The Tinderbox of North Korea

By

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10 August 2017

1.2 million personnel serve in the North Korean armed forces

North Korea today set out a strike plan for the US island territory and military base of Guam in Micronesia, in the Western Pacific.

According to the Guardian, ‘North Korea has defied threats of “fire and fury” from Donald Trump, deriding his warning as a “load of nonsense” and announcing a detailed plan to launch missiles aimed at the waters off the coast of the US Pacific territory of Guam.’ The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) says it will launch four missiles into waters ‘30-40km’ off the US territory and called President Trump ‘bereft of reason’.

Sanctions against North Korea

On Saturday 5th August, the UN security council voted unanimously to impose new sanctions on the DPRK. But the sanctions and the threats from Mr Trump do not appear to have brought peace.

Meanwhile, the mainstream media have been keen to lay the blame squarely on North Korea. Only this morning, BBC news ran a piece in which a young boy on Guam, prompted by his mother and connected to London by Skype, implored Kim Jong-un not to bomb them. This was not news. It was propaganda.

Back in May, the United States was amassing its navy off the North Korean coast in a show of military strength. It was practicing bombing raids into the North. The North Korean military, for their part, have been busily testing missiles thought to have nuclear capability. The Pope urged diplomacy and called for Norway to mediate. How do we pray into all these aspects of what the papers call this ‘Hermit Country’? What has brought international tension over the DPRK to this point?

Would a more diplomatic, even a relaxed, approach have brought about a peaceful solution to the crisis already? Instead of an US apoplectic fit, what if a test launch of a North Korean missile was met with a shrug of the shoulders? Rather than isolation, what would be the result of a policy of engagement with Kim Jong-un and his crew?

After all, the Bible says:

Psalm 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

The sense of God’s word is that in general peace is good and wrath and anger are bad. Moreover, a bit of wisdom and diplomacy can defuse a dangerous situation. And in this case, it’s one that could adversely affect us all.

Religion in North Korea

Open Doors describes North Korea as the worst place in the world to be a Christian. Its ruling family are, in practice, deified. But this was not always the case. Historically, religion on the Korean peninsular was shamanic with elements of the humanistic Confucian self-improvement doctrine coupled with ancestral worship. In the nineteenth century there was underground Christian missionary activity. The state had focused on neo-Confucianism and repressed the nascent Buddhism and Christianity. But the materialism of Confucius was collapsing.

Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Accordingly, in the 1880s the government allowed large numbers of Western missionaries to enter the country. Protestant missionaries set up schools, hospitals and publishing agencies. The king of Korea and his family tacitly supported Christianity.

When Japan’s imperialism spread to the peninsular from 1910 the Land of the Rising Sun tried to impose its religion of Shinto. Like Confucianism, Shinto believes humans to be fundamentally good. The difference is, for Shinto, evil comes not from poor thoughts but from evil spirits. Consequently, Shinto rituals try to keep these away by purification, prayers and offerings to the kami (the divine – hence ‘kami kaze’ = ‘divine wind’).

Christianity and Nationalism

Christianity became associated with Korean nationalism as Christians refused to take part in Shinto rituals. But a reformed Confucianism called Cheondogyo also took hold. Cheondogyo translated literally means ‘religion of the Heavenly Way’. The word ‘Cheon’ means ‘Heaven’, ‘do’ means ‘way’ and gyo means ‘religion’. Cheondoism is agnostic about an afterlife. It tries to create paradise on earth through inner peace, moral virtue and Confucian propriety. It shares with Christianity the aim of reforming society but lacks the power of the Holy Spirit. The royal family supported the ‘Heavenly Way’ movement as well. But a movement opposed to the Lord of life cannot end well:

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

With the end of the Second World War in 1945, the Japanese were evicted from the Korean peninsular. Sadly, the country was then divided into a Russian-backed communist North and an American-supported South. Many Christians in the North fled to the South. They included around a sixth of the population of Pyongyang. The Cheondoists stayed put. To the newly-installed communist rulers of North Korea, Christianity was now associated with Americanism. That state of affairs exists to this day. If you are interested, there is only one mosque in Pyongyang, in the Iranian Embassy.

Constitutional Freedom

In the DPRK 1992 constitution, Article 68 grants freedom of religious belief and guarantees the right to construct buildings for religious use and religious ceremonies. The article also states, however: ‘No one may use religion as a means by which to drag in foreign powers or to destroy the state or social order’.

This may give us a clue to the problem. Christian Solidarity Worldwide supports economic sanctions against North Korea. But it says: ‘Christianity is repressed most harshly because it is viewed as a foreign religion, and Christians are suspected of being spies.

‘In Pyongyang, there are four churches – two Protestant, one Catholic and one Russian Orthodox – but these are widely regarded as … show churches for the benefit of foreign visitors.’

The imposition of economic sanctions hardly mollifies the view of Christianity as a foreign, aggressive religion.

Threats from North Korea

In 1950, the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded non-Communist South Korea. As Kim Il-sung’s North Korean army, armed with Soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea, the United States came to South Korea’s aid. In the ensuing Korean War, all the cities of the North and many of the South were flattened. The economies of both were shattered. South Korea rebuilt faster with the help of its US and European allies. Mired in Communism, the USSR-supported North started well but collapsed in the 1990s (see below) and is only slowly rebuilding, hampered by continuing sanctions.

It is only sensible to view things from another’s perspective. Although the North started the Korean War, today its supporters argue self-preservation is more on its leadership’s mind. It has the historic enemy of Japan allied to the US across the Sea of Japan to the east, a US fleet parked off its coast, the US-backed South Korea to the South, and China to the north and west. A small border with Russia in the far north-east completes the set.

Threats to North Korea

Bruce Cumings of the University of Chicago reminds us (in thenation.com) that President Bill Clinton persuaded North Korea ‘to freeze its plutonium production for eight years (1994–2002) … Clinton also signed an agreement with Gen. Jo Myong-rok stating that henceforth, neither country would bear “hostile intent” toward the other.’ He claims the Bush administration ignored both agreements and embarked on a policy of aggravation:

‘Bush’s invasion of Iraq is rightly seen as a world-historical catastrophe, but next in line would be placing North Korea in his “axis of evil” and, in September 2002, announcing his “preemptive” doctrine directed at Iraq and North Korea, among others.’ The sense of what he is saying is that the invasion of Iraq, the ruin of Libya and destabilisation of Syria have made the North Koreans wonder if they are next in line for ‘regime change’. If so, they would be foolish not to take steps to defend themselves.

With (let us say) unpredictable and bellicose leaders in charge of both North Korea and the United States, we are driven to our knees in prayer. Mr Tillerson’s earlier threat of ‘preemptive action’ can only result in death and destruction. It would bring unintended consequences across the region and beyond.

Faint Ray of Hope

As well as the cause of peace for its own sake, this ministry is most concerned about our Christian brothers and sisters in North Korea.

The US library of Congress reported a faint note of hope in 1993: ‘In the late 1980s, it became apparent that North Korea was beginning to use the small number of Christians remaining in the country to establish contacts with Christians in South Korea and the West. Such contacts are considered useful for promoting the regime’s political aims, including reunifying the peninsula. In 1988 two new churches, the Protestant Pongsu Church and the Catholic Changchung Cathedral, were opened in P’yongyang.

‘Other signs of the regime’s changing attitude toward Christianity include holding the International Seminar of Christians of the North and South for the Peace and Reunification of Korea in Switzerland in November 1988, allowing papal representatives to attend the opening of the Changchung Cathedral in October/November of the same year, and sending two North Korean novice priests to study in Rome. Moreover, a new association of Roman Catholics was established in June 1988. A North Korean Protestant pastor reported at a 1989 meeting of the National Council of Churches in Washington, D.C., that his country has 10,000 Protestants and 1,000 Catholics who worship in 500 home churches. In March-April 1992, American evangelist Billy Graham visited North Korea to preach and to speak at Kim Il Sung University.’

Visit of Franklin Graham

Franklin Graham Meets North Korean Christians in 2008

In 2008 Franklin Graham also visited the country, taking in a considerable amount of supplies for hospitals on behalf of Samaritan’s purse. He preached in Bongsu, the largest of two Protestant churches in Pyongyang. Preaching. ‘is not allowed outside of churches,’ Graham explained to an accompanying Fox News journalist at the time. ‘We will be preaching Sunday morning in one of their local churches. But as far as taking a stadium like we would in the United States or in other countries, no, that is not possible here. Many of the communist countries, or former communist countries, only allow you to preach on church property’. Essentially, then, this is encouraging the converted, which is good in itself. However, it isn’t preaching to the lost, which Mr Graham has a particular heart for:

Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Nevertheless, we should not let the perfect be the enemy of good. Mr Graham, and his father before him, have been doing what they can.

Human Rights violations

In 2013, a different picture emerged. The UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in North Korea now found that ‘the gravity, scale and nature’ of human rights violations in North Korea ‘reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.’

In 2014, the Commission of Inquiry went further. It said: ‘there is almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought conscience and religion as well as the right to freedom of opinion, expression, information and association’ in North Korea, as well as possible crimes against humanity being perpetrated against the North Korean people. The Commission also noted that the regime in North Korea “considers the spread of Christianity a particularly severe threat”. As a result, “Christians are prohibited from practising their religion and are persecuted”. Severe punishments are inflicted on “people caught practising Christianity”.’ It was ever thus:

2Tim 3:12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Importance of The Family

Family and family connections are important to Koreans. Franklin Graham shared with journalist Greta Van Susteren a story about his father’s experience in 1992. ‘It is a little bit of a mystery, but President Kim Il Sung for some reason liked my father, and gave my father a big bear hug when he met him, and called him family.’

Which brings us to the importance of The Family of the DPRK. The aforementioned Kim Il-sung (15 April 1912 – 8 July 1994) is the grandfather of the current leader. Evidently, historians accept that, while Kim’s exploits were exaggerated by the personality cult that was built around him after the division, he was a significant guerrilla leader against the Japanese under occupation. He became Prime Minister of the DPRK from its establishment in 1948 and President from 1972 up to his death. His birthday is a significant public holiday, marked by the sort of military parades we saw last month, and styled ‘The Day of the Sun’.

Worryingly, according to an online encyclopedia, ‘many North Koreans believe Kim-Il-sung is an “almighty god” who “created the world” in seven days as a divine spirit millions of years ago, and came to Earth as a human in 1912 as a messianic figure’.

The Guardian reported in October 2015 on Kwang Jin. Apparently, the North Korean defector was smuggled out of China by South Korean Christians, who renamed him Joseph Kim.

The Guardian says: ‘When he was very young he was taught in kindergarten about the magical powers of Kim Il-sung, then supreme leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Kim learned that the dictator was the smartest man in the world and that he was able to fly around the countryside keeping watch over all his children.’

Kim Jong-Un & Juche

Kim Jong-un: 'Crazy fat kid', 'Smart cookie' or 'A great person born of heaven'? — Kim Jong-un: ‘Crazy fat kid’, ‘Smart cookie’ or ‘A great person born of heaven’?

On his death (1994), Il-sung was succeeded by his son Kim Jong-il. When Jong-il died in December 2011, his third son, Kim Jong-un, born in 1984, succeeded him. He gave titles to the deceased Jong-il reflecting Historic Korean ancestor-worship. Jong-il became ‘Eternal General Secretary’ of the Workers Party of Korea and‘Eternal Chairman of the National Defence Commission’.

US Senator John McCain crassly referred to Kim Jong-un as ‘that crazy fat kid’. Being rude is hardly a sign of statemanship. Donald Trump called him a ‘smart cookie’ whom it would be ‘an honour’ to meet. Of course, to North Koreans he is their Supreme Leader, and, like his father, ‘a great person born of heaven’.

The Kim family is also regarded as the custodian of ‘Juche’. This is a Confucian-Marxist semi-religious offshoot dreamt up in the 1940s. It is usually described as ‘patriotic self-reliance’ and has become the official state ideology of North Korea. Naturally, it is described as Kim Il-sung’s ‘original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought’. Juche says an individual is ‘the master of his destiny’. The North Korean masses are to act as the ‘masters of the revolution and construction’. Moreover, by becoming a self-reliant and strong nation they will achieve true socialism.

A Positive Effect

It is clear from the material on the Billy Graham Organisation website that Franklin kept to a personal message of the Gospel in his preaching in Pyongyang. He reported about his father:

‘”When we come to know Christ by committing our lives to Him, God comes into our lives and begins to change us from within,” Billy said after offering them a spiritual challenge. “And when we are changed from within, we become concerned about the problems of our world and we want to do something about them.” That is why I believe true religion has a legitimate place in modern society and why I believe Christ has a message for the people of the DPRK. In my experience in many countries, Christians – although often a minority – make good citizens and have a positive effect on their societies.’

Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

From that, and we cannot disagree, one would think any government would welcome a body of people caring for their fellows because of their love of God. Surely it could only be good if they were praying for their nation and its leaders. Think of the blessing which could flow. What could any national leader possibly find objectionable in sentiments like this:

Jer 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.

Another King and Saviour

Richard Burton as Marcellus the Centurion and Victor Mature as his servant Demetrius over-acting in the perceptive 1953 film 'The Robe' — Richard Burton as Marcellus the Centurion and Victor Mature as his servant Demetrius over-acting in the perceptive 1953 film ‘The Robe’

But there is a problem, and it is one which goes back almost two thousand years. Just like the Roman Caesars, the Kim family have become used to being subject to no higher authority. Those elevated to ‘Supreme Leader’ or ‘Caesar Augustus’ are regarded by the populace as divine. In a sense, they are the saviours of their country. All wisdom and all provision flows from them. But the Bible says it comes from God:

Prov 2:6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
Matt 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

We remember Richard Burton’s character of Marcellus in the 1950’s film ‘The Robe’. The Centurion promised to be a faithful servant of Caesar. But central to his Christian faith was the understanding that Caesar is a ruler under the authority of God Almighty. That suggestion was as objectionable to Caesar as it could easily be today to Kim Jong-un.

Christ is a literal King of kings, more than a mere personal Saviour and helper. The idea of Christ demanding to rule in the here and now over the affairs of men has been spotted in the DPRK just as it was in first-century Thessalonica:

Acts 17:7 Whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus.

Failure of Juche

According to the website NorthKoreanChristians .com: ‘The 1995-1998 North Korean famine starved to death an estimated 2 million people – about 10% of the population – and shook North Korea’s faith in Juche. The closed, self-reliant economic model it espoused was supposed to beat capitalism and conquer the world. Yet, there they were, unable to even feed themselves.

‘The fact that North Koreans are beginning to recognize the economic and spiritual bankruptcy of Juche is evidenced by the recent resurgence of shamanism. Having had their faith in Juche rocked, the North Koreans are turning to gods other than Kim Il Sung. The rebellion has already begun, at least spiritually.’

Fortune telling is illegal, but fortune tellers are everywhere, as people search for anything spiritual. But of course a more powerful answer to Juche lies in Christianity. The website says the Faith ‘is actually expanding’ in the North. Human rights activist David Hawk interviewed North Korean Christians in Seoul. Hawk writes, ‘Interviewee 29, a former Gugkabowibu police official who became disillusioned and fled to China and subsequently to South Korea, reported that North Korean officials are anxious to catch believers because they fear “Christianity will defeat Juche”.’ Hawk was able to use satellite imagery to verify the locations of prison camps the refugees said existed, but the DPRK regime denied.

A greater authority

Matt 8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

As the officer knew, a man acting on his own authority has less authority than a man under authority. Jesus Christ acts on the authority of the God-head. Imagine if Kim Jong-un acknowledged Jesus Christ as King of kings, as his Saviour and Protector, and led his people in prayer for peace and prosperity. He would enjoy far more authority than he currently has.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wanted negotiation in May

One answer to previous prayer is that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in April and May 2017 that Washington would negotiate with North Korea with a view to removing nuclear weapons from the country, and not changing the government.

He told NPR radio in the US: ‘We do not seek regime change, we do not seek a collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula. We seek a denuclearised Korean peninsula – and that is entirely consistent with the objectives of others in the region as well.’

But sadly, that more peaceful approach seems now to have disappeared from view, as more punitive sanctions are imposed and the DPRK and US leaders shout at each other. Yet all the sanctions in the world, all the big ships parked off the coast, all the threats and all the insults could do much harm but will achieve precisely nothing of any good.

Do good and seek peace

Psalm 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

The United Kingdom is historically a trading nation. Our ambassadors should be arguing strongly against economic sanctions against North Korea, or any other nation for that matter. Trade in goods leads to trade in ideas. The Security Council’s imposition of sanctions is a piece of ‘virtue signalling’ which will not improve the UK economy. Furthermore it will impoverish, not Kim Jong-un, but the North Korean people. The resolution will entrench the feeling in the DPRK leadership that they are under attack. Sanctions will increase tensions and lead to more expenditure on armaments.

It is an uncomfortable thought that although Mr Tillerson’s pragmatic diplomatic approach would in the end improve ordinary trading links, it would not benefit the armaments lobby which appears to run the United States. At some stage we shall post an article showing just how much money the likes of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and Northrup Grumman have ploughed into re-election campaigns on both sides of the US Senate and Congress.

Senator Bernie Sanders also urged a diplomatic solution after President Trump’s ‘fire and fury’ speech.

It would be a tragedy if the world went to war for lack of a ‘soft answer’.

PRAY: for our Christian brothers and sisters in North Korean. Pray the Lord deepens their faith, adds to their number and protects them. Also pray in the current crisis for diplomacy and understanding, for ‘soft answers’ to arise. As always, pray for peace. In particular, pray for President Trump and the UK Government and for all who think sabres are there to be rattled. Lastly, pray for Kim Jong-un to see himself as a man in need of salvation and the Cross.

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‘Hurtful’ National Trust in Rainbow Row

By

Stephen

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7 August 2017

7

National Trust goes gay with 6-colour homosexual rainbow badges and lanyards.

The National Trust is in a row over the promotion of homosexuality after volunteers refused to wear homosexual equality symbols.

The National Trust is Britain’s leading conservation charity. It exists, according to its most recent Annual Report, to protect ‘the nation’s heritage and open spaces … for everyone to enjoy’. It operates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is a separate National Trust for Scotland.

According to the BBC, the National Trust required staff and volunteers at Felbrigg Hall, a stately home in Norfolk, to wear rainbow badges and lanyards in support of a campaign to promote homosexuality.

Annabel Smith, the Trust’s head of volunteering and participation development, said ‘Whilst volunteering for the National Trust we do request and expect individuals to uphold the values of the organisation.’

But of course, the promotion of homosexuality does not appear in the aims or values of the National Trust.

Dissenting volunteers

By Friday, over 30 (and possibly as many as 75, depending where you read) of 350 volunteers refused to be part of the stunt.

Initially, National Trust management offered them duties away from the public gaze. Non-rainbowed staff would be an embarrassment. Its director general, Dame Helen Ghosh, said anyone who did not agree with the campaign was ‘free to step back from the volunteer role or take a different role for the duration’. Who said Victorian-style labour relations were dead?

But Lucy Pasha-Robinson writes in the Independent that 240 National Trust members revoked their membership over the weekend in disgust. Meanwhile, the volunteers went to the newspapers. They accused the Trust of encroaching on their political freedoms. The Trust began to get rattled.

Dame Helen was left humiliated as a National Trust official later issued a statement on Saturday. Now they were ‘making it clear to volunteers that the wearing of the badge is optional and a personal decision’.

Previous owner ‘outed’ as homosexual

Professor Richard Sandell has been promoting LGBT issues for twenty years.

One Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer owned Felbrigg Hall. The distinguished historian and author left his ancestral home to the National Trust when he died in 1969.

But as part of its pro-sodomy campaign – it actually has a special page for it – the National Trust latched onto rumours that Lord Ketton-Cremer was homosexual. It commissioned Professor Richard Sandell from the University of Leicester to dig up any dirt he could find.

In true gutter journalism style, Sandell trawled the local area for anyone prepared to say Ketton-Cremer’s sexuality was an ‘open secret’. He pored over his poems and books about acquaintances to try to find code words and possible euphemisms. But he failed to find anyone to say his subject engaged in any same-sex activity with anyone.

The Trust then hired the King of Crass, Stephen Fry, to voice a video. In the frankly tedious film, Fry states Ketton-Cremer ‘defied the conventions of his day’. Actually, he didn’t. He lived exactly as a bachelor of those days would do.

National Trust ‘hurtful’

The film appalled Ketton-Cramer’s nephew and niece. Ted Coryton and Katie Spencer are demanding to know what proof the Trust has that their uncle and godfather, known to them as ‘Bun’, was homosexual. Moreover, even if he was, what right did the National Trust have to ‘out’ someone who chose to keep his sexuality secret? The squire died two years after sodomy in private was decriminalised in 1967.

Robert Wyndham Ketton-Cremer outside Felbrigg Hall, which he bequeathed to the National Trust.

‘It is simply so hurtful,’ Mrs Spencer, 78, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘It is outrageous and totally unnecessary. The National Trust has done this to get publicity to get people to visit the hall and make money. I personally didn’t think there was any suggestion he was gay. The first I heard was when I was shown the article in the Telegraph about the Trust’s film. I would like to know what proof they actually have. I think Bun would have felt betrayed by the National Trust. He was a fascinating man, a brilliant historian and biographer. That was how he would want to be remembered. His sexuality was a private matter and should remain so.’

The siblings, from Cornwall, share the late Ketton-Cremer with another godson, Tristram Powell, from London. All believe the move represents a betrayal. Moreover, they argue it could have serious implications for future legacies to the Trust. They have a point. Who is going to leave property to the National Trust knowing its officials are prepared to seek and publicise salacious gossip about you years later?

Virtue signalling

Clare Balding recording a podcast promoting homosexuality for the National Trust

The Trust’s pro-sodomy campaign does not end here. The National Trust has also signed up the BBC’s token sports lesbian, Clare Balding.

Miss Balding will do a series of podcasts on homosexually-themed National Trust properties. There turn out to be very few, by the way. And of course, this is not a serious attempt at increasing its membership among the 1% of the population who are sadly homosexual. If they like old houses, they will join the Trust’s four million other members anyway. No, the Trust is instead engaging in a perverted form of ‘virtue-signalling’ while blundering into the minefield of social engineering.

Indeed, Mr Fry said: ‘Some have asked why Prejudice and Pride is necessary – why the lives of people who challenged conventional ideas of gender and sexuality should be made public and celebrated in this way. The answer is quite simple – to do anything less is to suggest that same-sex love and gender diversity is somehow wrong, and keeping these stories hidden only lets prejudice – past and present – go unchallenged.’

Once again, Lord Ketton-Cremer did not ‘challenge conventional ideas of gender and sexuality’. Moreover, some 40& of the population still believe gay sex is wrong, after all the years of pro-sodomy propaganda. And we can venture the figure will be higher among National Trust members.

Professor Sandell added: ‘We have equality in many areas of the law but there is a need to build greater public understanding.’ I was right. It’s virtue-signalling and propaganda rolled into one.

Condescension

Dame Helen Ghosh - the 'condescending' director general of the National Trust is to be replaced next March. — Dame Helen Ghosh – the ‘condescending’ director general of the National Trust is to be replaced next March.

This is not the first controversy at the National Trust under Dame Helen’s tenure, says the Guardian. During her leadership, the Trust found itself drawn into debates about fracking and windfarms. The Trust quite likes the former, but is snooty about the latter. And earlier this year our members will recall it replaced the word ‘Easter’ by ‘Cadbury’ in publicity for its egg hunt.

Rachel Cooke, also in the Guardian, writes: ‘There is a growing sense in some quarters that the Trust is distracted from its main purpose – conservation – and that in its determination to be inclusive, it is, for want of a better description, dumbing down.’

Miss Cooke also has some acerbic observations on the Trust’s acquisition of land and on Dame Helen Ghosh, with whom she secured an interview. Dame Helen is a retired civil servant. The National Trust pays her £183,960 as its director general.

But Miss Cooke says: ‘Her manner is – how to put this? – edged with condescension. Five minutes into our conversation, she tells me about her first-class history degree from Oxford, as if this alone should settle my mind in her favour. … She talks loudly of the importance of listening to other views without ever really giving the impression that she is doing so.’

Dame Helen Ghosh to leave

And now Dame Helen is returning to her alma mater. She gained a first in history, you know. She will leave her job at the National Trust in March 2018 to become the first woman master of Balliol College, Oxford. She is taking an obvious career step.

National Trust members and volunteers will be eager to attend its Annual General Meeting in Swindon on 21st October 2017. Will this topic come up? What will Dame Helen condescend to say to the backward member masses? Will her replacement will be as eager to force gayness down everyone’s throats? Is the National Trust going to continue alienating the public with repellent virtue-signalling? Will it return to its core business of protecting the nation’s heritage and open spaces for everyone to enjoy – not just the intellectual elite? When are the next elections to the National Trust’s Council?

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BBC unwatchable on Gay Jubilee

By

Stephen

-

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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They’re all backing London Gay Pride

By

Stephen

-

10 July 2017

11

Topshop being more progressive than thou at London Gay Pride this weekend.

Businesses and politicians fell over each other to support the London Gay Pride parade at the weekend.

The BBC reported: ‘With almost 50 official partners, ranging from airlines to mobile networks, and a list of over 60 supporters, companies are signing up to try to stamp out prejudice.’

Well, no, they are not trying to ‘stamp out prejudice’, BBC, they are simply trying to sell product. To do that, a bit of good old ‘virtue signalling’ will do the trick.

The inverted commas indicate that we have come to a strange place when supporting a group defined by vice is ‘virtue signalling’ in the first place. But clothing retailers such as Topshop are definitely adopting a ‘more progressive than thou’ stance.

London Gay Pride sponsored by Barclays and the Mayor

London Underground getting in on the act at Oxford Circus.

Costa coffee also went rainbow coloured. In addition to the opportunists on the street, the ‘Pride in London’ website indeed lists around fifty corporate sponsors of one kind and another.

London Underground is a sponsor, putting the six-coloured rainbow up at Oxford Circus with a slogan: ‘#LoveisLove’. Or five minutes in the bushes on Hampstead Heath.

Barclays Bank was joint ‘headline’ sponsor with the Mayor of London.

That’s devout Muslim Mr Khan. There is obviously a time and a place for Islam in a politician’s life.

Gold sponsors include Starbucks and Tesco. Tesco seem not to have learnt the lesson of their disastrous financial calamities following their £30,000 sponsorship of the 2012 Gay Pride.

Rainbow-coloured Houses of Parliament - sort of. — Rainbow-coloured Houses of Parliament – sort of.

Gay flag flying over Downing Street

Politicians other than the mayor of London jumped on the bandwagon. The London Evening Standard gleefully reported that the Houses of Parliament were lit up in rainbow colours. Well, after a fashion.

“The rainbow illumination of Parliament is our signal of support for sodomy,” said John Bercow, the Commons Speaker. Sorry to misquote him. Actually, he said: ‘.. of support for equality’.

Moreover, the Prime Minister flew the rainbow flag over 10 Downing Street. Thersa May put every true Christian, Othodox Jew, Muslim and for that matter every decent person in the realm, firmly in their place.

From protest to fashionable

Gay Pride has moved from protest to fashionable in forty years. However, not everyone in the gay sub-culture is happy. Peter Tatchell complained in the Guardian: ‘What began in 1972 as a protest for gay rights has now morphed into a commercialised, bureaucratic and rule-bound event, which too often reflects the wishes of the city authorities, not the LGBT community.’

The veteran campaigner went on to observe ‘a mere 26,500 people will be permitted to march. This is a fraction of the number who would march if it were a free and open event’.

Many might think 26,500 is more than enough dysfunctional people parading through our capital city. But when Gay Pride becomes as much a part of the calendar as Christmas, we need to take notice and start praying very hard for our nation to repent. And keep our passports up to date just in case the mind of God is for judgment on the UK, rather than for mercy.

Conversion therapy ‘abusive’, says Jayne

Jayne Ozanne, enmeshed in defending the indefensible

Meanwhile, one Jayne Ozanne, speaking at a weekend event in York, condemned so-called conversion therapy. This is where people who wish to be free of same-sex attraction seek psychiatric help. She said:

“Conversion therapy is condemned by professionals as being harmful to LGBT people as it is based on a misguided belief that being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender is wrong. This leads to increased mental health problems for LGBT community due to stigmatization.”

No, that’s not a ‘misguided belief’, Jayne, that is the plain teaching of scripture:

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. Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Lev 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Mar 10:6 (Jesus said) But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

And being ‘one flesh’, in that full wonderful God-given spiritual, emotional and physical sense, is something a pair of gays, or two lesbians, can never do. Moreover, the ‘increased mental health problems’ are from gays and lesbians knowing what they are doing is plain wrong. If it were from ‘stigmatization’, mental health problems for LGBT’s would be diminishing with greater media-driven acceptance. They aren’t. It isn’t.

Postscript

Just why is transgenderism an even greater assault on the Gospel than homosexuality? Click here to read about the Canadian baby whose mother (sorry, ‘parent’) insists she (sorry, ‘they’) has no gender.

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Saudi Arabia funding UK extremism

By

Stephen

-

5 July 2017

3

Theresa May getting on a bit too well with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef

Tom Wilson names Saudi Arabia as a major funder of extremist ideology in the UK in today's Henry Jackson Society report — Tom Wilson names Saudi Arabia as a major funder of extremist ideology in the UK in today’s Henry Jackson Society report

Saudi Arabia is the leading overseas nation funding Muslim extremist ideology, a think-tank has claimed.

The Henry Jackson Society is named after the late anticommunist US Democrat hawk. It has investigated links between a number of Gulf States and British mosques.

Its report, linked here, is published at a critical time. The UK Government refuse to release their own report on foreign funding of Islamic extremism. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have ganged up on Qatar, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism. That charge now looks hypocritical. Qatar, of course, is home to the TV news station Al Jazeera.

Saudi Arabia ‘Foremost’

The report’s author is one Tom Wilson. He writes: ‘The foreign funding for Islamist extremism in Britain primarily comes from governments and government linked foundations based in the Gulf, as well as Iran. Foremost among these has been Saudi Arabia,’ he writes. He discovered that since the 1960s the Arabian state ‘has sponsored a multimillion dollar effort to export Wahhabi Islam across the Islamic world’. Naturally, the ‘Islamic world’ includes ‘Muslim communities in the West’.

‘In the UK this funding has primarily taken the form of endowments to mosques and Islamic educational institutions, which have in turn played host to extremist preachers and the distribution of extremist literature. Influence has also been exerted through the training of British Muslim religious leaders in Saudi Arabia, as well as the use of Saudi textbooks in a number of the UK’s independent Islamic schools.

‘A number of Britain’s most serious Islamist hate preachers sit within the Salafi-Wahhabi ideology and are linked to extremism sponsored from overseas, either by having studied in Saudi Arabia as part of scholarship programmes, or by having been provided with extreme literature and material within the UK itself.’

UK Wahhabist mosques increased 60%

The think-tank says the money pouring out of Saudi Arabia has increased in recent years. This has in turn increased the number of mosques in the UK promoting Islamic extremism. Giving references, the report says:

‘In 2007 Saudi Arabia was estimated to be spending at least $2 billion annually on promoting Wahhabism worldwide. By 2015 that figure was believed to have doubled. The impact of this increased spending may well have been felt in Britain. In 2007, estimates put the number of mosques in Britain adhering to Salafism and Wahhabism at 68. Seven years later, the number of British mosques identified with Wahhabism had risen to 110.’ That is a 62% increase.

Reaction of politicians

Politicians have reacted in various ways to the report. Labour’s Dan Jarvis, once suggested as a leadership possibility, endorsed the report.

According to the BBC, ‘Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for the immediate suspension of UK arms exports to Saudi Arabia because of its human rights record and involvement in military action in Yemen.’

Meanwhile, Theresa May insisted the UK’s historic relationship with the desert kingdom is important for British security and trade. She visited Saudi Arabia in April, and gained yet more arms deals.

The Independent reports recent UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia are worth a whopping £3.3 billion.

Extremism funding report ‘may never be published’

Tom Wilson says: ‘In June 2017 the UK government pledged to establish a commission for countering extremism.’ Accordingly, his report calls for this new body to prioritise the issue of foreign funding for Islamist extremism. It also deplores the Government’s refusal so far to publish a report on the matter. In January 2016, Prime Minister David Cameron told the Extremism Analysis Unit to investigate, as the Observer reported. Theresa May was then Home Secretary, responsible for the Unit.

But the Guardian said in May: ’18 months later, the Home Office confirmed the report had not yet been completed and said it would not necessarily be published, calling the contents “very sensitive”.

‘A decision would be taken “after the election by the next government” about the future of the investigation, a Home Office spokesman said.’

MPs must take notice

Well, that’s now. So where is the announcement of publication? Could it be the Home Office report fingers Saudi Arabia, our main ‘Gulf Ally’ and armaments market? The press has widely reported, for example here in the Indy, that Saudi Arabia and Turkey support and finance Sunni Salafist jihadist groups in Syria. This report in The Atlantic highlights the importance of Salafist ideology in the terrorist mindset. Muslim muhajideen fighting against US forces in Afghanistan or Israel in the Holy land are encouraged and too often funded by Saudi Arabia. But what if the Saudi-funded extremists were a bit closer to home?

We need to know. The UK Government must publish its report. But until then, the Henry Jackson Society have done a good service in this instance. They have shone a light into some very murky places. We can only pray our MPs take notice. The Governments’ first duty is to keep us safe. They must take action now to stop the flow of money from this repressive, barbaric, Islamist regime.

You can email your MP using this Parliament link. Ask your MP when the Government will publish its report into foreign funding of extremism.

Christian ethics would also demand an end to arms sales to the Saudis (as a start) In a complete rethink of our foreign policy:

2Chronicles 19:2 And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.

Luke 12:2 For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

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Bristol preachers acquitted on appeal

By

Stephen

-

30 June 2017

4

Michael Overd (l) and Michael Stockwell were acquitted at Bristol Crown Court

Two street preachers convicted by lay magistrates won their appeal in Bristol Crown Court yesterday.

Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell had fines and costs totalling over £2,000 each set aside.

Judge Martin Picton watched a video which Mr Overd took to safeguard himself from malicious prosecution.

Moreover, His Honour took that as the prosecution case and heard only one witness.

After the evidence of Mr Overd and Mr Stockwell, the trial concluded with brief legal arguments. Barristers Paul Diamond and Michael Phillips set out the case law on behalf of the preachers.

Preachers convicted by Freemason magistrate

Magistrate Robert Stacey, a leading Freemason, convicted the preachers in February 2017

Despite the video, the Crown Prosecution Service brought charges last year against the two evangelists and two other preachers. In February of this year, the CPS dropped all charges against Don Kahns, an American missionary. The magistrates court decided the prosecution had made no case against another man, Adrian Clark.

But, as Christian Voice reported at the time, the bench found Messrs Overd and Stockwell guilty of disorderly conduct, religiously aggravated. Afterwards, we discovered the chairman of the magistrates was a high-ranking Freemason. We posted a further report into Freemasonry and its ‘secrets’. In that report we named magistrate Robert Stacey as ‘Provincial Grand Scribe Ezra’ in the Royal Arch Provincial Grand Chapter of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

Christianity and the claims of Jesus Christ stand against all the occultism and secrecy of Freemasonry.

The retired laboratory manager and his colleagues, Mr Gerry McDermot and Mrs Josephine Ramsden, thought an offence was ‘religiously aggravated’ if defendants took exception to a religion, Islam in this case. The law says the defendant must display hatred towards its adherents or suspected adherents.

Appeal allowed

Michael Phillips represented Michael Overd

Accordingly, Judge Picton dismissed the aggravated nature of the convictions early in the hearing. Nor did His Honour have any problem with the preachers using the language of the King James Bible.

The court heard from barrister Paul Diamond, representing Michael Stockwell. Mr Diamond said religions are competitive and the truth each claims to hold is incompatible to another. Referring to a restless element in the crowd, he told the judge, ‘A lawful act cannot be made unlawful by the acts of third parties.’

Michael Phillips, representing Michael Overd, told the court the case was almost exactly the same as that of Alison Redmond-Bate. She was convicted of obstructing a police officer when she refused to stop preaching in the face of a hostile crowd on the steps of Wakefield Cathedral in 1998. In a famous judgment, Sir Stephen Sedley quashed her conviction.

Free speech includes the unwelcome

Paul Diamond (l) chats to this journalist after the case

Freedom to speak the inoffensive, said Lord Justice Sedley, was not worth having. Free speech encompassed ‘the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and provocative,’ he said. The only proviso on ‘provocative’ was: ‘provided it did not tend to provoke violence’.

is clear His Lordship meant the person speaking must not whip up his hearers to violence against third parties. Prosecutors will try to argue a preacher would be outside the law if a listener was moved to violence against him himself. But as Mr Diamond said, hecklers cannot have a veto which is expressed through the threat of violence. And Sir Stephen said: ‘A police officer has no right to call upon a citizen to desist from lawful conduct.’

Indeed, Judge Picton said the court, ‘Should not focus on reactions. Some became aggravated, but we ask ourselves if the behaviour itself was disorderly.’

In the event, the court held it was not. His Honour found for the preachers. He allowed the appeal to the delight of around twenty supporters gathered in the public gallery.

Here is the report from the Bristol Post local newspaper.

Preach the Gospel to every creature

John Wesley's chapel in Bristol's Broadmead - that's the man of God on his horse. — John Wesley’s chapel in Bristol’s Broadmead – that’s the man of God on his horse.

Earlier, in his evidence, Michael Stockwell said, ‘Jesus commands me in Mark and Matthew to go out and preach the Gospel to every creature’. He told the court there would often be people on the fringes listening, even if a trouble-maker had come to the front. ‘Most of these people never go to church,’ he said, ‘They will hear the word but maybe later at home they will think and cry to God for mercy.’

After the verdict, a small group of us went back to the place in Broadmead where the alleged offences had occurred. The site is right outside John Wesley’s chapel in Bristol. An evangelist called Daniel climbed on a stump to preach while we stood and helped to gather a crowd. Around fifty people were listening by the time Daniel came down and we all started to engage the crowd in twos and threes.

It was shocking how many younger people have bought into the homosexual narrative and are even supporting transsexualism. Truth has fallen in the street. But preachers do what they can. Above all we had good conversations. Who knows if he is planting a seed or merely turning over the ground for another to plant.

Scriptures:

Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Matthew 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

2Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

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Tories setting up to bomb Syria

Christian freedom

By

Stephen

-

6 May 2017

11

The Conservatives are seriously thinking of asking Tornado pilots to bomb government facilities in Syria

The Conservatives are considering a manifesto pledge to hold a Commons vote to bomb government facilities in Syria, reports the Guardian.

The paper says the commitment would only take effect if there were another gas attack. But the fear is it would encourage ‘false flag’ events by rebel jihadist forces.

‘Assad must go’ hysteria

A lot will depend on how it is worded. It is possible a pledge could bind Tory MPs into voting for action, although candidates could well object to that. In 2013 just twenty-seven Tory rebels helped defeat a similar attempt by David Cameron. They included senior Conservatives David Davis, Dr Julian Lewis, Crispin Blunt and Fiona Bruce. The vote was held at the height of ‘regime change’ mania. ‘Assad must go’ hysteria was rife.

The UK is already engaged alongside American counterparts in military action in both Syria and Iraq against Islamic State. Striking against Syrian forces would encourage IS. It is a perplexing stance.

The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said last month the UK might launch such airstrikes without parliamentary approval if the US asked.

However, Mrs May would clearly prefer parliament’s backing. But if she secures a landslide majority Tory MPs could swing such a vote. Many new MPs would be eager to impress the leadership with their loyalty.

Peace breaking out in Syria?

Last month US president, Donald Trump, overturned an election pledge to stay out of the middle east. He allowed a strike against a Syrian airbase after an alleged use of chemical weapons against rebels at Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib. Both Syria and Russia have denied Syrian involvement and Western governments have blocked independent UN investigations.

The Conservatives are also claiming Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would be weak on national security. Mr Corbyn’s mistake was to say the unsayable. He told Andrew Marr any use of nuclear weapons would be a world disaster. He also wants a political solution in Syria. We can’t peace breaking out, now can we?

Any UK action against Syria would bring the distinct possibility of conflict with Russia, President Assad’s ally. We could see UK planes shot down. With a belligerent warmonger like Michael Fallon in charge of defence, who knows where that might lead? The manifesto story is a disturbing escalation.

UK Government has learnt nothing

It also tells us that Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Michael Fallon have learnt nothing about the Middle East. The Iraq catastrophe featured a regime-change war. Tony Blair joined the US based on Saddam’s non-existent ‘weapons of mass destruction’. He forever poisoned the well of weapons intelligence. Not to be outdone, David Cameron launched airstrikes against the government of Libya. Gaddafi was butchered and Libya is now a wasteland.

In both cases jihadist forces were inevitably unleashed. The Iraq conflict led inexorably to the rise of Islamic State, as if Al Qaeda was not bad enough. In Iraq, the jihadists slaughtered and expelled local Christians with roots going back almost two thousand years.

If it had not been for the determination of President Assad, Syria’s Christians would have gone the same way at the hands of the jihadists supported by the UK Government. Meanwhile, no-one in the Foreign Office would have shed a tear.

Syria speaks to the Russian soul

On the Conservative Home website, Douglas Hansen-Luke says: ‘Neither we nor the Americans can honestly say that we can bring about regime change and guarantee a peaceful outcome in Syria.’ But the fear must be they don’t even care. Prising the Russians out of their Mediterranean bases in Syria might be goal enough.

We shall continue to thank God for the presence of the Russians in Syria. Without them, the UK could easily have sponsored a bloodbath. Moreover, by protecting all religious minorities and the Syrian Christians in particular, Bashar Al-Assad has spoken to the Russian soul. We need to appreciate that the Russian Orthodox Church and the Antiochian Church, the largest Syrian Christian denomination, are in communion. Both are also allied to the Greek Orthodox. Both strategically and spiritually the Russians will not be giving up on Syria and its President any time soon.

The Conservatives need to think long and hard before even considering expanding their failed Syrian adventure.

Mrs May’s General Election Challenge

By

Stephen

-

25 April 2017

6

The triple-lock matters to pensioners - and there are almost twelve million of them.

Theresa May has stated Britain will leave the EU's Single Market. But she could easily lose the General Election. — Theresa May has stated Britain will leave the EU’s Single Market. But she could easily lose the General Election.

As the political parties write their general election manifestos, one of them faces a particular challenge.

The Conservatives might think they have an unassailable lead, but they could easily snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. And that would put Brexit in peril.

NHI for the Self-Employed

Firstly., they would dearly like their manifesto to give them fiscal carte blanche. Their previous manifesto promised no rise in VAT, income tax or national health insurance (NHI) contributions. That may have been foolish, but it’s why Chancellor Philip Hammond came unstuck in March.

His March 2017 budget proposed to increase NHI for the self-employed. The Guardian found at least 18 Tory MPs prepared to vote that down. Hammond and Mrs May retreated.

But this time, if they take out the pledge, every Tory candidate will be signed up to the change. It follows they will be unable to object. But they may not have the opportunity. According to National Statistics, there are now over four and a half million self-employed in the UK. The trend shows not sign of slowing down. ONS say: ‘The level of self-employment in the UK increased from 3.8 million in 2008 to 4.6 million in 2015.’

The pensioners’ ‘triple-lock’

Secondly, the Conservatives would love to abolish the so-called ‘triple-lock’ with this general election. The coalition government began this scheme in 2010. It increases the state pension each year by inflation, the increase in average earnings or 2.5%, whichever is the highest. Maintaining the triple lock until at least 2020 was another David Cameron 2015 manifesto commitment.

Labour have already pledged to maintain the triple-lock. If the Tories take it away, they could alienate every one of the UK’s 11.8 million pensioners in one go. Nearly one million over-75s live in poverty, according to the BBC. At April 2014, the basic state pension was around £440 a year more than it would have been if it had been increased only in line with the increase in average earnings. So it matters to people. Almost 2 million pensioners may live in a household with a millionaire, but if self-interest or altruism kick in, Mrs May could be in trouble.

So that is twelve million pensioners and four-and-a-half million self-employed. Fifteen million is a huge voting block to alienate. There are just 44.7 million electors in the UK, according to ONS. You do the maths. The Tories stand to lose the votes of over a third of the electorate. And these are people who actually vote. Lose them and they lose the general election.

LibDem leader Tim Farron is chief of the 'Remoaners' — LibDem leader Tim Farron is chief of the ‘Remoaners’

The Brexit dimension

The LibDems want to remain in the EU, or at least in the Single Market and Customs Union, which amounts to the same thing. Their leader, Tim Farron, is also promising a second referendum.

Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer said today that his party would scrap Theresa May’s Brexit plans. Labour would unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU residents to stay before talks even start. Furthermore, he said the EU single market should be kept ‘on the table’.

Frankly, a general election yielding a Conservative majority is the only way of guaranteeing a full, proper, clean exit from the revived Roman Empire. Without putting trust in princes, Mrs May looks like she could achieve that. More EU jobs are dependent on the UK market than vice versa, but even World Trade Organisation tariffs are not actually that high across most sectors. Trade deals are good for trade, but companies manage to trade with foreign partners without them. There is no EU trade agreement with China, for example.

Pray for the General Election

Ben Gummer MP is writing the Conservative's General election manifesto. If ever a man needed wisdom... — Ben Gummer MP is writing the Conservative’s General election manifesto. If ever a man needed wisdom…

We need to pray for Ben Gummer MP, the Ipswich MP in charge of writing the Conservative manifesto. Obviously he will be talking to party bigwigs, but they all need to realise what is at stake.

They may not realise that there is a massive spiritual battle going on over Brexit right now. Behind every material reality is a spiritual reality and we are aware of that.

Pray the Tories do not alienate voters by abandoning the NHI pledge and the triple-lock. The Chancellor will have to wait. The most vital matter today is Brexit. If the Conservatives mess up the election and put Brexit in jeopardy there will be massive public anger.

Easter Message

We also need to pray that Theresa May takes this opportunity to make good her Easter message. She clearly said people in public service should be able to share their faith without risk of losing their job. But they are losing their jobs. So dispel accusations of hypocrisy by making that a manifesto pledge.

She also said the UK should be standing up for Christians overseas. So stand up for the Christians of Syria, and support the Syrian Government which is their only protector. Stand up also for persecuted Christians in Pakistan, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, for example.

We should obviously like to see measures promised opposing the abortion industry and euthanasia. Reform of the family courts and the scandal of overbearing child protection is overdue. Crucially for the nation’s children, the Tory manifesto should stand against the fashionable transgender scam, especially in schools. That would cause outcry, but not fifteen million voters’ worth of outcry.

Finally, on foreign affairs, let us pray for a manifesto commitment of peace. Pray to have a Secretary of State for Defence, rather than – as we currently have – one for Provocation. Pray for a reset with Russia. Mrs May could pledge in this general election never again to destablise other nations. She could promise the UK will approach diplomacy with maturity. At the moment, Boris Johnson and Sir Michael Fallon seem like a couple of adolescent stags trying to prove their virility. The anti-Russia rhetoric is ludicrous and embarrassing.

Prayer and Email:

You can email your MP from the Parliament link right here to witness to him or her about content of the manifesto.

If your MP is not Conservative, you can even email Mr Ben Gummer MP with suggestions, or just to let him know you are praying.

Be sure every lobby group will be doing the same. Not the praying bit, obviously.

And do also pray for the other parties. On some matters, their general election manifestos could at the very least change the parameters of debate. Labour and UKIP could be better disposed towards peace, for example. There are plainly other issues attracting attention in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Wales to some extent. But if you live outside England, or even overseas, please spare some prayer time for the overall UK picture.

Deuteronomy 3:24 O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?

1Samuel 12:23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way: 24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.

1Thess 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

1Tim 2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Replace Michael Fallon with a man of peace!

By

Stephen

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11 April 2017

0

Christian Voice Press Release: astonished at Boris pull-out

By

Stephen

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8 April 2017

3

Not just Boris Johnson but the House of Commons now faces a Brexit Dilemma.

Christian Voice Press Release – 16:00 hrs 8^th April 2017

Christian Voice has expressed astonishment at the decision of Boris Johnson to cancel a meeting with his Russian opposite number Sergey Lavrov.

Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, said today:

‘I am saddened and astonished that Boris Johnson has cancelled his planned meeting with his Russian opposite number Sergey Lavrov.

‘The heart of God is for peace between nations. “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation” is the millennial vision. Christ said “Blessed are the peacemakers”. For Boris Johnson to pull out of his meeting with Sergey Lavrov in a huff because the Russians call attention to the lack of evidence for the alleged Idlib gas attack is small-minded and lacking statesmanship. It is not the action of a peacemaker.

‘This ministry prays constantly for the Christians of Syria. They and all that country’s religious minorities have historically been protected by President Assad, despite his faults. The Sunni Muslim jihadists whom the UK supports would destroy the Christian community in Syria, together with the Druze, Yazidi and the various Shia Muslim sects, including the Alawites.

‘We are disappointed by the speed with which President Trump ordered his missile attack. He did not wait for the UN to investigate where the gas actually came from. He did not heed Syrian Government denials. Trump went against his own advice to President Obama to seek Congressional approval of any military action. He took illegal action against a sovereign state. The UK should never endorse or support illegal aggression.

‘St Petersburg just suffered a horrendous attack, reminiscent of the 2005 London Tube Bombings. At such a time, when Islamic terrorism threatens the whole of the civilized world, close communication and even solidarity between Britain and Russia is the way of peace, security and indeed sheer common sense. We shall have to redouble our prayers for peace and safety. Boris Johnson’s unreasonable decision has not made the world a more stable place.’

Christian Voice Press Release ENDS

See: Missile strike follows Idlib ‘gas attack’

And: idlib ‘gas attack’: hang on a minute

The heart of God is for peace between nations:

Isaiah 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Jesus Christ said:

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

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Missile strike follows Idlib ‘gas attack’

By

Stephen

-

7 April 2017

0

President Trump has launched a missile strike against Syrian airfields. The pretext is the alleged release of chemical weapons in the town of Khan Sheikhun the rebel-held Syrian Idlib province on Tuesday.

According to the BBC, the Pentagon said 59 Tomahawk missiles were fired from Navy destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross. They say they targeted ‘aircraft, aircraft shelters, storage areas, ammunition supply bunkers, air defence systems, and radars at Shayrat airfield in western Homs province’. You can follow the BBC’s ‘As it happens’ for the latest reports.

‘Big mistake’ not to get approval of Congress

Mr Trump said he had acted in America’s ‘vital national security interest’ to prevent the use of chemical weapons. That of course is complete nonsense. Whoever is responsible for the chemical weapons in Idlib, there is no threat to America’s interests at all.

The missile strike is illegal in international law. The President needed a UN resolution before such a strike. The UN Security Council had not even voted on how to send in International inspectors to verify the alleged chemical attack as we went to press. The missile strike is also illegal in US law. He needed Congressional approval. Indeed, in August 2013, Donald Trump tweeted this about President Obama in exactly the same circumstances (the link is Twitter; all our links open in a new tab automatically):

‘The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria – big mistake if he does not!’

‘Stay out of Syria!’ Trump yelled in a series of tweets. That was Trump 2013. Three and a half years later, he is President and despite our prayers, he has been ‘got at’ by the Neo-Cons and the Hawks. He hasn’t ‘drained the swamp’. The swamp has drained him. He has, to use a British expression, ‘gone native’.

Contrast with Mosul

It all stinks. We have the speed of the events and the lack of any clear evidence against the Syrian government. Then we have the rush to bomb something instead of a measured dispassionate response. We have all the Western leaders ganging up. And still the ‘Cui Bono’ question remains. Who benefits from the gas story on the eve of peace talks and the Syrian reconstruction meeting in Brussels? Maybe the rebels. Certainly the war-mongers. Above all the armaments manufacturers. Definitely the bankers. Even the oil barons are pleased. CNN reports the price of crude has leapt in response to uncertainty caused by the missile strike.

The US were still investigating whether they were responsible for 300 deaths from an airstrike in Mosul ten days later.

Remember, the only evidence is photographic from the jihadists in Idlib. We know they lie to advance their aims. The suggestion that a rebel chemical weapons factory on the ground was bombed remains highly plausible. Another possibility is an Islamic State operation.

The Syrians say they warned the UN weeks ago that the rebels and IS were bringing in chemical weapons from Turkey. And in January 2016, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced all chemical weapons in Syria itself had been destroyed.

Contrast the speed with which Trump has leapt to blame and bomb Syria with the caution his administration expressed over the attack in Mosul. There, US warplanes killed 200 – 300 civilians. Even the New York Times reported that ten days later, US military officials were still ‘investigating whether it (the coalition) was to blame for the dozens of deaths there’. Note ‘dozens’ not ‘hundreds’.

Missile strike betrayal of Trump promises

Tomahawk missile. What the BBC graphic does not say is 'Cost $250,000'. The attack cost the US Defense Department $14,750,000. Shares in Raytheon jumped 1.7% after the missile strike. — Tomahawk missile. What the BBC graphic does not say is ‘Cost $250,000’. The attack cost the US Defense Department $14,750,000. Shares in Raytheon jumped 1.7% after the missile strike.

However, the Russian Federation, reported here in Inews, says the attack was pre-planned. They said: ‘It is obvious that the US cruise missile strike had been pre-prepared. It is clear to any specialist that Washington made the decision to strike before the events in Idlib, which were only used as a pretext for a show of force.’

That makes sense. Both the Russians and NATO nations were informed in advance of the strike. That takes the planning phase back further than yesterday. In addition, the sheer speed with which European leaders condemned President Assad strongly suggests they knew the original story was coming.

Some of us prayed for a Trump victory rather than Clinton. That was precisely because Hillary is a stooge of the Hawks who would start World War Three. She was actually calling for a missile strike hours before it happened. Trump promised an end to interventionism and a reset with the Russians. His action is a return to neo-conservative warmongering in a complete betrayal of the promises he made on the campaign trail:

Intervention breaks election pledges:

Here’s the Guardian from December 2017: ‘Donald Trump has laid out a US military policy that would avoid interventions in foreign conflicts and instead focus heavily on defeating Islamic State militancy. ‘“We will stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn’t be involved with,” the president-elect said on Tuesday night in Fayetteville, near Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina.
‘“Instead our focus must be on defeating terrorism and destroying Isis, and we will.”’

Here is RT’s take on Trump’s ‘Thank You’ tour: ‘Donald Trump has laid out a military policy which he says is aimed at ending “intervention and chaos” overseas. He promised to build up the “depleted” military, but said it would be done with prevention in mind, rather than aggression.

‘Speaking at the latest stop on his “thank you” tour of swing states, President-elect Donald Trump told a crowd in Fayetteville, North Carolina that he wants to “strengthen old friendships and seek out new friendships,” stressing that the US will “stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn’t be involved with.”’

And here is Reuter’s confirmation: ‘President-elect Donald Trump laid out a U.S. military policy on Tuesday that would avoid interventions in foreign conflicts and instead focus heavily on defeating the Islamic State militancy.
‘”We will stop racing to topple foreign regimes that we know nothing about, that we shouldn’t be involved with,” Trump said. “Instead, our focus must be on defeating terrorism and destroying ISIS, and we will.”
‘Trump’s rhetoric was similar to what he said during the election campaign when he railed against the war in Iraq.’

Trump ‘Showing he is not a Russian puppet’

Crispin Blunt MP - 'makes no sense' — Crispin Blunt MP – ‘makes no sense’

Even Alex Jones of Infowars, one of Trump’s greatest supporters, has said: ‘If he gives in to this anti-Syria thing in order to show he is not a Russian puppet, they (the Hawks) won’t stop.’ And on the alleged chemical attack: ‘Why would Assad do that when he’s winning?’

Crispin Blunt MP, chair of the respected Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, agrees. He told the BBC the strike was a ‘carefully calibrated and appropriate response.’ Then he added a caviat: ‘so long as the information was correct’.
‘The reason I would have doubt and express doubt [over the information] is this doesn’t make any sense from the Syrian government. They would know this use of chemical weapons would get this response. The overall conflict is moving in their direction,’ he noted.

Nigel Farage condemned the attack saying Trump voters would be ‘worried’. UKIP leader Paul Nuttall said it was ‘rash, trigger happy, nonsensical and will achieve nothing.’

Key UK Trump ally Nigel Farage MEP has condemned the attack.

Even the UK government was calling this week for diplomatic action not military force in response to the chemical attack. On Wednesday, Downing Street played down the prospect of military action, insisting ‘nobody is talking’ about an armed response to what the BBC called ‘the atrocity’.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn also criticsed the missile strike.

Mr Corbyn called for an ‘urgent independent UN investigation’ into the chemical attack.

But he said: ‘Unilateral military action without legal authorisation or independent verification risks intensifying a multi-sided conflict that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people’.

Islamic State encouraged

Where does a missile strike knocking out a Syrian airfield leave the fight against Islamic State, said by Trump to be his ‘focus’? IS reportedly launched an attack on the Syrian army at the same time as the chemical story broke. On the run from Mosul, they will only be encouraged to step up operations in Syria. The UK- and US- backed jihadists will also be energised to fight on. That will set back the current Syrian peace talks in Geneva, which had been reported by Reuters news agency to be making progress.

However, the rebels’ EU-fueled demand for Bashar Al-Assad to step aside would mean devastation for Syria’s religious minorities. That’s the President’s own Alawite sect, Shia Muslims in general, Christians and Druze. All would be murdered and/or driven out of Syria by the Western-backed Sunni Muslim jihadists.

Perhaps the real ‘Red Line’ for the American Neo-Cons was Assad winning the peace and staying in power. Ron Paul, who ran for president, says they were ‘terrified peace was about to break out’. A few days ago US ambassador to the UN and Trump appointee Nikki Haley said there was a new policy. Under it, the removal of Assad will ‘no longer be a priority.’ Within days, after the chemical incident, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said there is ‘No role’ for Assad to govern Syria.

Even if the attack reports were genuine, and the Syrian government was responsible, s it any business of the US or the UK? We are not the world’s policemen. Last night’s US missile strike takes us right back into ‘Responsibility to Protect’. That Soros-invented doctrine means any pretext is used to topple world leaders with whom the elite disagree. If the destabilisation or the hostilities make money for the bankers, so much the better.

Russia maturity provides glimmer of hope

The only glimmer of hope in this crisis is the maturity of the Russian Federation. President Putin did not respond in kind when President Obama tried to sour relations for his successor by expelling 35 Russian Diplomats in December 2016. At the time President-elect Trump praised ‘very smart’ Putin. Now Russia’s government newspaper website Rossiiskaya Gazeta has reported that Russia will not hit back at the US strike. Despite condemning the US action, they say they will not escalate military action in Syria.

The deputy speaker of the State Duma, Pyotr Tolstoy, told the assembly at a full session: ‘How can we respond? Of course not by escalating military actions, not with Iskanders [type of short-range ballistic missile], though of course that’s an important part of our forces. Yet that’s not where our strength lies – our strength is in our own understanding of the logic of events.’

Mr Tillerson is due to visit Moscow later this month. He already knows Vladimir Putin. But UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has unaccountably pulled out of a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Pray for the Lord to over-rule and when such meetings go ahead, to oversee and direct.

Nation will not lift up sword against nation

The heart of God is for peace between nations:

Isaiah 2:4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Let us pray therefore for peace and all that leads to it. The Lord is against those who profit from war:

Psalm 11:5 The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Psalm 140:1 Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man; 2 Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.

Let us pray their dealings are exposed. As to our politicians, a sound mind is from the Lord:

2Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

So let us pray sense from the Throne of Grace comes into this overwhelming situation. Pray for President Trump, that the Holy Spirit will break in, convert him and have him stand against the warmongers. Scripture also says:

Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

So let us pray also for the Christians in Syria, and pray for a political settlement that enables them to rebuild their businesses, homes, churches and families. Yes, that means praying for President Assad to stay in power. It also means praying for the defeat of the jihadists. And pray for our leaders, for honesty and maturity to break out.

Magistrate who convicted preachers is Freemason

By

Stephen

-

3 March 2017

9

Bristol Magistrate Robert Stacey in his Freemason regalia. His Royal Arch Jewel is in the Star of David beneath the medal ribbon.

The chairman of the Bristol Magistrates who convicted two Christian preachers of a Public Order offence earlier this week is a leading Freemason, Christian Voice can disclose.

Robert Stacey convicted Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell on Tuesday 28th February. He handed down £2016 worth of fines and costs each. He even refused a stay of execution pending their appeal.

But we have discovered the retired laboratory manager holds office in the Royal Arch Provincial Grand Chapter of Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

The magistrate, 69 this month (March 2017), has also been a director of the Staple Hill Masonic Hall in Shrubbery Road, Downend, Bristol.

Provincial Grand Scribe Ezra

In fact, the man who could not pronounce ‘Catholicism’ is ‘Provincial Grand Scribe Ezra’. In court, Mr Stacey could barely read his own writing. Nevertheless, in January, ‘Grand Scribe Ezra’ managed to send out an invitation to the ‘Annual Convocation of Provincial Grand Chapter’. This will be held at The Crypt School, Podsmead Road, Gloucester GL2 5AE, on Saturday 6th May 2017, at 11.15am. ‘Companions are requested to be seated in the Chapter by 10.50am’, says the invitation.

'Blue Lodge' craft Mason apron. But inside the Lodge lies the occultist 'Red' Chapter — ‘Blue Lodge’ craft Mason apron. But inside the Lodge lies the occultist ‘Red’ Chapter

Royal Arch Freemasons love calling themselves by Biblical names. It is one way in which they invoke the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. So one Paul Diggins is ‘Provincial Grand Haggai’ while Michael Lettey is ‘Provincial Grand Joshua’. You will often find a ‘Zerubbabel’ and a ‘Nehemiah’ as well.

Freemason syncretism

Despite the Biblical allusions, the exclusive claims of Jesus in the same Bible are anathema to Freemasonry. Although Masons have to believe in ‘a Supreme Being’, their ‘Great Architect of the Universe’ encompasses all deities. The Provincial Grand Lodge of Gloucestershire says on its ‘politics and religion’ page, ‘a Freemason is encouraged to do his duty first to his God (by whatever name he is known) through his faith and religious practice.’

The United Grand Lodge of England says: ‘Every Freemason embarks on his own journey of self-discovery when he enters the organisation’. On the first page of a downloadable PDF it says in capital letters: ‘Freemasonry does not discriminate on grounds of … religion’. No, but you must have one, any one. All are equally valid.

Royal Arch Banner and Sash — Royal Arch Apron and Sash

Royal Arch Freemasonry

It is well-known there are ‘degrees’ in Freemasonry. The first three degrees take a member up to ‘Master Mason’ in a masonic ‘Craft Lodge’. But beyond and inside the Lodge lies the Chapter, the ‘Royal Arch’, with a further four degrees: Mark Master, Past Master, Most Excellent Master, and Royal Arch Mason. Robert Stacey appears in the picture to be wearing Royal Arch Mason Regalia.

There are around 3,300 ‘Craft Masons’ in the Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Lodges alone. It appears some 800 of them have been ‘exalted’ to the entry degree in the Royal Arch. Often the Lodge with its three ‘craft’ Masonic degrees is known as ‘Blue Lodge Masonry’ from its regalia. The Royal Arch is the ‘Red Lodge’ (although it is a ‘Chapter’ not a ‘Lodge’).

Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Royal Arch Banner

Mr Stacey as ‘Ezra’ is keen to help ‘craft masons’ ‘discover the “genuine secrets of a master mason” (and) the companionship of a Royal Arch Chapter’. In fact, he is at the front of an initiative ‘to make all master masons … aware of where the secrets can be found and to introduce the Royal Arch.’

The Bristol magistrate is no less than his Royal Arch Chapter’s recruiting sergeant.

(More info here in Royal Arch Cumbria’s Welcome Booklet).

Exaltation Ceremony to become Royal Arch Freemason

Royal Arch Masons like Mr Stacey wear a jewel at lodge meetings signifying their membership of this secret club within a secret club. We see the jewel in the Star of David in Stacey’s regalia. The ‘Exaltation Ceremony’ in which a mason joins the Royal Arch is set out in this link.

In his book ‘The Brotherhood’, Stephen Knight laid a lot of Freemasonry bare. Of great significance is what happened when the two rival bands of freemasons, the Antients and the Moderns, united in 1813. They became the ‘United Grand Lodge of England’. Knight is quoted on a webpage as saying:

‘The Union’s acceptance of Royal Arch workings is of great importance~ for it completed in all essentials the structure of Freemasonry as it exists today. Just as the Moderns de-Christianised the movement, so with the acceptance of Royal Arch the Antients succeeded in introducing the undeniably occult – notably the invocation of the supposedly rediscovered long-lost name of God.’

'Inside the Brotherhood' was a follow-up to 'The Brotherhood' — ‘Inside the Brotherhood’ was a follow-up to ‘The Brotherhood’

Freemasons have often rubbished ‘The Brotherhood’ but they have rarely denied what is in it. This link is a good example of that approach.

Call for a Register of Freemasons

There was a follow-up to Knight’s book, ‘Inside the Brotherhood’ by Martin Short. It led to a call from the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee in 1997 for police officers, magistrates, judges and crown officers to publicly register their Masonic membership. Amid obstruction from the Freemasons, including from the United Grand Lodge of England, the initiative petered out.

Indeed, how many other local judges, police officers and prosecutors, not to say council officials and elected members, are ‘brothers’ of Stacey? How many are in the Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Lodge or even the corresponding Royal Arch Chapter? We have found and listed a few names here. If any are recognisable as men in public office please let us know. But there will be many others.

Occult name of God

The long-lost name of God in Masonry is supposed to be Jah-Bul-On. It is regarded as so sacred no Mason is allowed to utter it alone. Like all aspects of Royal Arch Freemasonry it is syncretistic, occult and ridiculous. Jah stands for the Hebrew name of God, ‘Bul’ for the Canaanite deities ‘Baal’, while ‘On’ refers to the Egyptian ‘Osiris’. Being absurd, of course, does not stop Royal Arch from being quintessentially evil. We read this interesting detail:

‘In 1989 it was announced that JAHBULON would soon be dropped from England’s Royal Arch Ritual. ‘Grand Scribe Ezra’ Higham denied this was in response to recent Christian condemnations. Journalists later visiting Freemason’s Hall overheard chortles that junking JAHBULON had invalidated the book “Inside the Brotherhood’ even before it was published. However on 4th March Clifford Longley (The Times religious affairs correspondent) wrote that by replacing JAHBULON with JHVH – meaning Jahweh, the Jew’s Holy Name for God -Masonry may be falling in “deeper waters than the Grand Lodge has yet realised… While to invoke a false God is idolatry, to invoke the Name of the True God falsely is blasphemy”.’

The Royal Arch 'Triple Tau' device seen in the Apron above. It is actually a T over an H; Templum Hieroslymoe - "The Temple of Jerusalem," — The Royal Arch ‘Triple Tau’ device seen in the Apron above. It is actually a T over an H; Templum Hieroslymoe – “The Temple of Jerusalem,”

Blasphemous invocation of God

A lot of Masonic ritual is now ‘out there’ on the web and has not been denied by Masons. For example: ‘The Royal Arch degree catechism asks, “Are you a Royal Arch Mason?” To which the reply is made, “I – AM – THAT – I – AM.”‘

It goes without saying that to invoke the name of God from Exodus 3:14 is the height of blasphemy:

Exodus 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? 14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Occult identification with Hiram

In another place, we read: ‘Fourth, continuing our tour of ritual, the third degree candidate plays the Masonic hero Hiram Abif (or Abiff) in a dramatic reenactment, wherein he identifies with Hiram in Hiram’s death, burial, and “raising.”‘ That is a complete rejection of the Lord Jesus. Every Christian identifies with Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. To invoke an employee of the king of Tyre who helped Solomon build the temple is a mockery. Furthermore, such a rite is deeply occult.

Square and compasses. The compasses describe a circle, part of Freemasonry's occult symbolism. The square indicates their obsession with building. — Freemason Square and Compasses. The compasses describe a circle, part of Freemasonry’s occult symbolism. The square indicates their obsession with building.

In fact, Masons have a special regard for Solomon, king Hiram and Hiram Abif, believing they possessed ancient secrets. Masonic documents show them to be obsessed by ‘secrets’ and believe they have some really important supernatural ones. As it happens, they describe themselves as ‘not a secret society but a society with secrets‘, as if that makes it better.

Incompatible with Christianity

Dr. D. R. Denman, an Anglican scholar, once himself a mason, shows how opposed Masonry is to Christianity. Everyone outside Masonry is held to be ‘in darkness’. But Jesus Christ said his followers are no longer in darkness, but in the light:

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Dr Denman wrote: “Christ and the Craft are fundamentally opposed to one another. Well I remember the wave of nausea as I stood an initiate outside the Masonic Lodge and heard myself referred to as a poor candidate in a state of darkness who by God’s help was seeking the light. God’s grace had already shone in my heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ: this I knew, and as I stood there listening to the first utterance of Masonic ritual I was aware of rampant evil.

“In vain, I sought for some acknowledgement of the Light of the World in the worship and ritual of the degrees that followed. There was nothing. The sense of blasphemy had become, by the middle of the Third Degree ceremony, so overwhelming that I was moved to protest and to leave the Temple, never to return.”

What is ‘the craft’ of masonry?

And what are those ‘secrets’? Freemason websites speak of their charitable work, of brotherly love, of moral improvement. They speak of their ‘Craft’. But they never say what the ‘Craft’ is that they are learning. It certainly isn’t stone-masonry. That may be the imagery, but Masonic lodges are not teaching their 1st Degree Apprentices how to cut a block of limestone or make a trefoil window out of it.

The Masonic Lodge of Education says: ‘Masonic education helps you attain a basic education in the craft.’ It states ‘much like King Solomon’s wisdom in biblical times of laying a strong foundation for his Temple (edifice); our full understanding of the Masonic Craft becomes necessary to fully embrace its rays of light.’ That sounds esoteric. The ‘Masonic Craft’ has clearly parted company with the building trade. But what has it become?

Occultism and New Age Mysticism?

The website admits: ‘your Lodge Library contains absolutely nothing really helpful with which to train a new brother to bring him up in the Craft.’ Which continues to beg the question: What is ‘the Craft’? No-one ever says. That may be because it is ‘secret’, and that itself is suspicious. Or it may be because it is occult, more to do with, dare we say it, witchcraft than construction. If not witchcraft, we are in the realm of arcane mysteries, with cross-over into New Age ‘revelation’.

It is always better to source from Masonic sites not those opposing it. One Grand Chapter site speaks of ‘ancient rituals’ and admits: ‘There is also an esoteric side of Ancient Craft Masonry’. It talks of symbols having ‘an exoteric meaning’ and ‘esoteric symbolism’. The site admits: ‘Some of the symbolism in Craft Masonry originates in the ancient mystery traditions of the world. Hermetism, Philosophy, Kabalistic, and Alchemical, for example, share many of the same symbols with Freemasonry.’

So Freemasonry encompasses (if the expression does not fall too awkwardly in the context of their well-known symbolism above) occultism, idolatry and blasphemy. Above all it denies Jesus Christ, the only one who can set them free.

Stacey should not have sat

Moreover, it was a Royal Arch Freemason, Robert James Stacey, ‘Grand Scribe Ezra,’ who made criminals of two Christian evangelists. He found them to be ‘abusive’ and ‘disorderly’. Their crime? To contend in public that only by the name of Jesus Christ could men be saved. Such a claim was a great personal challenge to him. Royal Arch Masonry claims itself to be the way, to have the truth and the light and to lead to abundant life.

Stacey should have recused himself over such a blatant conflict of interest. Ironically, a Christian District Judge, legally qualified, declined to hear the case for exactly that reason. But a Royal Arch Freemason, steeped in anti-Christian occultism, would be severely prejudiced against the Christian message. Christ confronts everything he believes in. It destroys all his ‘secrets’. How would he ever be capable of reaching an impartial verdict?

Two magistrates sat either side of him, Josephine Ramsden and Gerard McDermott. It is disappointing they went along with Stacey in the guilty verdicts despite the circumstances and clear case law presented.

A register of Freemasons in public life must surely now become compulsory.

Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell have appealed to the Crown Court. The last time that happened, the Crown’s case collapsed. It will again. What happened last time is still a good read! Street preaching is legal!

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Anti-Transgender bus banned from Barcelona

By

Stephen

-

2 March 2017

1

The anti-transgender bus is currently impounded in Madrid

A bus with an anti-transgender message in Spanish has been banned from Barcelona and not allowed to move in Madrid.

And now a judge has supported Madrid’s capture of the bus, reports the BBC. Jose Juan Escalonilla said the bus could not move until the slogans, including “if you are born a man, you are a man”, were removed.

The story made Breitbart, after which the BBC and RT took it up. Secularists, of course, are incensed. RT’s story gives more detail and pictures some anti-Christian slogans photo-shopped onto the original bus image.

Crude cartoon

In fact the slogans go further than that. The bus was painted in response to an advertisement placed by ‘trans’ activists featuring a crude cartoon of two boys and two girls, all naked, in which one of each sex is pictured with the genitalia of the other. In a sop to normality, the ‘boy’ figures have short hair, the ‘girl’ ones long hair. The BBC link above reprints the cartoon.

It said: “Hay niñas con pene y niños con vulva. Así de sencillo”. ‘Hay’ is ‘there are’, ‘niñas’ is ‘girls’, ‘niños’ is ‘boys’ while ‘Así de sencillo’ means ‘It’s that simple’. You can work out the obvious words for genitals.

Anti-transgender response

But is it that simple? The bus disagreed: ‘Los niños tienen penes, las niñas tienen vulva, que no te engañen”. “Si naces hombre, eres hombre. Si eres mujer, seguirás siéndolo”.

To help you translate, ‘tienen’ is ‘they have’. ‘que no te engañen’ means ‘Don’t be fooled’. Breitbart helps us with the rest: ‘If you are born a man, you are a man. If you are a woman, you will still be one.’

The bus was impounded under municipal rules against outdoor advertising. The judge did not find the bus went as far as being a hate crime. However, he said the bus was an “act of contempt”. Moreover, it was meant to “injure” the dignity of people of a different sexual orientation, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Furthermore, Señor Escalonilla said the bus may not move until the slogans are removed.

Make yourself heard

The bus belongs to a Catholic group, Hazte Oir, but it was funded anonymously. The group plans to take it on a nationwide tour of Spanish cities.

Ignacio Arsuaga, the president of Hazte Oir, which translates as “Make yourself heard”, argued the group had a right to protest against “laws of sexual indoctrination” and had the right to freedom of speech, says the BBC.

The group contend Madrid City Council’s “kidnap” of the bus was “clearly illegal”.

Mr Arsuaga claimed the slogan on the bus stated only “a fact of biology that is studied in schools”.

The Mayor of Barcelona said the controversial coach would not be welcome there. He wrote on Twitter: “In Barcelona there is no place for LGBT-phobic buses. We want our children to grow in freedom and without hatred.”

Of course, in the rarified atmosphere of gender identity, anti-transgender people speaking the truth have no defence against a charge of ‘hatred’.

Jackie Evancho struggled to find the bottom note in the Star Spangled Banner

A flood of activism

There has been a flood of transgender activism recently. Firstly, the BMA banned the expression ‘pregnant mothers’ in case it offended ‘trans men’ Secondly, the SUN newspaper ludicrously described a woman called Hayden Cross as a ‘pregnant man.’ Then we reported a father-of-three working as a photographer at Bournemouth Football Club deciding he is now ‘Sophie’. Next, we had the ‘transgender doll’ from the USA.

Finally, at least to date, the girl who sang the US National Anthem at President Trump’s Inauguration has chipped in.

Just days ago, Mr Trump overturned Obama-era guidance allowing transgender students to use school ‘rest-rooms’ matching their gender identity. As a consequence, boys in frocks can no longer pop up in the girls’ toilets.

Here's Jackie and her brother — Here’s Jackie and her brother

It turns out Jackie Evancho’s brother thinks he is a girl. So Miss Evancho, 16, now wants to meet the President and “enlighten” him on the transgender issue.

In return, he might bring in a singing teacher to enlighten Miss Evancho on where to find a bottom A flat.

Take a stand

But seriously, as if singing within your range is not serious, we all, from the President down, need to take a stand.

We all need to say very clearly that no amount of hormone drugs and no grotesque surgical mutilation will ever stop a man being genetically a man and a woman remaining genetically a woman. After all, if you seriously and honestly believed you were Long John Silver, would you really expect doctors to cut off your leg and buy you a parrot? Medicine is given because someone is ill. Doctors should heal, not destroy. Of course ‘Trans’ people have issues, but they need help to accept their body at a psychological, emotional and dare we say spiritual level. Some may even need deliverance. But none needs the surgeon’s knife.

Welcome to the Post-Truth World

In the UK of course, the House of Commons started the rot in 2004. Regrettably, they passed the Gender Recognition Act in that fateful year. Under it, men and women can now go back and falsify their birth certificates.

As a result, Parliament legislated a lie. So welcome to the ‘post-truth’ world.

Pray for the truth to triumph. Pray for righteousness to prevail in a world parting company with reality. You could pray the bus is released and continues on its prophetic journey through Spain. Pray it wakes us all up and starts a movement. Above all, never forget always to refer to people by their God-given gender, never by their assumed one!

Psalm 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

2Cor 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left…

2Peter 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

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Bristol Magistrates Convict Preachers

By

Stephen

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28 February 2017

16

Michael Stockwell, Adrian Clark and Michael Overd in front of Bristol Magistrates Court

Bristol Court tramples on freedom of speech

A magistrates court in Bristol has convicted two Christian preachers charged with public order offences.

The case against two other men collapsed.

Justices of the Peace Mr Robert Stacey (Chairman), Mr Gerry McDermot and Mrs Josephine Ramsden gave judgment on Tuesday 28th February 2017. The justices rode roughshod over principles of freedom of speech set out in a catalogue of previous cases.

They imposed a fine and costs on each convicted totalling £2016.

Afterwards it emerged Robert Stacey is a high-ranking Freemason – Click here for our investigation into ‘the craft’.

The case arose over an outreach in Bristol city centre last July (2016). Four preachers were setting out the Gospel in front of John Wesley’s Chapel in Broadmead.

Out of the four, Don Karns had charges laid and then withdrawn. Having heard the prosecution case against Adrian Clark, their worships decided he had no case to answer. That left Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell who were found guilty today.

Public Order Act

The men were prosecuted under the Public Order Act 1986. This says, at Section 5:
‘(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he—
‘(a) uses threatening or abusive words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or
‘(b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening or abusive, ‘within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.’

The Court saw a video of the whole event recorded by one of the defendants.

In the video Mr Overd described the crowd as ‘depraved’ because of their ignorance of God. He told them he had been like that himself. He said all mankind were liars and thieves, and he specifically included Mohammed and the Buddha in that. Allah was a false god, he said, and only Jesus Christ was the way to salvation. He denounced extra-marital sex and homosexual behaviour.

Crossed the line

But the Crown, said Mr Ian Jackson, prosecuting, held that these ‘crossed the line’.

Mr Stockwell told the crowd the ‘Thief comes to kill, steal and destroy’. ‘People were on their way to hell because of their failure to adopt the world view of Christianity’, said Mr Jackson.

The inclusion of homosexuality in a list containing thieves and drunkards also crossed the line into abuse.

But Michael Phillips, defending, told the court the list of sinners was in the Bible, at 1Cor 6:9-10. It was the same passage cited in the Appeal Court case of Alison Redmond-Bate, where important principles of free speech were laid down and her conviction set aside.

There, as in this case, said Mr Phillips, a hostile crowd gathered and the police were called to maintain order. There, as in this case, the preachers rather than the trouble-makers were wrongly arrested.

Witnesses gave false evidence

The prosecution brought four witnesses. Event Sales Manager Dimitri Lavallée, describing himself as a Buddhist, had called the police, by falsely telling them the preachers were making racist and homophobic statements. He saw no violence and heard no threats. He evidently did not like ‘peoples faith and lifestyle choices’ being criticised.

John Wesley's Chapel in Broadmead — John Wesley’s Chapel in Broadmead, near where the brothers were preaching

Witness Ahsanul Khan said he was shopping and engaged the preachers about Islam and the authenticity of the Bible. He agreed he enjoyed the cut and thrust of debate. But he did not like the preachers ‘saying all of us were sinners’. They were ‘discriminating us’, he said.

Alexander Walker could not remember the substance of any remarks but said some in the crowd were ‘incensed’ by them.

Finally, Lindsay Tamsin Powell said she was in Bristol’s Broadmead saw a placard about Islam and heard the preachers say gay people ‘would burn in hell’. A preacher told a gay person he was ‘disgusting’, she said.

She stayed for about an hour, did not see any violence, but said she was ‘upset’. Ms Powell did not to see people ‘hated on’. She thought we should be ‘nice to each other’. The preachers ‘told a Muslim guy he would burn in hell’, she said.

Mr Phillips asked Lindsay Powell to identify which man in the dock said gays and Muslims would ‘burn in hell’. She pointed to Mr Stockwell. But it was never said, Mr Phillips told her. ‘Disgusting’ was never said either. There was no anti-Islam placard. Her testimony was false.

All the witnesses accepted they had stayed around and anyone was free to listen or to leave.

Provoking violence?

Mr Robert Stacey, speaking on behalf of the bench, said the case revolved around whether the individual behaviour of the two defendants crossed the line between freedom of speech and public disorder. He said the case law set the bar very high before the law should intervene. Speakers had to ‘move into the territory of provoking violence’, he said.

The court heard no evidence of any violence. But the bench held the mere fact some disorderly elements in the crowd became restless meant the preachers had provoked violence. Mr Stacey, who had some difficulty in reading what he had written and pronouncing long words like ‘Catholicism;, said the preachers were abusive and disorderly.

In addition, they were motivated by hostility to religious beliefs and therefore the offence was ‘aggravated’. This was despite the statute law saying religious aggravation only kicked in when hatred was directed at members of a religious group, not at their religious beliefs in isolation.

The case was proved ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’, added Mr Stacey.

Bristol case highlights uncertainty

Mr Phillips told Christian Voice there was an automatic right of appeal to the Crown Court to be heard by a circuit judge, far more learned in the law than lay magistrates. Moreover, it is almost certain the convictions will be quashed there. But in the meantime, Mr Overd and Mr Stockwell have this conviction hanging over them and other preachers – and the law – appear to be in a state of uncertainty.

It surely cannot stand, as Mr Overd reported, that some police forces maintain the right of preachers to freedom of speech while others arrest them. There should be much better guidance both to police forces in the United Kingdom and to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell have appealed to the Crown Court. The last time that happened, the Crown’s case collapsed. It will again. What happened last time is still a good read! Street preaching is legal!

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Civil Partnership confusion

By

Stephen

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21 February 2017

7

Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld are challenging the Civil Partnership Act

The UK Government’s Civil Partnership law has been thrown into confusion by a case heard today in the Court of Appeal.

Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld brought a case demanding the right to enter into a Civil Partnership. Currently, under the Civil Partnership Act, only homosexuals can apply. Or to be more specific, unrelated persons of the same sex.

Civil Partnership Act

Civil Partners are granted all the rights of marriage. They are free of inheritance tax on property which passes from one to the other on the death of a party to the ‘partnership’. They are also excused from being compelled to testify against each other. In general, neither can be compelled to give evidence against the other. That exemption could be crucial in a sexual abuse case involving a third party, for example.

The Act was meant to convey all the benefits of marriage. At the time it was passed, the Government of the day, under Tony Blair, gave a number of undertakings. Among them was an assurance that marriage for homosexual couples was out of the question. Heterosexuals had marriage, homosexuals had civil partnership, they said.

However, one parliament cannot bind a successor. David Cameron’s Conservatives legislated for ‘gay marriage’ in 2012. And of course all Tony Blair’s promises counted for nothing. Nor did the Tories do away with civil partnerships in the process. So homosexuals now have two options for state recognition of their relationship and heterosexuals just one. That is what Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld argued was unfair. And the judges agreed it breaches their right to a family life.

Government considering their options

Nevertheless, the couple did not secure a ruling that the situation was unlawful. The Government are considering their options at the moment. They are looking into the whole situation of civil partnerships in the light of gay marriage. That saved them.

But as Rebecca Steinfeld said after the hearing, the matter cannot stand as it is. There is an inequality. So what should we pray the Government do?

They can hardly repeal the Civil Partnership Act. Numerous homosexual couples took advantage of it. Most believied it was all they were going to get. Some have ‘converted’ their partnerships into ‘gay marriage’. But others reject the symbolism of marriage. Perhaps they are more astute.

But that leaves heterosexual couples who perhaps don’t care for the ‘patriarchy’ of marriage out on a limb. if Parliament extends civil partnerships to them, the Government will lose millions in inheritance tax. And what about spinster sisters living together? Should they include them as well?

What should we pray for?

We are like the travellers trying to reach a West Country town from deep in the Devon lanes. They asked a local man what route they should take. ‘Well’, he said, ‘If I was you, I wouldn’t be a-starting from ‘ere’.

Our Government instituted wickedness with the Civil Partnership Act. They made matters worse with the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act. Anything they do now will devalue marriage further. So what can we pray for except wholesale repentance? Leave your comment below, please!

Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. 7 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; 8 And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. (KJV)

Merkel says Islam not source of terror

By

Stephen

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20 February 2017

52

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the 2017 Munich Security Conference

Angela Merkel has claimed Islam is not a source of terror, according to the Daily Express.

The German Chancellor was speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference yesterday (Sunday 19th February 2017). Furthermore, Mrs Merkel said the EU has a duty to accept even more refugees.

US Vice President Mike Pence and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were in the audience. Warmongers Madeleine Albright (US), Jens Stoltenberg (NATO) and Sir Michael Fallon (UK) also attended. Microsoft founder Bill Gates was there. Even singer and activist Bono popped up. Here is the full list of participants. Wikipedia describes the conference as ‘the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers’.

Islam ‘not source of terrorism’: Merkel

Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif

Inevitably, Angela Merkel also said Islam is not a source of terrorism. She told the international leaders Muslim states need to be involved in the fight against terrorism. So does Russia, she said.

It is obvious Russia needs to be involved. But Muslim states are financing and arming terrorists, according to Patrick Coburn in the Independent. Leaked US documents show Hilary Clinton knew about Saudi Arabia and Qatar financing Islamic State.

Embarrassingly, of course, the UK, US and France have also been supporting jihadists in Syria.

Unsurprisingly, Pakistan’s Minister of Defence, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, agreed with Mrs Merkel. He said: ‘Terrorism is not synonymous to any religion. Terrorists aren’t Christians or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus. They are terrorists, they are criminals.’

Asif went on: ‘I have heard the term “Islamic terrorism” maybe a dozen times since morning. President Trump uses it frequently. This is fuelling Islamophobia because terrorism is being branded as Islamic terrorism.’

Quran and Hadith endorse terrorism

Churches in Syria have been looted and damaged by jihadists

The first problem is, the overwhelming majority of terrorists are Muslim. Minister Asif may say ‘more than ninety percent of individuals killed by terrorists are Muslims.’ What he did not say was this only reveals the factional squabbles in Islam. Al Qaeda and Islamic State are Sunni Muslim. When not persecuting Christians they direct their violence at those they see as Muslim heretics. That means Shia Muslims, mainly, frequently bombed in their mosques.

The second problem is, Muslim scriptures actively endorse terrorism. Unlike the Bible’s verses of war, the Quran’s and Hadith’s are open-ended. They are not reined in by historical context in the text.

For example: Surah 2:191. And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; … 216. Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not.

Surah 4:74: ‘Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward.’ 76: ‘Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…’

Perpetual war

Members of the Religion of Peace protesting in the 'House of War' — Members of the Religion of Peace protesting in the ‘House of War’ – London, as it happens

Surah 5:33. The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land. That is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;

Do not forget, Islam divides the world into two. Nations following Islam and Sharia are the House of Peace (Dar es Salaam). Those not following Muslim rule are Dar al Harb – House of War. Every unbeliever is waging war with Allah. Every Muslim in every nation of the House of War is, or should be, at war with it.

We can find verses of peace in the Quran. Scholars say these date mostly to Mohammed’s time of happiness with his first wife Khadijah. But there is a principle of abrogation in Islam. Earlier peaceful verses are abrogated by later violent verses. And there are very few of them to start with.

One informative website says: ‘Unfortunately, there are very few verses of tolerance and peace to balance out the many that call for nonbelievers to be fought and subdued until they either accept humiliation, convert to Islam, or are killed. Muhammad’s own martial legacy, along with the remarkable stress on violence found in the Quran, have produced a trail of blood and tears across world history.’

Islam and crime

The problem is not only terrorism. Many criminals have turned to Jesus Christ and been delivered from a life a crime. That is because Christianity demands repentance and holiness. Islam does not, possibly because the god of Islam, ‘Allah’ – ‘the god’, is not the Almighty God of Christianity. My video (click here) destroys the myth that Allah and the LORD are the same being.

To become a Muslim, it is only necessary to recite a declaration about Allah and Mohammed. It follows one can be a good Muslim and a criminal. Add in the contempt in Islam towards ‘kuffir’ or ‘kaffir’ (unbelievers) and the stage is set for all manner of crime.

Sweden has welcomed in probably more Muslims per head of population than anywhere. As a result, Malmo has seen a crime explosion from Muslim migrants. Sweden’s Prime Minister was forced to deny the crime wave was Muslim-fueled. The denial came after police officer Peter Springare claimed the majority of serious crimes in Örebro were committed by migrants.

Journalist Ami Horowitz told Fox News people high up in the Swedish government are deliberately covering up the figures. He said they are protecting perpetrators of rapes to protect ‘vulnerable’ migrants.

During an explosive interview, Mr Horowitz claims the refugee violence crisis is out of control. He says ‘European virtues’ have put a stop to any discussion on the statistics. ‘From the onset of the refugee crisis, there was a surge in gun violence and rape. The statistics were clear,’ he said.

Click here for a defence of President Trump’s remarks about Sweden.

Merkel is wrong

So Angela Merkel is wrong. Islam is a source of terror and a cause of crime. Western governments are failing their citizens by denying that reality. Are they inept and mistaken, or lying to us knowing the truth all along?

The Bible says: Exodus 18:21 Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens:

Psalm 89:14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

Proverbs 24:3 Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established:

Isaiah 59:4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

John 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

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AFC Bournemouth report Christian group for ‘hate crime’

By

Stephen

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18 February 2017

19

AFC Bournemouth Photographer Steve Cook dressed up as 'Sophie'

Christian Voice Press Release – 14:45 hrs 18^th February 2017

A premier league football club have accused a Christian group of ‘hate speech’. The complaint follows an article highlighting their sponsorship of a homosexual event targeted at young people.

AFC Bournemouth have reported Christian Voice to Sussex Police and football’s ‘KickitOut’ pressure group.

AFCB’s action was disclosed by their photographer Steve Cook, now know as ‘Sophie’, in a tweet yesterday, Friday 17^th.

Divisive Homosexual Event

Christian Voice drew attention to AFC Bournemouth’s sponsoring what they called a ‘divisive’ homosexual event being held in the town today (Saturday 18th February 2017). The relegation strugglers are involved in the 2017 SchoolsOut’s LGBT History Month at Bournemouth University.

We also criticised the Club for funding a group which they say tries to convince adolescents they are gay – Space Youth Project.

But it is their refusal to accept that Bournemouth’s photographer, Steve Cook, is a woman which has drawn the particular ire of the South Coast outfit. Click here for the online article.

AFC Bournemouth would close down free speech

We have yet to hear from Sussex Police. We are puzzled in fact why AFCB would report us to Sussex rather than the Dorset force.

As to KickitOut, they have our full support in confronting racism. But the fact is, they will only dilute their message if they start promoting deviant sexual behaviour.

Clearly there is a constant need to defend freedom of speech. A corporate body like Bournemouth Football Club must not even think it can use the law to shut down those who would criticise its sponsorship policy.

This ministry will continue to criticise those who promote homosexuality to young people. We shall also continue to refer to ‘trans’ persons by their God-given gender. Post-truth is not the Christian world.

Click here for Bournemouth AFC in gay propaganda storm.

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Syrian Christians not welcome in UK

By

Stephen

-

9 February 2017

23

Syrian Christians arrive in Australia - the UK is taking very few Syrian Christians — Syrian Christian girls arrive in Australia to join their families – the UK is taking very few Syrian Christians. Photo: Barnabas Fund

The United Kingdom has let in very few Syrian Christian refugees. UK Christians assumed the Government would favour their brothers and sisters. But a Christian aid charity says this has not happened.

the UK has been ‘out-sourcing’ refugee selection to the UN. But this has meant a lack of balance in refugee numbers.

Out of over 4,000 Syrian refugees welcomed into the UK in 12 months, only 64 were Christian. This is just 1.5%, whereas 10% of Syria’s population was Christian before the UK-supported anti-Assad civil war.

UN camps dominated by jihadists

Syrian Christians and other religious minorities have been reluctant to go to refugee camps run by the United Nations. The reason is that jihadist groups run the camps. The Christians say they are ‘discriminated against’ in such camps. That could be putting it mildly.

Churches in Syria have been looted and damaged by jihadists, many of them funded by the UK

Barnabas Fund’s Head of Research Dr Martin Parsons blamed the meagre numbers of Christians on the British government’s reliance on the UN. ‘Much of the UK’s problem lies with the UN, to whom the government continues to outsource its selection of Syrian refugees. It is imperative that the government challenges the UN on this deplorable situation,’ he said.

Barnabas Fund has instead been re-settling Christian refugees in countries such as Australia and Poland. These have pro-Christian policies and do not rely on the UN.

The jihadist rule over UN refugee camps has an impact on refugee policy worldwide. Syrian refugees can turn up anywhere in the world after UN processing. But they will very likely be Sunni Muslims, the sect of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. At the very least they will have been exposed to radical Islamist ideas. Indeed, Islamic State said they would use the refugee system to plant sleeper terrorists into Europe.

Syrian Christians deciding to stay

However, the UN’s collusion with the jihadis has had a side effect which could turn out well. Many Syrian Christians are now opting to stay where they are. UK MP’s moaned about the ‘fall’ of Aleppo in December. But Syrian Christians welcomed the defeat of the jihadists. Christians celebrated Christmas in Aleppo in 2016 for the first time in five years.

Signs of hope - Syrian engineers prepare to repair the water supply to Damascus — Signs of hope – Syrian engineers prepare to repair the water supply to Damascus

Since then the Syrian Army has been making more advances. Days ago they secured the Wadi Barada water supply to Damascus. The Syrian Government and the armed factions joined peace talks for the first time in January. And it was Russia, Turkey and Iran who brought this about, not the UK or US.

The Apostle Luke tells us, in Acts 11:26: ‘The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch’. Antioch is now Antakya and lies just across the border inside Turkey. And the Apostle Paul saw the light of Christ on the road to Damascus. Syria has Christian history. Syria’s Orthodox churches claim to be the most ancient in the world.

That is why some Syriac Christians say they are determined to stay. They are proud of their historic roots and their high calling to be living witnesses of Christ’s love, mercy and grace.

We used to live in peace

The various religious groups managed to get along before the uprising, despite deep differences. Those who encouraged the civil war, the UK, the US, Soros, ruined a functioning nation for nothing. But in the aftermath, Christians in Syria resent what was done.

‘We used to live in peace under Assad,’ a Syrian Christian told International Christian Concern. ‘Assad is not a perfect man, yet he gave the Christians freedom and rights the same as Muslims. We could wear what we wanted and we had churches all over the country.

‘Then when the uprising started, we began to see many Islamist jihadists from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. They began to kill us (the Christians) and other minorities who are considered infidels. The Islamists killed us with knives and even decapitated some and burned down our churches.

‘Now, Christians are not welcome under their Islamist rule. No Western country will give us visas. Many times, we feel like the whole world wants to see the Christians of Syria slaughtered.’

Petition to the Foreign Secretary

PRAY the UK Government will take no more Syrian Muslim refugees until they welcome Christians. PRAY they will support Christians worldwide. PRAY for the UK Government to stand for peace in Syria. PRAY they understand that further support for rebel groups will only add to the bloodshed and destruction. PRAY for them to accept reality and help bring the war to an end. PRAY for them to send bricks to Syria and pressure Saudi Arabia to stop sending bombs and bullets.

Boris! Help Rebuild Syria! Click here to sign our petition …

Christians threatened by Casey’s British values

By

Stephen

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26 January 2017

11

Dame Louise Casey is determined to use British values against Christians

A senior Government advisor, Dame Louise Casey, has said Christians in public life should not be allowed to hold traditional Christian views on marriage.

Speaking to MPs on the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, Dame Louise said: ‘it is not okay for Catholic schools to be homophobic and anti-gay marriage. … it is not how we bring children up in this country. It is often veiled as religious conservatism, and I have a problem with the expression “religious conservatism”, because often it can be anti-equalities. We have got to be careful that people can choose, obviously, to live the lives that they want to live, but that they cannot condemn others for living differently.’

‘like arguing with an alcoholic’

Catholic Bishop Philip Egan (Portsmouth) said any restrictions on Catholic schools passing on the Church’s moral teachings would be worthy of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. The bishop said it was increasingly difficult to engage in reasonable discussion and argument over anything to do with sexuality.

Trying to preach sexual morality in Britain has become ‘like arguing with an alcoholic‘, he said. ‘After a while, they won’t argue with you on grounds of reason, they just become furious and respond that way. There is something in our culture increasingly like that.’

Although Dame Lousie singled out Catholic schools, there are many Christians and other religious groups to whom her sentiments would apply.

Oath of ‘British values’

‘The Casey Review: a review into opportunity and integration’ was set up by Theresa May in July 2015. It was ‘a review into opportunity and integration in some of our most isolated communities’.

Dame Louise was formerly at Shelter, the Home Office Anti-social Behaviour Unit and the ‘Respect Task Force’ according to a Government webpage.

She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2016 for ‘services to families and vulnerable people’.

In her review she calls for immigrants and public servants to take an ‘oath of British values’.

Her report proposed that migrants should swear an “oath of integration with British values and society” before they become British citizens.

‘Tolerance, democracy and respect’

Similarly, both Dame Louise and Sajid Javid MP, the Communities Secretary, are calling for civil servants and all in public office to swear an ‘oath enshrining British values.’ These are specified as ‘tolerance, democracy and respect’.

If a public official were to violate such an oath, they could be excluded from public office. A teacher would have to stop teaching. Even a nurse might have to quit.

Ofsted would be sure to police such a regime meticulously. Schools in the public system already have a statutory duty to promote homosexuality and transgenderism under the Equalities Act. Having an oath of office would intensify the pressure on every individual teacher.

Intolerant mindset

But looking deeper into the attitudes of Dame Louise reveals an intolerant mindset. It is one probably owned by many people in government, officialdom and the media.

Firstly, she says one ‘cannot condemn others for living differently’. Well, we can. We call it ‘preaching conviction of sin.’ In Human Rights language it’s called ‘freedom of expression.’ And funnily enough, the Government does it, in campaigns against smoking and obesity. Ordinary people do it whenever they warn a friend about taking drugs.

Homosexual men take a cocktail of HIV medications — Homosexual men take a cocktail of expensive HIV medications on the NHS

But those have an impact on public health and the costs of the NHS! So does homosexuality. Currently, 50% of sexually transmitted diseases in the UK arise as a consequence of men having sex with men.

Even the BBC says rates among gay man are ‘soaring.’

Homosexual men are the main reservoir of rectal gonorrhea (no surprises there). There also lead the field in syphilis. The anti-retrovirals gay men take to stop HIV developing into full-blown AIDS (HAART) cost £320,000 per patient over a twenty-year period.

The only way homosexual men benefit the public purse, apart from taxes, which we all pay, is by dying younger than the average. By doing so they reduce the demand on pensions. Sorry, but public health economics is not a pretty subject.

Whose children are they?

Secondly, ‘to be homophobic and anti-gay marriage … is not how we bring children up in this country’. Well, excuse me, but whose children are they? Dame Louise has the statist idea that the nation’s children belong to the Government.

They don’t. They belong to the nation’s families. And some of those families are liberal in their views while some are conservative. Some families are lazy. Others are industrious. Some are rough and some cultured. Some wouldn’t know a spiritual aspect of life if it bit them. Others are deeply religious. It’s called ‘diversity’ in its truest sense. And when a nation’s government pontificates that it is ‘not okay’ for parents and teachers to convey to children that marriage is an ordinance of God between one man and one woman for life, you are living in a society with a death-wish.

Not to accept ‘British values’ becomes a thought crime

Thirdly, government appears to be moving towards a position where what people do in their destructive lifestyles is not just tolerated but celebrated and encouraged. Meanwhile, what people think is condemned. Well did the bishop remind us of George Orwell and his prophetic book ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’. In it, the state takes reprisals against society’s dissidents who commit ‘thought crimes’.

We are not allowed to ‘condemn others for living differently’, but the Government will condemn us for thinking differently. You do not secure ‘societal cohesion and unity’ by forcing law-abiding people to act against their conscience. Instead, you store up resentment and anger. Tolerance has to tolerate intolerance. Homosexuality is on such shaky intellectual ground it cannot allow freedom of religion and freedom of conscience.

A “British values” oath will sever our nation from its Christian roots. In doing so, politicians will saw off the very branch of our heritage they are sitting on.

Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

2Cor 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Family Court Restrictions: father ‘in contempt’

By

Stephen

-

18 January 2017

0

‘EL’ outside the court. Face obscured because Family Court rules forbid the identification of children or parents.

A father fighting a local authority in the family court narrowly escaped jail for contempt of court yesterday.

We may only identify him as ‘EL’ and his fourteen-year-old son as ‘J’ on instruction from Judge Richard Scarratt, pursuant to rules designed to protect the secrecy of the family courts.

[At the time of writiing, we were not aware we could name the father under rules covering ‘committal proceedings’ (sending people to prison) in the civil courts. But we shall not correct it. The article stands.]

Father posted notes and pictures

The judge said EL posted notes, an image and the name of his son, identifying him as a child in care.

He also had a picture of himself and his son on Twitter and has posted tweets identifying ‘ J’ and his school. Another post identified a contact centre and its manager.

These activities contravened a reporting restrictions order in the case made by Mrs Justice Theis in September 2015.

It was never stated in evidence or in the submissions of Mark Chaloner, barrister for Medway Council, precisely how any member of the public could actually identify the son from this information. Nevertheless, Judge Scarratt decided the case was proven.

Local authorities fear the light

But His Honour criticised Medway Council for seeking (in vain) to have the case heard in private. ‘Only in rare cases should committal proceedings be heard behind closed doors and this is not one of them’, said Judge Scarratt.

EL’s supporters were consequently in court. Many of them were also parents of children unjustly, they told this reporter, in the care of local authorities.

Attempts such as that by Medway Council to hold the case in private only strengthen the public’s view that local authorities are ashamed of what they do in the family court.

Suspended sentence in family court

When it came to sentencing, His Honour was clearly conscious that if he sent EL to prison it would hand the father a publicity coup. A fine would also run of the risk of non-payment and consequent committal. So he handed down a suspended sentence of 56 days and told EL to behave himself for a year.

EL and J are only allowed to meet for a couple of hours four times a year, in the ‘contact centre’. The father says Medway Council have not always kept to that ‘care plan’. Mr Chaloner, who acted decently throughout, undertook to make sure Medway would arrange a meeting this month. Judge Scarratt demanded a report next month on that matter.

Father’s campaign will continue

EL is clearly not going to let things rest. He set up a new protest on the steps of Canterbury Combined Court immediately after the hearing. His campaign will continue, he told this reporter, until his son is returned.

Read why ‘J’ is in care, how Medway Council encouraged him to play a violent video game which Anders Breivik used for training, and how a psychologist invented a new anti-Semitic medical condition: ‘inherited holocaust trauma’ which allows local authorities to remove the children of Jewish parents.

Jer 22:3 Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

1John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

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