US Recognition of Jerusalem marks 1917 Centenary

By

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8 December 2017

Jerusalem showing the Dome of the Rock Mosque and the Western or 'Wailing' wall of the Temple Mount

On 7th December 2017, the United States of America recognised Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Israel.

Donald Trump announced the move the day before. The US president said: ‘I’ve judged this course of action to be in the best interests of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.’

Moreover, he said he was directing the US state department to begin preparations to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The BBC points out the decision fulfils a promise made by Mr Trump in his presidential campaign.
Recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was, firstly, ‘nothing more or less than a recognition of reality’, said the president. He added, secondly: ‘It is also the right thing to do.’

Israel ‘profoundly grateful’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was profoundly grateful to Mr Trump, who had ‘bound himself forever with the history of the capital’.

He also said Israel was ‘in touch with other countries to follow suit’. He did not name any of these countries, although the Philippines and the Czech Republic have been mentioned in Israeli media.

Reaction from Muslim Arab countries has been less enthusiastic. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Mr Trump he was ‘throwing the region into a ring of fire.’ The BBC reports that Saudi Arabia, another armaments customer of the US, described the move as ‘unjustified and irresponsible’.

Eight of the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council called for a briefing on the US president’s decision. They included permanent council members France and the UK. The Arab League will meet in the coming days to decide its response.

‘Day of Rage’ over Jerusalem recognition

Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas, called inevitably for a 'Day of Rage' — Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas, called inevitably for a ‘Day of Rage’

In the Holy Land itself, the Islamist Hamas terrorist group dominates the Gaza Strip. Its ruling Charter calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. Its leader, Ismail Haniya, called inevitably for a ‘day of rage’ the following Friday. He said it should ‘be the first day of the intifada against the occupier’, meaning Israel.

In the so-called ‘West Bank’, Fatah is the largest faction in the multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). It is filing a complaint to the UN Security Council and pushing for a strong stance by the Arab League.

‘We are going to declare the United States disqualified as co-sponsor of any peace process or political process,’ said spokesman Dr Nasser Al-Kidwa. ‘In our mind, it has lost its ability to do or perform any efforts in this regard.’

Fatah have also cancelled a meeting with US Vice-President Mike Pence. Jibril Rajoub, a senior official in Mr Abbas’ Fatah party, said Mr Pence was ‘not welcome’ in the Palestinian territories. The meeting ‘would not take place’, he added.

Jerusalem ‘sacred’ to Muslims

The mainstream media describes Jerusalem as ‘holy’ to those of three faiths. These are Jews, Muslims and Christians. But Christians are not seeking Jerusalem as their capital. Jews do, obviously, and Muslims want East Jerusalem as the capital of a Muslim Palestinian state.

The city is sacred to Muslims because they believe Mohammed visited it. According to CBN News, ‘Muslim tradition says the prophet Mohammed traveled to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on his famous night journey’. It goes on: ‘that tradition is the basis for the Palestinians’ claim to Jerusalem.’

The Al-Aqsa Mosque was built in 705 AD over the Church of St Mary on the wall of the Temple Mount. It is not to be confused with the Dome of the Rock. Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan built the latter between AD 685 and 691. It was intended, not as a mosque for public worship but rather as a shrine for pilgrims.

Mohammed was never in Jerusalem

Muslims believe the miraculous steed, the Buraq, took Muhammad to visit ‘the Farthest Mosque’. Many Muslims believe that is Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. They believe he prayed there and was taken to the heavens. This all happened in a single night in the year 620 AD. This event is known as Al-Isra’ wal-Mi‘raj or ‘The Night-Journey and the Ascension’ in Islamic tradition.

Mohammed even wrote the alleged incident into the Quran, in Surah 17. ‘Isra, The Night Journey’: ‘1. Glory to (Allah) Who did take His servant for a Journey by night from the Sacred Mosque to the farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless,- in order that We might show him some of Our Signs: for He is the One Who heareth and seeth (all things).’

From Mecca to Jerusalem is a distance of some 920 miles. It would take a month by camel. Mohammed claimed he went to a city with no mosque and visited its mosque. He claims he flew. Even his cousin Umm told him not to brag about the imagined event ‘for they will know you are lying and will mock you.’ His favourite wife Aisha did not believe the preposterous story either. See sources for all that here.

The result is Muslims claim Jerusalem as the Islamic city of Al-Quds on no evidence except the fraudulent witness of Mohammed and his Quran.

Jerusalem liberated 100 years ago

But it is the timing of President Trump’s announcement which is astonishing. One hundred years ago, on 8th December 1917, the Mohammedan army of the failing Ottoman Empire still occupied Jerusalem. The Holy City was surrounded by British and Empire forces under the command of General Allenby. The inspired General left the Turks a northern escape route.

Now the Prophet Isaiah knew nothing of aircraft, but that is how Edmund Allenby interpreted his prophecy, read by the Chaplain, by the grace of God, at morning prayer on 8th December 1917:

Isa 31:5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; passing over he will preserve it.

General Allenby fulfilled that prophecy by using dozens of planes to drop propaganda into the city, scaring the Ottoman Turks into withdrawal.

But Isaiah’s prophecy was to have another fulfillment, The Ottoman army retreated to a nearby hill and prepared to shell the town. Again, Allenby called up British aircraft. They bombed the Turkish positions with accuracy, defending their newly-captured city. See more here.

General Allenby’s humility

General Allenby entering Jerusalem on foot on 11th December 1917

The Jewish online newspaper Haaretz.com pictures ‘General Allenby entering Jerusalem on foot out of respect for the holiness of the city.’

That is not quite the whole story. Allenby had already showed his respect for the Holy City by refusing to fire a single shell into it while the Turks were still in control.

It was respect for God himself that motivated Edmund Allenby to dismount. In the Cambridge History of the First World War: Volume 3, edited by Jay Winter, we read the truth behind the ‘ostentatious humility’ of General Allenby:

‘Allenby walked into the Old City, in deliberate contrast to Kaiser Wilhelm who had ridden a white horse in triumph into the city before the war.’ Wilhelm rode his charger into Jerusalem in 1898, trying to forge closer ties with the Ottoman Empire against England, France and Russia.

Winter goes on: ‘Allenby let it be known that he would have been ashamed to ride a horse along the route that his Saviour had ridden on an ass. It is perfectly plausible that this was a genuine sentiment. It was also brilliant propaganda.’

Haggai’s prophecy

The date of the liberation of Jerusalem was 24th of Kislev. Kislev is the ninth month in the Jewish year. Centuries earlier the prophet Haggai promised a shaking of the nations and prosperity to Israel. The promise came as a reward for Zerubbabel’s faithfulness in rebuilding the Temple of the LORD:

Hag 2:18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it. 19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.
Hag 2:20 And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, 21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; 22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
Hag 2:23 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

By the grace of God, that reading was scheduled in the Christian Voice Lamplight Bible Reading plan for yesterday.

Zechariah’s Prophecy

In early December, the Christian Voice ‘Lamplight’ Bible Reading Plan set this word:

Zech 2:7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. 9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me.
Zech 2:10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. 11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.
Zech 2:12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. 13 Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

The United States has led the world in following the Lord’s desire to ‘choose Jerusalem again’, within days of that reading. Above all, the US action was within days of the Liberation centenary. And is it not appropriate that Zechariah singled out ‘Judah’ for a portion in the holy land, rather than all Israel? The latter were scattered across Europe following their captivity by Assyria. Clearly only Judah with some of Benjamin and Levi returned from Babylon.

A strange Jewish mystic

But the American decision and its timing grows ever more strange. This ministry is not known for consulting prophecy charts and gazing heavenward. However, a twelfth-century rabbi made the most extraordinary prediction.
Yehuda Ben Samuel, known as Yehuda the Hassid (1150-1217) lived and worked in Germany. He was consulted by the Bishop of Salzburg and the Duke of Regensburg.

Yehuda ben Samuel wrote in the 12th Cenury

Ludwig Schneider of Israel Today magazine has translated some of his work into English. From these writings, we learn of a specific prophecy concerning the Holy Land.

WorldNet Daily writes: ‘Following the Christian crusades to the Holy Land, between 1096-1270, a regular correspondence developed between the Jews in the Holy Land and the Christian West. Thus, for example, the rabbis in Worms and Regensburg in Germany knew that Saladin’s Ayyubids had been ruling in the Holy Land since 1187.

‘At this time, Judah Ben Samuel published the results of his biblical calculations (Gematria) and astrological observations and summarized as follows: “When the Ottomans (Turks) – who were already a power to be reckoned with on the Bosporus in the time of Judah Ben Samuel – conquer Jerusalem they will rule over Jerusalem for eight jubilees. Afterwards Jerusalem will become no-man’s land for one jubilee, and then in the ninth jubilee it will once again come back into the possession of the Jewish nation – which would signify the beginning of the Messianic end time.”

The Tenth Jubilee

‘One jubilee is 50 years (Leviticus 25). It is the 50th year after seven times seven years, the year in which each person should regain ownership of his or her land. Ben Samuel’s calculations were purely theoretical; there was absolutely no sign at that time of their being fulfilled. He himself was not able to experience their fulfillment, for it was only 300 years after his death that the first of his predictions were to come true.’

We know the Mamluks had been reigning in Jerusalem since 1250. It is certainly uncanny that firstly, the Ottoman Turks conquered them in 1517. That was exactly 500 years ago. Secondly, the Turks remained for eight jubilees (8 x 50 = 400 years). They occupied Jerusalem for 400 years precisely as Ben Samuel prophesied. Thirdly, as we saw above, General Allenby drove the Turks out of Jerusalem in 1917.

Thus commenced Ben Samuel’s ‘no-man’s land’, especially as the United Nations granted the British their ‘Mandate’ shortly after. When Israel re-captured Jerusalem in the Six Day War of 1967, exactly one jubilee (50 years) after 1917, Jerusalem reverted to Jewish-Israeli ownership once again.

After that, according to the prophecies of Yehuda Ben Samuel, the Messianic End Times began. We do not know what he meant by that. More than one commentator has suggested something dramatic would happen in 2017. Well, with the year drawing to a close, something most certainly has.

The Bible is our standard, and we stand amazed by God’s doings in the Holy Land. Nevertheless, it is worth acknowledging the man who in the Twelfth Century saw it all coming.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

We continue to be as concerned for the Palestinian Christians as for the security of the state of Israel. They face hardship from Israeli sanctions and suspicion and worse from their Arab neighbours.

But we have little patience for Muslims whose claim to Jerusalem rests on a lie and who desire the complete destruction of the Jews and the Israeli state.

A ‘two-state solution’, the dream of an independent Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel, looks dead now. It would never occur along ‘pre-1967 boundaries’ as the received wisdom demands. But that must never stop us praying for our Christian brothers and sisters, for Israel and for Jerusalem. Hubert Parry set this Psalm for Her Majesty the Queen’s Coronation on 2nd June 1953:

Psa 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. 7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. 8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. 9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.

It is our prayer today.

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National Trust Candidates miss the PC point

By

Stephen

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13 October 2017

0

BBC unwatchable on Gay Jubilee

By

Stephen

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27 July 2017

28

Broadcasting House, headquarters of the BBC

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the legalisation of sodomy. Consequently, the BBC will be unwatchable and unlistenable for a week at least.

Especially today, all BBC channels will be awash with ‘Gay Britania’. It is exactly fifty years since the enactment of the Sexual Offences Act 1967.

BBC reflecting the Establishment

One can argue the BBC is simply reflecting the Establishment. It is impossible to be a candidate for Labour, the LibDems or the Tories without being a ‘Diversity’ wonk. Plaid Cymru, SNP and Sinn Fein are almost as bad. And anyone Christian or just pro-family in government needs to keep his views to himself.

Moreover, in the broadcast media, Sky, ITV and Channel 4 news will no doubt be promoting what they will see as a joyous day. It is always interesting to discern between what is news and what is the advancement of the Establishment agenda. This author reckons BBC ‘news’ is usually 50% propaganda.

Nevertheless, TV viewers have a choice. RT (Freeview 135) ought to be free of homosexual promotion while Yesterday (19) and TBN (65) should be gay-free zones.

Never satisfied

The homosexual mindset is never satisfied. Neither with life as a whole, nor with sexual expression, nor indeed with political gains. It was never enough just to be left alone to do whatever they were going to do in private. As it happens, we all now know rather more than we ever wanted to about what homosexuals do in private. That is largely owing to the AIDS crisis, forcing gay charities like Terrence Higgins Trust to list homosexual activities in order of health risk.

So in 2004 Tony Blair enacted Civil Partnerships. The BBC celebrating that event with footage of happy couples. Nevertheless, civil partnerships were not good enough. Equally, gay politics had moved out of its Labour redoubt. Therefore, a Conservative Party Prime Minister, David Cameron, inflicted same-sex ‘marriage’ on the nation in 2013. More celebratory BBC footage, this time of gays getting gay-married.

And now the elite are moving on again. They want to allow anyone, for any reason or none, to change his gender at will. The Government have announced a new ‘Gender Recognition Bill’ for the autumn. Our story on that is here.

Homosexuality … universally condemned

The Earl of Arran (by Alan Clifton, for Camera Press, circa 1967)

How did it come to this? Was such a degradation of society in the minds of those who framed the Sexual Offences Act? Not at all. The 1967 Act was ‘permissive’ legislation. That does not mean it was part of the ‘permissive society’, although of course it was. It means it permitted something still illegal to happen in certain circumstances. The Abortion Act of the same year is another example of ‘permissive’ legislation.

So the Sexual Offences Act allowed acts of sodomy and gross indecency to take place in England and Wales between two consenting adults (aged 21 or over) in private. It was a Private Member’s Bill, brought in by Leo Abse MP, at the instigation of Antony Grey of the Albany Trust and the Homosexual Law Reform Society.

In the debates on the 1967 Sexual Offences Bill, MPs and Peers made clear Parliament was refusing to do anything more than permit homosexual acts in certain circumstances. This was emphasised again and again by, for example, Lord Arran, who said:

‘In all the discussions we have had, and in all the speeches, no single noble Lord or noble Lady has ever said that homosexuality is right or a good thing. It has been universally condemned from start to finish, and by every single member of the House.’

First Gay Pride March in 1972

Strangely enough, under a Christian legal system, there would be no need for the Sexual Offences Act. The Bible requires at least two witnesses before a court can convict anyone of a crime:

Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

If two men were doing something indecent in private there would be no witnesses. Accordingly, there could be no prosecution.

Peter Tatchell, seen here in the 2003 London 'gay pride' parade demonstrating against Robert Mugabe, took part in the first homosexual protest march in 1972. — Peter Tatchell, seen here in the 2003 London ‘gay pride’ parade demonstrating against Robert Mugabe, took part in the first homosexual protest march in 1972.

But the sentiments of their Lordships, no doubt well-intended, were to fall on deaf ears. Homosexuality would not now stay private. Activists held the first ever gay pride march in London five years later in 1972. Veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell was on it. He gives a valuable Gay Liberation Front insider’s view here.

Eschew ostentatious behaviour and flaunting

In a later House of Lords debate, one Lord Henderson slightly misquoted the Earl of Arran. In 1967, said Henderson, Lord Arran ‘asked the homosexual people of the future to comport themselves quietly and with dignity and to eschew any form of ostentatious behaviour or public flouting.’ Lord Arran actually used the word ‘flaunting.’ He said any evidence of it would ‘make the sponsors of this Bill regret that they have done what they have done.’

One homosexual activist, John Marshall, summed up the arguments of the Bill’s supporters like this:

‘The protection afforded by the Sexual Offences Bill, particularly for young people, was stressed repeatedly; homosexuality was a lesser evil than the blackmail which its prohibition encouraged; relaxing the law would make it easier for homosexuals who wished to be free of their practices to seek help from the caring ministries.’

The Sexual Offences Act 1967 was extended to Scotland in 1980 and to Northern Ireland in 1982. The latter happened after a European Court ruling and despite a campaign led by the late Dr Ian Paisley MP to ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy.’

Homosexual lobby group founded

Prime Minister John Major MP decriminalised buggery on women.

Even twenty-one years after the Sexual Offences Act, in 1988, homosexual activity was still viewed with distaste. That was the year of Section 28, which banned promotion of homosexuality in the classroom.

Section 28 and its description of homosexual couples as being in a ‘pretended family’ energised gay activists. They founded the Stonewall lobby group in 1989.

Five years later, under John Major, Parliament lowered the minimum age in the Sexual Offences Act to eighteen. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 also permitted buggery on women.

The Christian Voice group was founded in the same year to inform Christians so they could pray into such matters and take action. But a tidal wave was approaching.

In 1998 activist MPs voted to lower the homosexual age again, this time to sixteen. The House of Lords objected. Undaunted, Prime Minister Tony Blair used the Parliament Act. Accordingly, in 2000 homosexual men gained legal access to sixteen-year-old boys. In 2003, his administration repealed Section 28. The Scottish Parliament repealed its equivalent in 2000.

In 2003, Parliament allowed homosexuals to adopt children. The following year saw civil partnerships. Also in 2004 Parliament legislated a lie. They passed the Gender Recognition Act. That allowed someone to go back and falsify his birth certificate if a doctor agreed he was a woman – or if a woman thought she was really a man.

Like a flood

Tony Blair used the Parliament Act to force the House of Lords to lower the minimum age for sodomy to sixteen. He also introduced civil partnerships. That would never be enough.

Gay-promoting legislation was now coming in like a flood. In 2007 we had the Sexual Orientation Regulations, forcing Christian B&B owners to offer beds to homosexual couples. In 2008 Parliament abolished the offence of blasphemy and passed their own blasphemy law, a ‘gay hate speech’ law.

2009 saw the Equality Act placing a duty on public authorities to promote sodomy and transgenderism. And then David Cameron forced through the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013.

It is difficult to promote homosexuality politically any more. The activists have achieved virtually everything. Accordingly, the BBC is simply leading today’s celebrations. Of course, reparative therapy offering people a progression out of same-sex attraction is still a target, because the idea there could be something wrong with being homosexual is anathema to the ungodly. Additionally, it is true there are still grumblings in society. For example, many parents still do not want teachers promoting homosexuality to their children. And the Independent says today that 42% of people in Britain still think homosexual activity is unnatural. Curiously, 59% of Brexit voters said gay sex was unnatural, compared to a quarter of Remain voters. (And if you want to know which countries in the world say sodomy is unacceptable, click here!)

But one UK institution in particular remains a thorn in the activists’ collective side. The stronger elements of Christianity are still holding out. Homosexuals demand full acceptance from the church. Tolerance is not enough. So our openly-lesbian Education Secretary has demanded churches offer ceremonies for people getting gay-married. According to the Daily Mirror, Justine Greening said: ‘I think it is important that the church in a way keeps up.’

Lift up a standard

The Bible shows God Almighty does not ‘keep up’ with wickedness. In contrast, the Prophet of God says:

Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

And on this day of shame, this satanic jubilee, good Lord, that is what your Church is praying for. For men of God to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to lift up the Lord’s standard and press the Crown Rights of King Jesus!

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‘Choose your gender’ says UK Government

By

Stephen

-

26 July 2017

3

Rt Hon Justine Greening, MP for Putney, has proposed a 'choose your gender bill'.

People will be allowed to choose their gender if the UK Government gets its way.

Change gender ‘at will’

The Independent reports: ‘Under plans being considered by ministers, adults will be able to change their birth certificates at will without a doctor’s diagnosis, while non-binary gender people will be able to record their gender as “X”.’

The paper says: ‘Changes to the law will be consulted on and will ultimately be included in a planned Gender Recognition Bill, set to be published in the autumn.’

In stark contrast, just before we went to press, President Trump announced a ban on transgender personnel in the US military, citing ‘the need to focus on victory’, the Washington Post reported.

And then, according to RT, in true ‘couldn’t make it up mode’, Rear Admiral Alex Burton, commander UK Maritime Forces, tweeted: ‘As a Royal Navy LGBT champion and senior warfighter I am so glad we are not going this way.’ As one of those you would be glad, Admiral. But as a husband and father you should know better.

‘This is a choice’

Education and Equalities Secretary Justine Greening announced the move as MPs set off for their summer recess last Friday. Just days before, Jeremy Corbyn urged the Conservatives to allow people to ‘self-identify’. The fiftieth anniversary of legalising sodomy also appears to have influenced the timing. The Queen gave her Royal Assent to the Sexual Offences Act on 27th July 1967.

The Labour manifesto included plans for self-identification. The Conservatives’ did not. Nor did June’s Queen’s Speech include a Gender Recognition Bill. It is safe to say that had the Tories included such a divisive measure they would have lost the election.

According to RT, Miss Greening ‘told Sky News on Sunday the state needs to “stop treating people changing their gender as if it’s some medical problem that needs fixing. Actually this is a choice that people are making and we need to try and make that choice more straightforward than it already is.”’

Suzanna Hopwood, a member of the sodomy advocacy group Stonewall’s Trans Advisory Group, agrees. ‘It is “vital” the reform removes the requirement for medical evidence and an intrusive interview panel,’ she said. Miss Hopwood went on to describe the current system as ‘demeaning and broken.’ (‘Broken’ is a fashionable word with which to criticise Government policy or a state department’s handling of something.)

‘Still a long way to go’

A follow-up article in the Indy shows Prime Minister Theresa May as wholly supportive. She said “when it comes to rights and protections for trans people, there is still a long way to go”. Her predecessor, David Cameron, rode ‘gay marriage’ roughshod over his party’s opposition. He even boasted about it in his resignation speech

Mary Douglas speaking about the choose gender farce on BBC

But Tory activist Mary Douglas of Grassroots Conservatives strongly disagreed. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, she said she was ‘very concerned’ about the move. ‘In my view it should not be easy to do something as massive as change your gender,’ she said. ‘And the law is there to protect us, normally from other people, but also sometimes from ourselves. I think many people have profound concerns about this.’

She went on: ‘It is profoundly unconservative. Conservative with a big C and small C implies continuity with what has gone before.’ She was asked if Miss Greenings’ own self-declared homosexuality had anything to do with the announcement. Mrs Douglas replied: ‘It’s a possibility.’ She continued: ‘But I’m not going to suggest anything I don’t know. I don’t know Justine personally at all but the bigger issue here is not who is … considering introducing this policy, but the implications of the policy itself.’

‘They are deeply troubled’

The liberal Huffington Post reports activists were up in arms about further comments from Mrs Douglas. They took particular exception to her suggestion that those with gender dysphoria have mental or emotional problems.

Mrs Douglas asked: ‘If somebody thinks they have a mismatch between how they think and the way their body is, the question is: which should be changed?’

Answering her own question, she said: ‘What’s interesting is that many people who have gender dysphoria also have other mental health conditions like depression or drug addiction. They are deeply troubled and it has been proven that when they change their gender, that doesn’t solve those issues.’

Activists called her ‘rude’, ‘bigoted’, insensitive’, ‘old-fashioned’ and even ‘disgraceful.’ Crucially, no-one appears to have put together a coherent response to show she was wrong.

The practicalities

We need to be very clear about why Christians need to oppose this measure. Just at a practical level, it means that anyone can just decide to be the opposite gender to the one they were born with. They will need no evidence. Just their word will do. In no other area would we accept someone’s word against scientific evidence. The evidence here is that of simple genetics.

The proposal is a voyeurs’ charter, allowing men to visit ladies’ toilets and dressing rooms. They will also absurdly be able to compete in athletics events this time against proper women. We could be seeing the beginning of the end of women’s sport. Sadly, in today’s post-truth world, being ridiculous will not stop this preposterous measure being enacted.

Additionally, the move will give a further push to the already-rolling transgender bandwagon. More children will start deciding they are ‘in the wrong body’. Shockingly, teachers and social workers have been encouraging such children. Doctors too are prescribing powerful hormones to adolescent children to delay or block the onset of puberty. Medicine is intended to cure. Puberty blockers harm. Sadly, medicine is not free of charlatans. Surgeons too are ready to mutilate people’s God-given bodies into what they think they should be. Some, as Mrs Douglas implied, will regret it.

Adults are meant to safeguard children from bad decisions. But instead, authority figures are taking vicarious delight in these wrong-headed childish decisions. They are perpetrating child abuse. Some school or local authority, in a few years’ time, is going to be sued.

Rebellion against God’s creation

Moreover, at a theological level, we need to recognise that transgenderism is far worse than sodomy, even than ‘gay marriage’. Homosexuality rebels against God’s institution of the family.

The Bible records this moment in Genesis chapter 2:

Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

However, transsexuals and transgender apologists are in rebellion against creation itself. If we go back a chapter in Genesis, we find the chromosonal reality of the division of the sexes as an expression of God’s very image:

Gen 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

God decides your gender, not you. Our generation wants to spit in the face of God. The church has to stand firm and proclaim the whole Gospel.

The economic and security dimension

This brings us to the economic and security dimension. When the UK voted to leave the European Union, all sides agreed our Parliament could now pass our own laws. The EU would not allow the UK that freedom. We expressed a hope that the UK would now repent and start to enact godly laws.

Allowing self-determined gender choice was not and never will be in a list of godly laws.

Accordingly, by enacting a measure in sheer defiance of God’s righteousness, our legislators are bringing even more of God’s judgment on us.

Furthermore, with Brexit negotiations going on and Islamic extremists stalking the streets, we need all the economic and security blessings – and all the wisdom – the Almighty can bestow.

Make no mistake, if our nation is doing well, we shall all be doing well. Moreover, Christian people want the best for those sad individuals caught up in gender dysphoria, for the nation’s children and for the country of which we are a temporal part. God’s words to the captives in Babylon still ring true:

Jeremiah 29:7 And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.

Meetings

This author is happy to visit any gathering to speak on these issues. Ring 01994 484544 to arrange a date.

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Celebrating Advent in the Spirit of Saint Boniface

Anniversaries

By

Robin

-

3 December 2012

19

Ye clouds and darkness, hosts of night
That breed confusion and affright,
Begone! o’erhead the dawn shines clear,
The light breaks in and Christ is here.

Earth’s gloom flees broken and dispersed,
By the sun’s piercing shafts coerced:
The daystar’s eyes rain influence bright
And colours glimmer back to sight.

So shall our guilty midnight fade,
The sin-stained heart’s gross dusky shade:
So shall the King’s All-radiant Face
Sudden unveil our deep disgrace.

No longer then may we disguise
Our dark intents from those clear eyes:
Yea, at the dayspring’s advent blest
Our inmost thoughts will stand confest.

So opens the ‘Morning Hymn’ of the 4th century Christian poet Aurelius Prudentius Clemens. (To read the rest of the poem, click here.)

Aurelius’ poem captures the spirit of the season we are now celebrating, the season of Advent. The hymn reminds us that in the early church the season of Advent was a time when Christians anticipated Christ’s second coming. (To read about the history of Advent, see the article at the Chuck Colson Center, ‘Cheer Our Spirits by Thine Advent.‘) It was a time when they expectantly waited for Him to come and judge the earth, scattering the darkness with His light.

Boniface’s Challenge to the Powers of Darkness

The theme of light conquering darkness was the message that Boniface took to the ancient Germans in the 8th century.

When Boniface penetrated into the dark forests of Northern Europe, there was little doubt that he was fighting against the principalities and powers of darkness. As we explain in our brief biography of Boniface, this was a time when the power of the occult was very strong. But Boniface knew that the power of Christ was stronger. Not only was Boniface unafraid to challenge these dark powers with the light of Christ, but he relished the opportunity to demonstrate the superior power of Christ.

As Boniface boldly marched forward to challenge the raw paganism that surrounded him, he may well have taken courage from singing Aurelius’s Advent hymn, especially the first stanza:

Ye clouds and darkness, hosts of night
That breed confusion and affright,
Begone! o’erhead the dawn shines clear,
The light breaks in and Christ is here.

The theme of God judging dark powers with the light of Christ is now largely absent from our Advent celebrations. Yet this theme is implicit in the long forgotten roots of many of our culture’s Advent traditions, including Advent candles and Advent wreaths.

Interestingly, many people trace both Advent wreaths and Christmas trees back to Boniface. Some of these legends surround the following incident that occurred shortly after Boniface struck down Thor’s sacred oak tree.

Advent Wreaths and Christmas Trees

On a cold evening in December, a young boy rushed into Boniface’s camp. The lad reported that his 15-year old sister was about to be offered as a vestal sacrifice to the gods of the forest.

Boniface and a small band of disciples wasted no time. They quickly followed the boy back to the site where the terrible event was about to take place. Not a moment too early, they entered the grove just in time to see the witch doctor raising his stone knife.

As the blade began its downwards descent towards the breasts of the young maiden, Boniface hurled himself forward, simultaneously knocking over the priest and receiving on himself the blow of the knife. Providentially, the knife embedded itself in a small wooden cross that Boniface was wearing around his person. The cross was pierced in two but the missionary’s life was preserved.

Even as the stunned witch doctor shrieked curses at the monk, Boniface turned towards the spectators and began telling of an ultimate sacrifice that had already been offered. According to some of the legends, Boniface used the druid’s knife to cut down fir boughs, even as he preached to the crowd about Christ’s finished work on the tree of Cavalry. Because the light of Christ had defeated the darkness of death, Boniface explained, there was no longer any need for additional sacrifices. Since God had judged and defeated the dark powers, it was futile to pay homage to them.

As he spoke, Boniface passed out pieces of the fir boughs he was cutting down, and urged the onlookers to tie them into wreaths as a memorial of the provision achieved by Christ. Legend has it that this occurred on the first Sunday in Advent and that this was the origin of Advent wreaths.

This was significant, because at the time wreaths had been used to appease the sun god during the period of his winter hiding. As the Chapel Hill Presbyterian church explained, “They would take a cart wheel, wound with greens and decorated with lights, string them up in the halls of the tribes of northern Europe and whirl them on Winter Solstice. The pagans in essence would ‘sacrifice’ the use of a cart wheel and ponder the blessings of light and life and implored the sun god to return to them.” Boniface invested the wreath with a new meaning, using it as a reminder of Christ’s victory. No longer would the wreath symbolize the idolatry of paganism,, but the glory of Christ’s victory over the grave.

The Christmas tree, it is said, also owes its origins to Boniface. According to one set of legends narrated here, Boniface gave the balsam fir tree to the Druids in place of the oak tree, the symbol of their idol. He said, ‘The fir tree is the wood of peace, the sign of an endless life with its evergreen branches. It points to heaven. It will never shelter deeds of blood, but rather be filled with loving gifts and rites of kindness.’

Stephen Mansfield tells us how Martin Luther, familiar with these legends, attached importance to the Christmas tree in honour of Boniface’s “conquering of Germany for Christ.”

To read more about Boniface and other Christian heroes, check out our page of spiritual biographies.

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Feast of the Holy Innocents Highlights Abortion Atrocity

By

Robin

-

28 December 2011

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Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a day that Christians have historically set aside for remembering the baby boys of Bethlehem that Herod cruelly slaughtered (Matthew 2:16-18).

Also called Childermas, the Feast was instituted between 400 and 500 AD by the Latin-speaking church and intentionally placed within the octave of Christmas to emphasize that the Holy Innocents – considered by many to be the church’s first martyrs – gave their life for the newborn Saviour.

But the Feast is also a time when the church annually reaffirms her commitment to the sanctity of life. As George Grant observed last year,

It has long been the focus of the Christian Church’s commitment to protect and preserve the sanctity of human life–thus serving as a prophetic warning against the practicioners of abandonment and infanticide in the age of Antiquity, oblacy and pessiary in the Medieval epoch, and abortion and euthanasia in these Modern times. Generally set aside as a day of prayer, it culminates with a declaration of the covenant community’s unflinching commitment to the innocents who are unable to protect themselves.

As Dr. Grant’s words suggest, today is a time for us to mourn, not only over the Bethlehem martyrs, but over the tens of thousands of innocent victims who have been slain on the altar of the abortion industry. It is a time for us to pray against the modern day Herods who continue to act on the assumption that an infant derives its value (and hence its right to live) from members of the adult community.

At Christian Voice, we have made the sanctity of life a particular focus, and our our archives are filled with many articles on the evils of abortion. We would encourage you to read some of these articles, but more than that, we encourage you to make today a day of prayer for our nation. Ask the Lord to turn the hearts of our modern day Herods from murder to repentance.

READ: Gen. 9:5-6; Ex. 20:13; Num. 35:16-21; Deut. 19:8-10; 30:19; Prov. 6:16-17; Jer. 1:5;

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Anniversary of Joseph Smith’s Birth

Anniversaries

By

Robin

-

23 December 2011

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On this day 167 years ago, Joseph Smith was born. One of the greatest con-artists of all time, his influence is still felt by the many Brits, and even more Americans, who continue to be duped by his prophetic claims.

Those who are unfamiliar with the Mormon religion Smith started may find it useful to see Jon Swaine’s Telegraph article from last October.

Interestingly, the Mormon faith is growing surprisingly fast in the UK, according to this BBC report. Indeed, the number of Mormons in the UK rose from 6,500 in the 1960s to 190,000 members by 2008.

Because Mormons are taught to proselytize, Christians need to always be ready to discuss the claims of Mormonism with Mormon missionaries and to share the Biblical alternative. It is true that Mormons claim to believe the Bible, in addition to their voluminous and ever-growing corpus of extra Biblical revelations. However, the God they teach is as different to the God of Christianity as night differs from day.

To help Christians understand some of the key differences between Mormonism and Christianity, we have made a chart available for download showing the differences between the Mormon and Biblical teaching on the nature of the Godhead. To download the chart, click on the following link:

The Trinity: Mormonism vs. Christianity