstones’ top brass, the event has been pulled.
The store say it was down to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ but Kirsty Hardy , PA to Waterstone’s MD Gerry Johnson, was more honest: ‘It is not appropriate for our stores to host events that are potentially disruptive’, she told Christian Voice.
Members of the group were planning to attend the event.
Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said today:
‘This is a triumph for the Lord, not for us. The Lord had not even showed me what we should do at Waterstones, only that it should be Christlike.
‘Nor was I even praying for the event be cancelled. But I now know many were, and their prayers have been answered, by a mighty God. We have not even had to go down to the battleground, let alone fight (2Chr 20:17). Just the knowledge that we were on our way has put the fear of God into the opposition.
‘But the fact is, we were prepared to go and do something, and it is that which I believe caused Almighty God to take our prayers seriously and perform a miracle.’
‘However, Waterstones are still selling Jones’ book “Darkness is Where the Stars Are” which is full of anti-Christian rhetoric and profanity. The poems, some of which Patrick Jones sent me yesterday morning in an act of hubris, aren’t actually much good, but they possibly have enough profanity and references to female genitalia to get the literati excited. One of them included the blasphemous if not terribly original line: ‘just like mary magdelene (sic), i f****d jesus’.
‘Waterstones have said they do not ‘act as a censor’ although plainly they do have editorial discretion. I now call on them to remove Jones’ book from their stores and their website.
‘But for Waterstones to tell Patrick Jones not to turn up, especially after he was boasting about the event, is a victory and we give all the glory to Almighty God.’
In August, protests in Cardiff by Christian Voice outside Hugh James solicitors and at the South Wales Echo led to the Echo apologising for a blasphemous article by Dan O’Neill.
Stephen Green concluded: ‘Even after the abolition of the law against blasphemy, companies need to think twice before insulting Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 53:1: ‘Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?’
Contact: Waterstones Managing Director, Gerry Johnson, on 020 8742 3800 or email: gerry.johnson@waterstones.com
Mr Johnson’s boss, Simon Fox of HMV, is on 020 7432 2000
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This is the text of the leaflet our members are handing out at Waterstone’s stores around the UK – and beyond!
The Waterstone’s chain is selling a book full of disgusting profanity and references to female body parts which degrades women and insults decent people of all faiths and none. In the book is the offensive and blasphemous line: ‘just like mary magdelene (sic), i f****d jesus’.
Christmas is about Jesus Christ!
We are coming up to Christmas, the annual celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Put simply, Waterstone’s do not deserve to make one penny piece out of Christmas if they are prepared to insult the Prince of Peace, born of a woman, the babe in the manger who was born to be the Saviour of the World.
That’s why we are calling on you to boycott Waterstone’s and buy your books somewhere else this Christmas. There are plenty of bookstores where decent people can shop.
What should Waterstone’s do?
Waterstone’s Managing Director, Gerry Johnson, says they ‘do not act as a censor’, but that is nonsense. Of course they exercise editorial control when they decide which books to stock.
So Mr Johnson bears ultimate responsibility for allowing Waterstone’s to mount a blasphemous attack on Jesus Christ.
He should take the offending book – he knows which one it is – out of his stores and off the Waterstone’s website.
He should also publicly apologise to his firm’s Christian staff, customers and shareholders and exercise better judgment in future.
We are building a culture of disrespect
You can contact Gerry Johnson at Waterstone’s, Capital Court, Capital Interchange Way, Brentford, Middlesex TW8 0EX, phone him on 020 8742 3800 or email: gerry.johnson@waterstones.com
To be charitable, we must assume that Gerry Johnson was just being thoughtless when he agreed to stock a book insulting Jesus Christ.
But for thinking people, it is obvious as well as scriptural that ‘as a man sows, so does he reap’. And that must apply to a nation as well.
A lack of respect is a major part of the problem of Britain today. Jesus Christ told a parable about an ‘unjust judge’ (and there are plenty of those around). He said the judge ‘feared not God neither regarded man’. That is a perfect description of the mentality of the United Kingdom in 2008.
We are sinking into a hell on earth
Because our politicians ‘don’t do God’ they passed laws which encourage family breakdown and discourage commitment. Their ‘condom-culture’ has pushed young people into illicit sex. Half a generation of children are now growing up with no father. Then our politicians wonder why so many young people turn to antisocial behaviour, drink, drugs, crime and more promiscuous sex.
The Abortion Act has said human life has no value, and yet those in charge cannot understand why teenagers are killing each other.
Even our politicians cannot be trusted. Those in power cannot be relied upon to tell the truth and to keep their fingers clean of corruption.
We are sinking into a hell on earth; the Nation of the Book has become the nation of the crook.
So what should we do?
The whole of the UK should turn back to God! Our only hope is in the very same Jesus Christ insulted by Waterstone’s. If God is, as we Christians say, the Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, then He is self-existent, the loving, divine intelligence behind all creation, including us. It follows that since God created us, He needed to lay down the laws by which we should live. Jesus Christ (Christ means ‘Messiah’ or ‘God’s Anointed’) said: ‘Keep the Commandments’: worship nothing and nobody except God, do not blaspheme, disrespect parents or those in authority, and do not commit murder, adultery, stealing, lying or envy.
Love came down at Christmas!
Of course, we can’t live up to Jesus’s example or teaching, because we are only human. We have all done wrong by God’s standards, so we are all out of fellowship with God and destined for hell. Yet God is loving and merciful. He wants fellowship with us. But as He is righteous and holy, our sin prevents that. How can a holy God forgive us all the wicked things we have done in our lives and bring us into His presence in heaven?
By being born of a virgin by the power of the Holy Spirit in the person of Jesus, born to die on the cross so we could be forgiven. That’s how,
A bit of good news for a change
In Jesus, who did no wrong, God Himself died for us and rose again. Jesus Christ shed his blood that sinners might be forgiven. In God’s mercy and love for us He provided in Jesus the true sacrifice.
One day we shall all appear in the Court of Heaven. We shall all be guilty and deserving of death. But to those who believe in Christ, when sentence is passed, the Judge will say, ‘I have already paid the penalty for you myself.’ Because Jesus carried no burden of sin, he could take our sins on Himself and be our ransom. Us Christians know we are saved and forgiven. We are justified by the blood of Jesus. That is what sets us apart; not that we are better people, but that we are forgiven people. ‘The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Rom 6:23).
Jesus is King!
Three days after His crucifixion, an angel met some women at the tomb of Jesus. He said: ‘I know ye seek Jesus who was crucified; he is not here, for he is risen as he said’ (Matt 28:5-6). The new life every Christian lives is the risen life of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit by the love and grace of God.
After His resurrection, Jesus ascended back to heaven, and was given the right to rule over all the kingdoms of the world. One day Jesus Christ, Messiah, King of kings, will return in judgment, to condemn the wicked and justify the righteous. God’s justice demands that the wicked be sent to hell. But when the books are opened in heaven, where will Gerry Johnson stand? What excuse will he give? And what about you, dear reader, when your name is called? How many times have you broken God’s righteous commandments? How will you stand in His sight, in that day?
‘I am the way’ says Jesus
Jesus had power to lay down His life and the power to take it up again. He was God made man. He laid down His life so that those who repent might be forgiven and have everlasting life. ‘Neither is their salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12) The first public words of Jesus were: ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the Gospel’ (Mark 1:15).
No-one but Jesus will save you, and no-one but Jesus will save our nation. That command to repent goes out to individuals, to families, to churches and to nations. It goes to our nation. It goes to you. May we all turn to Him before it is too late. And then it really will be a truly, holy, Merry Christmas!
P.S. We should love to have your support, especially if you agree with us that there is too much disrespect around and that Jesus Christ should be honoured in Britain which is, after all, a Christian country! Join Christian Voice by clicking the link below:
