David Lord Howell of Guildford has urged the UK to recognise a State of Palestine
David Lord Howell of Guildford has urged the UK to recognise a State of Palestine
An influential House of Lords Committee has suggested the UK Government recognise a new State of Palestine.
The Lords International Relations Committee today published its report, ‘The Middle East: Time for New Realism’. It calls for a major re-shaping of UK policy in the Middle East. It also ‘questions some of the assumptions and attitudes which have underlain both UK and Western policies toward the region for more than a century’.
High-Flyer
The Rt Hon. the Lord Howell of Guildford is chairman of the Committee. David Arthur Russell Howell was educated at Eton and Kings College Cambridge, where he took a First in Economics. The high-flyer was elected MP for Guildford. He was a cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher. Later he was a Minister of State in the Foreign Office. His daughter, Frances, is married to the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Conservative MP George Osborne.
The Committee bought into the US Syrian chemical attack narrative. Consequently, it endorses ‘the military action of the US in Syria as justified and appropriate given Russia’s determination to block action at the UN Security Council, and the violation of the Syrian regime’s obligations under the Chemicals Weapons Convention.’
Nevertheless, Lord Howell has not slavishly followed the US lead. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump vowed to tear up President Obama’s deal with Iran. But the Report says, ‘The UK should work with Iran despite US policy to ensure the stability of the Iran nuclear deal.’ That would be a way of peace in a region needing stability.
Palestine State comments
But it is the comments on a political strike against Israel which have garnered most publicity. Coincidentally, the Report was published on Israel’s Independence Day, 2nd May.
Paragraph 270 of the report says: ‘The balance of power in the delivery of peace lies with Israel. If Israel continues to reduce the possibilities of a two-state solution, the UK should be ready to support UNSC (UN Security Council) resolutions condemning those actions (of settlements in Judea and Samaria) in no uncertain terms. The Government should give serious consideration to now recognising Palestine as a state, as the best way to show its determined attachment to the two-state solution.’
Where the borders of the State of Palestine would be the eighty-one-year-old peer does not specify. Nor does he say who should run it. The Hamas terrorists of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas are squabbling. The latter operates in the so-called ‘West Bank (Judea and Samaria). Abbas is trying to seize control of Gaza right at this moment, according to press reports. Hamas have responded, says the Times of Israel, by accusing Abbas of ‘crimes against humanity’
Palestine UN non-member observer status
A State of Palestine represented by the Palestinian Authority has been recognised by 136 out of 193 United Nations member states. Of course every Muslim state recognises it. Most of Eastern Europe, Asia, the Far East, Africa and South America also side with the PA. So do Russia, Iceland and Sweden.
In September 2011, Britain said it would recognise Palestine as a state, but only with non-member observer status, rather than full membership, at the United Nations. Such status was agreed.
On 29 November 2012, the UN General Assembly passed a motion changing Palestine’s “entity” status to “non-member observer state.” The vote was 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions.
Those voting against were Canada, Czech Republic, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Nauru, Palau, Panama, United States. The United Kingdom was among the abstentions.
The recommendation in Lord Howell’s Report would move the UK to the side of opposing Israel. But Scripture shows that is not a good place to be.
Some Scripture on Israel
Jeremiah 31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36 If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
Zechariah 12:2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. … 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
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.
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’
The triple-lock matters to pensioners – and there are almost twelve million of them.
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’
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…
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.
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.
Theresa May has left herself wide open to criticisms of hypocrisy after this year’s (2017) Easter message. The Prime Minister said ‘Easter is a moment to reflect’. TEXT HERE
In that case let us just reflect how her actions and those of Her Majesty’s Government measure up to what she said. We can go further and measure the actions of Her Majesty’s Government against the principles of the Christian faith itself.
Firstly, let’s just applaud a Prime Minister who talks openly about faith, and her own faith. The days when Alastair Campbell said of Tony Blair’s administration ‘We don’t do God’ seem to be over.
Of course, I’ll sit up and notice when the first British politician says ‘our thoughts and prayers’ are with the victims of a disaster, rather than just ‘our thoughts.’ Nevertheless, the mere issuing of an Easter message declares the UK to be a Christian nation. Which indeed constitutionally we are.
Opportunities and challenges of Brexit
I recognise there are areas in which Theresa May’s Christian faith as expressed in the Easter message appears to be lived out in action. The enthusiasm with which she is leading the United Kingdom out of the European Union’s Revived Roman Empire is commendable. We must pray she sees it through. And she is being positive about it. That is fine. Mrs May also wants to keep the United Kingdom together. There is nothing wrong in that.
In case I am thought to be nationalist and ‘right-wing’, let’s just emphasise workers’ rights. The Bible is clear that workers need fair dealing from employers. Parliament will need to untangle Britiah law from EU regulatons. In so doing ministers must ensure employment rights in an independent Britain are not eroded.
The vulnerable in the heart of God
The Christian faith is clear about the place the most vulnerable have in the heart of God. Christ singled out the poor, the homeless, the destitute, the sick and the hungry. He emphasised the duty of Christian people to nourish and protect them. Should that be individuals, or the state stepping in?
At a practical level, the targets culture of the 1980s built on the expansion of the role of local authorities in the 1960s to the point where people now are paid to care, so anyone calling for more money from the state in response to any deficiencies in provision for Christ’s identified groups can make out a good argument.
The family
This baby at six weeks already has a beating heart.
The insttution of the family used to be a bulwark against too much power ending up in the hands of the state, but gay ‘rights’ and gay ‘marriage’, coupled with no-fault divorce on demand and a bit of laissez-faire condom-promoting sex education have put paid to that.
There are none more vulnerable today than the unborn. The womb is the most dangerous place to be in Great Britain today. Mrs May only voted for the age limit on abortion to come down to twenty weeks last time around. The House of Commons diagreed. It stayed at 24 weeks. But we now know from modern imaging that a baby’s heart is beating three weeks after conception. Neuroscience shows babies can feel pain certainly at 16 weeks and react to a stimulus as 8 weeks. So elective abortion is living on borrowed time.
But to be fair, Mrs May did not raise the matter of the vulnerable, or the importance of the family in her Easter message. She stuck to Easter-time, Brexit, shared values, the importance of Christian witness, sacrifice, the role of Christianity, religious tolerance, freedom of speech and the persecuted church.
So what of my three identified areas of hypocrisy.
Easter message: Freedom of Speech
Firstly, to Mrs May’s confidence ‘about the role that Christianity has to play in the lives of people in our country’. That was coupled in her Easter message with a stated determination to ‘treasure the strong tradition that we have in this country of religious tolerance and freedom of speech’. Furthermore, Mrs May pledged to ‘continue to ensure that people feel able to speak about their faith, and that absolutely includes their faith in Christ’.
Sarah Kuteh
Only last week, Sarah Kuteh was in front of an Employment Tribunal in Ashford, Kent. Sarah has been a nurse for 15 years. Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust sacked her last August (2016) for ‘gross misconduct’. What was her terrible offence? She discussed her faith with patients.
Now those in the National Secular Society would contend that sick people should be insulated from faith. That is precisely how NHS Trusts are acting. That is their clear policy.
‘Comfort and guidance’
But in her Easter message Mrs May implied this was not happening. She gave the clear impression she disagreed with such a policy. She spoke of Christians ‘providing comfort and guidance to many in our country at some of the most difficult moments in their lives’.
So why has she not already told her Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to issue a directive to NHS Trusts to encourage Christian doctors and nurses to actively share their faith with patients and provide that ‘comfort and guidance’? Why, on her watch, are NHS managers sacking Christian staff?
For that matter, Christian open-air preachers are being hauled before the courts. Why has Amber Rudd, her Home Secretary, not sent a directive to police forces and public prosecutors to tell them to lay off Christian preachers and allow them to ‘speak about their faith’?
Someone who says one thing and does another is a hypocrite.
Embrace the World!
Secondly, the Prime Minister spoke in her Easter message of Christian values ‘of compassion, community, citizenship’. We are going to ‘embrace the world’. She might remember the Bible saying something about guiding our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79). Or perhaps castigating those whose ways are ‘destruction and misery’, those with no fear of God who do not know ‘the way of peace’ (Rom 3:16-18 cf Isa 59:7-8).
The Russian corvette ‘Boiky’
Yet our famously Christian PM re-appointed as Secretary of State for Defence a man lacking both the fear of God and the way of peace. In particular, Sir Michael Fallon insults, rather than embraces, that part of the world known as the Russian Federation.
His latest display of petulance was to send out a destroyer to shadow a couple of corvettes, named Soobrazitelny and Boiky, as they steamed through the English Channel from their Baltic port en route to the Mediterranean.
Fallon said: ‘HMS Sutherland is carefully marking these Russian ships as they pass close to UK waters. The Royal Navy maintains a vigilant watch and is always ready to keep Britain safe.’
No doubt it does and it is. But what was he suggesting? That Soobrazitelny was preparing to shell Dover, or Boiky to land an invasion force of marines on Bognor beach? Does he think we are all stupid?
Department for Provocation
A Christian administration would not pretend there are threats where none exist. Its ministers would not think the Ministry of Defence is really the Department for Provocation. They would not be talking up threats from another Christian nation to sell armaments. They would not make bellicose noises every time the ships of that nation pass through the busiest shipping lane in the world (which happens to be near our shores). There was no indication the French or Belgians burned diesel oil putting to sea. The Channel is international water.
In February, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for Defence described the Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov as a ‘ship of shame skulking through the Channel’. It was simply on its way home after helping the Syrian army liberate Aleppo. The defeat of the UK’s favoured and financed jihadists had irritated UK politicians. But why not be magnaminous? Why expose a petulant display of aggression and military impotence which diminished Her Majesty? It drew unwelcome attention to the fact that the UK does not even have an operational aircraft carrier.
To invoke the message of Easter while beating the drum of war is rank hypocrisy.
Persecuted Christians
Churches in Syria have been looted and damaged by jihadists
Thirdly, mention of Aleppo draws our attention to yet another hypocritcal section of Mrs May’s Easter message.
The Prime Minister said: ‘And we must do more to stand up for the freedom of people of all religions to practice their beliefs openly and in peace and safety.’
But the UK continues to support, politically and financially, Syrian Sunni Muslim jihadists whose reason for being is to murder or expel ‘people of all religions’ – except their own.
Speaking of alleged Christian freedom in the UK, Mrs May went on: ‘We must be mindful of Christians and religious minorities around the world who do not enjoy these same freedoms, but who practise their religion in secret and often in fear’.
So why not support Assad?
We should expect ‘being mindful’ to include some measure of support. So why in Syria does the UK not do everything it can to bolster the administraton of President Assad? After all, he has a track record of protecting ‘Christians and religious minorities’?
Instead, she is carrying on the policy of her predecessor of destabilising Syria. That nation had done nothing to us, yet we cheered with the Devil, who loves to destroy, as it was reduced to rubble. If Theresa May really believes ‘we must do more’ to stand up for Christians worldwide, she should order a complete turn-around on Syria, on the Foreign Office’s attitude to Russia, and on aggression against Christians worldwide.
Because right now, when Her Majesty’s Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, tells the Russians they are on the ‘wrong side of history’ by their alliance with Shia Iran and Syria, he himself is precisely wrong. It is the British Government’s support of Sunni Muslim jihadism and our alliance with Saudi Wahhabism which is on the wrong side.
Practising Christianity in fear
Theresa May with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud (left)
Going further, Mrs May should be speaking to the Government of Malaysia, to that of Egypt and to the rulers of Saudi Arabia demanding freedom for Christians. In fact, she has only just come back from Saudi Arabia. Did she demand freedom for those ‘who practise their religion in secret and often in fear’? There are many secret Christians in Saudi Arabia, some in high places. Where is any evidence of Mrs May ‘doing more’ for them?
Come to that, when was Pakistan’s High Commissioner last summoned to a talking-to from the Foreign Secretary over his country’s failure to protect Christians from spurious blasphemy charges?
Mrs May is playing mere lip-service to persecuted Christians. She is doing nothing to help them. Homosexuals are more welcome in the UK than refugee Christians. Tragically, for her, trade deals and selling arms are more important. That is yet more hypocrisy.
Three major areas raised by Mrs May in her Easter message from her Christian faith. Three glaring examples of hypocrisy. How Her Majesty’s Government needs our prayer.
Donald Trump waxed emotional about ‘beautiful babies’ but it was Ivanka Trump who started him off.
News has emerged that President Trump’s emotional line about ‘beautiful babies’ in Syria’s Khan Sheikhoun came about after pressure from his daughter Ivanka.
Ivanka urged her father to launch missiles into Syria last Thursday night, in blatant contradiction of his non-interventionist election stance.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Moscow yesterday trying to explain US foreign policy to Sergey Lavrov. He was possibly trying to understand it himself, after a series of U-turns.
Meanwhile, President Trump met NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and reversed his election stance that NATO is obsolete. Not any more, not with the threat of terrorism around, Trump said, as if terrorism had just popped up since his inauguration. But despite the Moscow meeting, he said US relations with Russia are ‘at an all-time low’.
You probably agree with Mr Tillerson that ‘The world’s two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this kind of relationship.’ If you have the mind of God you are almost certainly praying for peace between them. And you probably recognise the threat to the US and UK is not Russia, but Sunni Muslim terrorism.
‘Russian Aggression’
But do not suppose everyone in power shares those sentiments. A vast majority of US Senators and Congressmen, both Republican and Democrat, think being on bad terms with Russia is just great. So does the mainstream media.
Rt Hon Philip Hammond is of the same mind. According to the Daily Express, the Chancellor told Sky News: ‘The British Government’s position has been, and will remain, to lead the way on arguing for a robust approach towards Russian aggression in Syria.’
Beautiful missiles
‘Russian aggression in Syria’? Is this serious grown-up political discourse? The Russian Federation has been invited in by the legitimate Syrian government. The Syrians have asked Russia for help to defeat Western&Saudi-sponsored jihadist terrorists together with Islamic State. If you want aggression in Syria, look no further than 59 American Tomahawk cruise missiles (beautiful missiles, so we hear) fired into Syria by the US last week.
Does Mr Hammond seriously believe the British people are so stupid, or so unable to get online, that he can persuade us of something which is palpably, demonstrably, blatantly untrue? He just brings himself in particular, and politicians in general, into ridicule and contempt. If it were not so serious, it would be laughable.
As it happens, Mr Hammond was defending his colleague and successor as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. The latter went to Monday’s G7 meeting boasting of his plans for new sanctions against Russia. In the event, he failed to persuade the other European leaders even to look at them.
Beautiful babies
But why are British and American Neo-Cons so desperate around the ‘Assad must go’ line? No, it isn’t concern about ‘beautiful babies’, as Donald Trump described them. The Emo (emotional) stuff does not extend to the four children killed by his Tomahawks of course. Nor to the Yemeni babies our ‘allies’ from Saudi Arabia are bombing in Yemen. Nor to the Iraqi babies the US has accidentally bombed in Mosul.
Iraqi babies are not so beautiful as Syrian ones. Especially when they are buried under tons of rubble from a US air-strike. And of course, President Trump doesn’t want the beautiful babies and their ‘helpless’ parents pitching up in America as refugees any time soon.
No, it’s not the alleged gas. That’s just more Emo. And quite possibly false flag. It isn’t that Assad ‘fires on his own people’. Our allies the Bahrainis use brutality against ‘their own people’. So do the Egyptians. And President Erdogan of Turkey.
As Luke Harding put it in the Guardian: ‘A few days earlier Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, said it was necessary to accept “political reality” in Syria. Up to this point Trump had been a longstanding sceptic of US military action. Back in 2013 he tweeted that the president, Barack Obama, should refrain from intervening and “stay away and fix a broken US”. The “rebels”, he added, were “just as bad as the Syrian regime”.’
Then Trump was ‘got at’
But since 2013, in fact even since the 2016 campaign trail, Donald Trump is now President of the United States. He is trying to get legislation through Congress and political appointees confirmed. Day after day we have heard relentless allegations about contacts with Russian officials, as if these were a bad thing. There has been constant unsupported drivel about Russians hacking the Democrats. Republican Congressmen have been as bad as their Democrat counterparts with the anti-Russian rhetoric. If the public are punch drunk from it, imagine what it is like for the man in the middle.
It must be that constant pressure which finally brought the President to ditch all his pre-election pledges about keeping out of the Middle East, draining the swamp, etc, etc.
Ivanka, of course, is married to Trump advisor Jared Kushner. Kushner is a wealthy American real estate investor and developer. He has some business links to the swamp Trump vowed to drain. He started off in Goldman Sachs, and knows that bank’s Gary Cohn, who is now Trump’s economic advisor. His political contacts on the other hand appear limited. So although Ivanka may have been the catalyst for intervention, she could have pushing at an open door.
Because, just after the alleged gas attack, Senator John McCain was describing White House inaction as ‘disgraceful’. When it came to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s declaration that the Syrian people alone should determine who lead them, McCain described that as ‘one of the more incredible statements I’ve ever heard.’
Beautiful Chocolate Cake
BBC’s beautiful chocolate cake
So Ivanka’s missiles started flying. Yesterday President Trump revealed he told Chinese premier Xi Jinping about the missile strike over dessert. ‘And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen,’ he told Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business. Full of himself, he went on: ‘So I said, we’ve just launched 59 missiles, heading to Iraq’.
An astonished Miss Baritromo corrected him: ‘Heading to Syria?’ Unabashed, Trump steamed on, ‘Yes, heading toward Syria. And I want you to know that.’ It was a masterclass in how a friendly interviewer can bring out more damaging information than a hostile one.
So now we know roughly how it came to pass that Trump allied himself with the warmongers. We do not yet know what drives the warmongers themselves. Why do they like tensions with Russia? Why must Assad go? We know it isn’t altruism or genuine concern about babies, however beautiful. Seek the Lord in prayer, as I shall, leave your comments below and I’ll try to draw it all together after the Easter break.
Scripture tells leaders not to ‘go with the flow’:
Exodus 23:2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment:
Leaders must be even-handed:
Leviticus 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
Flip-flopping between policy is not commended:
James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
But every ruler needs wise and God-fearing counsel:
Proverbs 25:5 Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.
Indeed, if Trump carries on doing evil, seeking war, acting erratically, his position will fall:
Proverbe 16:12 It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness.
President Trump must never forget what brought him into the White House in the first place …
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Prayer over Easter
Please pray into this whole situation. Lift up the world’s leaders, and your own in particular, in prayer. And look at this: This year, 2017, Easter Sunday is the same date in both Western and Eastern traditions. It does not often happen like that (list of dates).
It means our Orthodox brothers and sisters in Russia and Syria will be celebrating the resurrection of the Lord Jesus this coming weekend, the same as us Western-calendar folk.
I cannot believe a coincidence like this is from nowhere. The Lord has given an opportunity for believers world-wide to lift up the name of the risen Lord on the same day, at such a crucial time as this. And during the Jewish Passover 10-day feast as well! How awesome is that?
Finally, here is a positive snippet for you. On Monday 10th April 2017, President Trump celebrated the start of the Jewish Passover at a Seder dinner in the White House. And who started that tradition? One Barack Obama!
Not just Boris Johnson but the House of Commons now faces a Brexit Dilemma.
Christian Voice Press Release – 16:00 hrs 8th April 2017
Boris Johnson
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.
Sergey Lavrov
‘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.’
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.
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):
‘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.
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.’
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’.
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.
10 And the Syrian government have ‘categorically denied’ responsibility,
11 It is quite plausible that a rebel chemical weapons factory was hit and the stocks dispersed and certain that Western politicians would immediately rubbish such a claim,
13 Even that story started with the word ‘suspected’ and went on: ‘These videos and photos have not been independently verified’. In other words, the headline was a lie and the story could easily be rebel propaganda – or Muslim ‘Taqiyya’ (disinformation),
The ‘White Helmets’ are a UK Foreign Office propaganda tool
15 Indeed, nobody reputable is there. Any Western journalist venturing into Idlib Province will be captured and held for ransom by the UK’s favoured jihadist cut-throats,
16 Despite jumping to blame Assad for this suspected Idlib gas attack, Theresa May says the UK will not be taking any military action. Thank God for that at least. EU and US politicians were very quick with the condemnations – almost as if they knew it was coming,
Isaiah 26:2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
Psalm 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.
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. 38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
Pray for the truth to come out and be recognised. Pray for the knee-jerk posturing to stop. Also pray for God to place grown-up men of God in positions of authority in our nation. Pray for peace in Syria. Pray for the Christians of Syria in particular as they try to rebuild their homes and businesses. And thank God for news outlets challenging the received establishment wisdom of the Main Stream Media!
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Sir Tim Farrow handing the Article 50 to Donald Tusk has set Avaaz off on a campaign
Sir Tim Barrow duly delivered Theresa May’s Brexit Article 50 letter to Donald Tusk yesterday. Meanwhile, the fake ‘grass-roots’ activist group Avaaz was moaning about ‘A day most of us hoped we’d never see’.
Just to make sure they spread their catchment net as widely as possible, they claimed ‘And still others of us hoped would be a very different Brexit.’
‘Profoundly depressing’
Out comes the trowel as Alex Evans, one of many ‘campaign directors’ at Avaaz, drones on in an email sent to its claimed 44 million supporters worldwide: ‘It feels profoundly depressing. Not just because of the divisions the referendum left in its wake, the lies and fear, but also for what it could mean for our futures: for us, for our kids.’
Alex Evans: a Campaign Director at Avaaz. He is also Senior Fellow at New York University Center on International Cooperation, whatever that means.
Firstly, the Remoaners lost the Referendum. Secondly, they lost in the courts their attempted SNP veto. Thirdly, they lost their blocking moves in Parliament. Avaaz raised petitions and money around most of that.
Now the die is cast and negotiations will shortly begin on the terms of Brexit. The UK is leaving the Revived Roman Empire. But Avaaz are promoting this as ‘the moment at which the big fight begins’, trotting out figures:
‘16.1 million people didn’t want Brexit. 70% of young people voted for a different future.’
So ‘regardless of if we voted for or against Brexit, a majority now want to make sure we have a say in any deal.’
Alex Evans’ Avaaz email is pretentiously headed ‘We can be heroes’. Other recent emails have had subjects like ‘A beautiful blow against Trumpism’, ‘Back the Bees’, ‘Aleppo – stop the massacre’ and ‘Join the Brexit rebellion’. No, that’s not the people’s rebellion against the Eurocrats. It was an Avaaz clicktivist lobbying campaign in February to try to get a Brexit deal veto for MPs.
‘Sign now with just one click!’ screamed the email. It signed off, ‘With hope and determination, Bert, Alex, Meredith, Spyro, Fatima and the rest of the Avaaz team’.
‘We can be heroes just for one day,’ David Bowie sang. Revise that down to one second, the time it takes to click.
So what is ‘Avaaz’ all about? Why do their campaigns focus solely on supporting left-liberal elitist positions, knocking the Russians and promoting environmentalism?
Yes, bees are important pollinators and we all hate Monsanto. It’s easy to build an emailing list around ‘the planet’. Add in some issues pushed by Remoaners and Clintonites and other ‘right-on’ causes and before long you are up to 44 million. That’s 44 miilion people you can now tap for money to keep the show rolling.
But who is really behind Bert, Meredith, Alex and company? How did it all start?
How Avaaz works
First the operating method. It depends on weight of numbers, and Avaaz has them. That is why we need to be aware of them and pray about them. Avaaz says it is ‘a 44-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making. (The word “Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages.’
In other words, those who run it decide on an issue. Then they email their 44 million supporters to encourage them, usually, to sign the latest Avaaz petition or send them money. All it takes to be considered as ‘a member of the Avaaz movement’ is to put your name to one of their petitions and, naturally, give them your name and email address. As I did, apparently, in March 2013.
‘Right-on’ causes
Now for the causes. Avaaz is practiced at touching the environmentalist chord. Their favourite target is also one of ours, the genetic modifiers of Monsanto, maker of the hated ‘Roundup’ pesticide.
Avaaz hates Monsanto, makers of ‘Roundup’ weedkiller and GM crops. But it’s a soft target, as nobody likes them.
In November 2016 Monsanto and pesticide giant Bayer announced a merger. This was the Avaaz take on it:
‘Monsanto poisons our food and fields. Bayer kills bees with pesticides. Now they want to merge into a $100 Billion mega-corporation to dominate our entire global food system!
‘The firms are right now on a shopping spree for an army of lobbyists to steamroll the plan through US and EU regulators. It’ll take an even bigger people-powered lobby to stop them.
‘That’s where we come in. Avaaz has beaten both of these corporations before so we know how to do it: show massive public opposition through campaigns and polls, win over the regulators with powerful personal appeals, and have lawyers review every detail.’
An invitation followed to donate an amount from $2 to $32 to Avaaz.
Two-thirds of wild animals
Imaginary ‘Tree of Life’
An even more recent campaign claims: ‘by 2020, two-thirds of wild animals will be gone … humanity is taking a chainsaw to the tree of life.’ This time, those on the Avaaz emailing list were invited to sign a petition as ‘global citizens’ to ‘Governments meeting right now.’.
There was no defence of the ‘two-thirds’ figure. Neither was there a statement of just where the governments were meeting nor the dates of their get-together.
That is all deliberate. Never give too much detail. In fact, the figures are based on the ‘Living Planet Index’. It was first compiled in 2008 by ZSL, the Zoological Society of London, and World Wildlife Fund, as it was then. The aim was to present figures on how much ‘biological diversity’ had decreased by 1970 to the Convention on Biodiversity meeting that year in the German city of Bonn. Why choose 1970 as the base year? Who knows. But by ignoring the base, Avaaz gave as bad an impression as they could.
Globalist agenda
Chainsaw
In 2010 the figures were beefed up for a further meeting in Nagoya, Japan. That was the International Year of Biodiversity, but you knew that.
Now the BBC were reporting ‘that animal populations plummeted by 58% between 1970 and 2012, with losses on track to reach 67% by 2020′.
So that’s where the two-thirds figure comes from, but the starting point is not this year, or even this century, but 1970. Nor is it animal species, but ‘populations’.
Some of them, perhaps even all of them, are really important, but for Avaaz the hype to advance their globalist agenda is everything.
Indeed the Convention was due to meet from 2nd to 17th December 2016 in Cancun, Mexico. Naturally, the Avaaz petition called on it to ‘forge a new agreement so that at least 50% of our lands and oceans are protected and restored, and ensure our planet is completely sustainably managed.’ Where has the 50% figure come from? How is ‘the planet’ divided up? Is Carmarthen set to become a wildlife reserve? How is all to be enforced? We don’t know. But for the 913,000 environmentalists who signed the petition, it all sounded great.
Syrian no-fly zone
Avaaz actually wanted the US to shoot down Russian planes like this MiG33. World War Three, anyone?
Moving away from the environment, another persistent Avaaz campaign has been against President Assad in Syria. On 1st October, Alice Jay of Avaaz shrieked:
‘100 children have been killed in Aleppo since last Friday. Enough is enough!’
The solution? Sign another petition. This time it was to ‘build a resounding global call to Obama, May, and other leaders to stand up to Putin and Assad’s terror. This might be our last, best chance to help end this mass murder of defenceless children.’
And what did the resounding petition, signed by 1,622,000 ‘global citizens’, propose? It demanded, and is still demanding, a ‘no-fly zone to protect civilians’. It would ‘mean that an international coalition can threaten to down planes that try to bomb Northern Syria’.
Let us be very clear. Avaaz actually wanted the US and UK to threaten to shoot down Russian warplanes over the sovereign state of Syria. The petition is still there. They are actually calling for a declaration of war. There remains no acknowledgment of the dangers. All we have is a bland assertion that ‘a no-fly zone is the only decent thing to do in this awful situation’.
Curiously, the idea of a no-fly zone across Syria was also proposed in October by one Hillary Clinton. And it was opposed by a certain Donald Trump, who warned that Clinton’s proposal would ‘lead to world war three’.
It will come as no surprise that Avaaz was also cheerleading for Mrs Clinton during the US election. The campaign started in October 2016 and soon latched onto environmentalist concerns.
Avaaz’s Emma Ruby Sachs sent out an email screaming: ‘Trump wants to tear up the Paris climate deal, and that’s just the start of his horrifying plans!’ Wow. No understatement there. What were the rest of his, er, ‘horrifying’ plans? Well, ‘Trump and the racist, sexist, anti-climate, isolationist message he peddles is a threat to the entire world, to everything we fight for as a community.’
Ah. The key word there is ‘isolationist.’ Trump wants to end ‘Responsibility to Protect’ and stop interfering in nations around the world. You would think Avaaz would get that, seeing as how ‘Our founding campaign was opposing the Iraq war, and we’ve repeatedly campaigned against the West’s often cynical engagement in the Middle East’.
But no. Their thinking is neither that consistent nor that honest. But, ‘now there’s a way we can all help stop him, just by texting.’ Avaaz suggested that if ‘thousands of us around the world text these young voters urging them to get to the polls, we could help ensure Trump loses in a landslide.’
The Russians are coming!
Not even Donald Trump actually winning the election could put a dampener on the Avaaz campaign to get Hillary in after all. Just days ago Emma was again frantically emailing the 44 million Avaaz supporters. This time she was drumming up support for the idea that the Russians rigged the election. Avaaz were not trying to do exactly the same with their texting stunt, now were they?
‘This could be our chance to stop a stolen election,’ yelled Emma. ‘Ten members of the US Electoral College are calling for a security briefing about Russia’s interference in the vote.
‘And they have seven days to get it before they are called on to approve Donald Trump as President.
‘The CIA says there is Russian interference, Obama and top Republican lawmakers are calling for an investigation and Trump is denying everything.’ There you are then! Trump is denying it. Must be true.
‘Knowing the facts,’ Emma bellowed, ‘is the least the Electoral College deserves! When our call hits a five hundred thousand strong, allies will deliver the petition directly to the National Intelligence Director:’
Even in December, the petition had been signed by just 37,653 of the hoped-for half-a-million. Today it has reached 77,381. And the ‘target’ has been, er, revised downwards, to 100,000. Too little, too late, guys. Perhaps the Avaaz ‘community’ are getting petition fatigue.
Catte went on. ‘Any doubt that might have remained about how a certain section of the elite want to spin Brexit is now put to rest as that most entirely fake of all fake “grassroots activist” sites Avaaz is herding its obedient fandom to sign on and “stop the hate.” This is the wording of its latest touchy-feely petition, already signed by 90,000 well-meaning clicktivists.’
The petition said: ‘We, the people of the United Kingdom, stand against hate. We call on those editors who tar our country’s reputation by fuelling xenophobia and racism to step down, and pledge to confront racists wherever they are.’ What? Apparently this was targeted against The Sun and the Daily Mail who had done, well, that was not very clear.
‘Responsible journalism’
Catte went on to quote what she called ‘the accompanying blurb’: “If enough of us call for it, we can make it untenable for newspapers like the Daily Mail and The Sun to fan the flames of hate, and editors will know their jobs depend on responsible journalism.” Ah, ‘responsible journalism’. That means ‘You write what the elite want you to write.’
Catte continued: ‘I’d be the first to agree the Sun is an open sewer of lowest common denominator ordure, and of course any rational person deplores racism and “hate.” But equally we all should deplore – and fear – accusations of racism and “hate” being invoked as political weapons to beat down dissent and demonise a majority of UK citizens. … when Avaaz enters the arena with these clarion calls to under-informed Social Justice Warriors, it’s never a good day for democracy and reason.’
Interestingly, Catte tagged her piece with ‘Avaaz’, ‘Brexit’ and ‘George Soros’, so let’s follow up on that clue by asking just who is behind this globalist clicktivist army.
Who Is behind Avaaz?
Globalist neo-con financier George Soros provided the initial funding for Avaaz
This is what Avaaz says on its pressfaq page: ‘Avaaz.org was co-founded by Res Publica, a global civic advocacy group, and Moveon.org, an online community that has pioneered internet advocacy in the United States. Our co-founding team was also composed of a group of leading global social entrepreneurs from six countries, including our founding President and Executive Director Ricken Patel, Tom Perriello, Tom Pravda, Eli Pariser, Andrea Woodhouse, Jeremy Heimans, and David Madden.’
According to Catte, the website NGO Monitor tells us ‘Res Publica’ ‘received grants totalling $250,000 from the Soros Open Society Institute in 2008.’
Catte goes on to quote the National Catholic Reporter which said in 2004 that ‘Res Publica was founded by three of the people now running Avaaz – Ricken Patel, Tom Perriello and Tom Pravda, and was – back in 2004 – claiming to be “developing the political and communications infrastructure of the religious left.” So Avaaz is Res Publica under a different name.’
Follow the money
What about Moveon.org? Apparently, they are a Democratic party front group, ‘currently campaigning against GMO salmon, the Confederate flag, Greek austerity and numerous other things, many of which seem eminently reasonable,’ says Catte. But crucially, according to the Washington Post, ‘they received $1.6 million from “George Soros and his wife” back in 2004.’
Now here’s a funny thing. Avaaz says: ‘Since 2009, Avaaz has not taken donations from foundations or corporations, nor has it accepted payments of more than $5,000 (£3,100)…Instead, it relies simply on the generosity of individual members, who have now raised over $20m (£12.4m)’
But Avaaz was actually founded in 2007. So pretty clearly for two full years it was in receipt of a whole slosh of pump-priming liquidity from George Soros and his Open Society Institute. It has that in common with the so-called ‘Arab Spring’, the Ukraine Maidan Square revolution and anti-Christian causes around the world. None would exist or have existed without money from George Soros or Open Society. More recently, the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe has been linked to activist groups funded by Soros.
Ricken Patel
Well-connected: Ricken Patel, Executive Director and co-founder of Avaaz
The Avaaz Executive Director, who puts his name to many of their emails, is indeed Ricken Patel. The mainstream media portray him as ‘a fearless crusader for marginalised truth and justice’, as Catte puts it. Born in 1977, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Balliol College, Oxford, where he helped organize against the 1998 introduction of tuition fees.
Patel held leadership roles in student activism and came down with a First. He then moved to Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, taking a Masters in Public Policy. He also helped lead the campus’ highly publicised living wage campaign.
He then worked for the International Crisis Group, the United Nations, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Gates Foundation, Harvard University, CARE International and the International Center for Transitional Justice. Just an ordinary guy? With a CV like that, this man is very well-connected.
The International Crisis Group was formed in 1993. Then-President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Morton I. Abramowitz and then future World Bank Vice-President Mark Malloch Brown met on a flight to Sarajevo. According to its Wikipedia page, ‘the Bosnian War provided the catalyst for “an independent organisation that would serve as the world’s eyes and ears on the ground in countries in conflict while pressing for immediate action.”‘ It will come as no surprise that ‘George Soros was involved in discussions early on and provided seed money’.
Avaaz co-founder Tom Perriello of the US State Department
It now offers ‘behind the scenes support and advice’ and ‘new strategic and tactical thinking’. But it will come as no surprise either that The International Crisis Group and George Soros invented the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (also known by its opponents as ‘Justification to Interfere’).
Insiders
International Crisis Group trustees include Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, several retired state department officials, ambassadors, diplomats and prime ministers and, of course, George Soros.
Tom Perriello, the second of Avaaz’s three individual founders is a “United States State Department official”, and a lawyer, who “served one term as a U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 5th congressional district.” He is a member of the Democratic Party. He was formerly President and CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund and an avowed supporter of the war on terror.
Avaaz co-founder Tom Pravda of the UK Foreign Office
The third of the triumvirate is Tom Pravda. He came down from Balliol College, Oxford with an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He describes himself on his LinkedIn page as ‘Diplomat, Entrepreneur, Consultant’, worked for a year at the United Nations and is now both Co-Founder and Co-Director of Res Publica, since 2003, Co-Founder of Avaaz.org since 2006 and a diplomat at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office since October 2003. It appears he has most recently been working at the FCO ‘dealing with European Union development policy and relations with the Middle East and Africa’.
War-mongers
In short, Avaaz maintains an illusion of grassroots activists advocating for human rights, but it is run by insiders. Its three founders bring together Soros internationalism, the US State Department and the British Foreign Office. Avaaz exists to herd public opinion to campaign for things which will please liberal, hawkish, neo-conservative interventionists and globalists. Avaaz ‘victories’.
Psalm 120:7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war. Jer 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. Luke 8:17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. 18a Take heed therefore how ye hear: Rom 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17 And the way of peace have they not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
European Leaders are gathering in Rome, the Emperor Hadrian’s ‘Eternal City’, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. The Treaty was signed on 25th March 1957.
The champagne quaffing will however be somewhat tempered by the imminent arrival of That Article 50 Letter. UK Prime Minister Theresa May is set to start the Brexit process next Wednesday. Indeed, EU leaders pleaded with her not to do it during this week.
Where was the Treaty of Rome actually signed?
The Europa website says: ‘This will be an occasion to reflect on the state of the European Union and the future of the integration process.’ Integration process? Donald Tusk, President of the European Council also spoke of ‘sixty years of integration’. They don’t give up, do they?
We praise Almighty God for pulling the United Kingdom out of the ambitious, vainglorious Euro-Empire. But we can do so with even more enthusiasm. To do that we need to ask a couple of very simple questions:
Firstly, exactly where was the Treaty of Rome actually signed in ‘the Eternal City?’
Secondly, why was that spot chosen, and by whom?
Tony Blair and Jack Straw signing the EU Constitution in the same room in Rome as where the Treaty of Rome was signed.
A Revived Roman Empire
This author stood, almost a year ago, in the very room in which the Treaty of Rome was signed. It is now part of a museum. But what was there before? What was it built on? No-one before had joined together these particular spiritual dots. The resulting 3 minute 40 second video gives the answers: The European Union’s Pagan Foundation. (All links open in a new tab automatically.) It traces a link from Babel through Babylon and the Pergamos of Revelation 2:13 to ancient Rome.
But why was the Treaty of Rome signed in this particular spot? And make no mistake, it is a place with great significance to the European Union. In fact, the doomed Constitution was signed by European leaders at the very same place in 2004. To answer the question, It is only necessary to look at the intentions of the man who became known as the first Eurocrat. Paul-Henri Spaak, the EU’s architect, was convinced he was reviving the Roman Empire. This second video, The European Union’s Roman Empire, explains all. It’s just under 4 minutes.
The BBC’s David Willey attended the signing 60 years ago as a trainee for Reuters news agency
Sorry for not giving you the answers to the questions immediately within this post. That would have meant rehearsing everything in the videos or the article. Please click on those links, which open automatically in new tabs, to get all the information to inform your prayers.
Article 50 will be triggered next week, God willing. But we still need to remember it’s not over till it’s over. This author will be delighted to come to your church or fellowship to share insights into the European Union and help keep the prayer going.
Pray: Praise God for his mercy in taking the UK out of the EU’s revived Roman Empire. And as the leaders of the remaining 27 gather to celebrate 60 years of the Treaty of Rome, pray for an end to the EU’s ambitions. Pray the EU comes to an end peacefully.
He says the signatories, ‘were gathered at the very hub of the ancient world where, 2,500 years ago, six centuries before Christ, the foundations were laid of Rome’s first major temple, dedicated to Jupiter, king of the gods’. A Revived Roman Empire indeed.
Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Psalm 2:4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
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Pressure to legalise abortion is growing world-wide, thanks to international funding led by financier George Soros, Christian Voice has discovered.
The billionaire is behind moves to repeal a pro-life constitutional amendment in the Republic of Ireland. He is almost certainly also involved with a Dutch abortion boat run by the ‘Women on Waves’ group.
A Guatemalan guard faces members of Women on Waves (Reuters)
Today, news broke that police in Guatemala have blocked a yacht offering abortion pills. Accordingly, Women on Waves, run by Dutch national Rebecca Gomperts, may not disembark the vessel. Police are also preventing anyone boarding. President Jimmy Morales deployed the army. A spokesman said it would defend “human life and the laws of our country” by preventing the group from carrying out abortions.
Reuters reports that the abortifacient dispensed ‘combines two medicines, mifepristone and misoprostol’. The news agency said: ‘It is more than 90 percent effective for women up to 10 weeks pregnant’.
The boat takes women out to international waters to administer the drug. It only docks in countries where abortion is illegal. But it is as much a publicity stunt as a ‘pro-choice’ facility.
Where does the money come from?
Women on Waves is coy about where the money comes from. Nevertheless, this document from a court dispute gives some details. It says Women on Waves ‘has received grants from organizations including the Global Fund for Women (United States), the Mondrian Foundation (Netherlands), and the Mama Cash Foundation (Netherlands)’.
The cabin of the Women on Waves yacht (Reuters)
To add to the mix, the Dutch humanist HIVOS group gave money towards a film about Women on Waves. Mama Cash, a source of money for anti-Christian projects worldwide, was also listed. The Soros Open Society says it provides joint funding with HIVOS. Where you find HIVOS you will usually find Soros. The world of antichrist funding groups is highly incestuous.
Meanwhile, abortionists are agitating in Ireland. The Republic passed the pro-life ‘Eighth Amendment’ of the Constitution of Ireland in 1983 by a two to one majority. The Amendment gives explicit recognition to the right to life of an unborn child. Accordingly, it effectively introduced a constitutional ban on abortion.
Strike4Repeal activists have similarities to previous Soros initiatives
But there is pressure to repeal the Amendment. Activists feel emboldened by the Republic’s vote to allow ‘gay marriage’ in 2015. They believe the times they are a-changing enough to secure a majority to scrap ‘the Eighth’. Nevertheless, there is hostility to them. Strangely enough, an LGBT group is among their opponents.
As part of the campaign, a group of girls who do not appear to have done much work are calling for a ‘strike of women.’No doubt the mainstream media will give ‘Strike4Repeal‘ huge publicity on 8th March 2017.
But who is funding Strike4Repeal? LifeSiteNews reports: Soros’ New York City-based Open Foundations document focuses on repealing the pro-life Eighth Amendment’. Consequently, he will give ‘heavy funding for the Abortion Rights Campaign, Amnesty International Ireland, and the Irish Family Planning Association. Above all, Soros intends they will “work collectively on a campaign to repeal Ireland’s (Eighth) constitutional amendment.”
Soros fingerprints
Billionaire financier George Soros
But does Strike4Repeal receive Soros money? Firstly, any group like that needs money to carry out its campaign. Secondly, there are parallels between the modus operandi of Strike4Repeal and previous Soros agitations. He funded Pussy Riot and Femen who adopt similar poses (albeit bare-breasted in the case of Femen) and shock tactics. He was behind protests against Donald Trump’s inauguration. Thirdly, a Soros’ foundations document says ‘legalization of same-sex “marriage” presents “valuable and timely opportunities to advance the (pro-abortion) campaign.”’ Fourthly, it just has Soros fingerprints all over it.
One thing we can be certain of. Pro-abortion movements, like pro-sodomy ngos, do not spring up in countries out of the blue. They are rarely indigenous. There is always money from external affluent western ‘philanthropists’ behind them. If it is not Soros it is Hivos, or Mama Cash. If not them, Ford Foundation or Gates Foundation step in. Or Carnegie. Or the Rockefeller or Tides Foundaton. Similarly, the Atlantic Philanthropies may contribute. Or the Gulbenkian Foundation.
Prayer points
Please pray at this time particularly for Guatemala and the Republic of Ireland to stand firm against the abortionist assault. The Bible says: Proverbs 16:12 It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness.
We read that only Christ will bring in perfect government, but that does not mean earthly governments should not try to rule by God’s standards: Hebrews 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
As to the antichrist NGOs, the Bible says: Proverbs 25:5 Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.
The Bible says of king Ahaz: 2Chr 28:3 Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
The passage is speaking about child sacrifice. Abortion is our modern version of it. Many nations including Great Britain are now polluted because of this shedding of innocent blood. Israel did the same, as the Psalmist declares: Psalm 106:38 And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. So pray also for repentance in those nations who have legalised this abomination, for the slaughter to stop.
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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.
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’ – 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.’
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.
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.
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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The ‘Tellers’ give the Speaker the results of a vote on an amendment to the Article 50 Bill.
The Article 50 Bill, more properly the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill, has passed all its stages in the House of Commons.
The SNP tabled a whole raft of amendments at Committee Stage. Labour tabled some others. The House voted on some of them and defeated all it voted on.
That meant there was no need for a Report Stage and the Bill passed straight to Third Reading. Read the Hansard record of the Debate here. The House duly gave the Bill its Third Reading. The majority was 372.
Article 50 Bill Amendments
We single out three amendments. Labour tabled one requiring parliamentary approval before a final agreement with the EU. That was defeated by 33 votes, the DUP, UKIP and half-a-dozen Labour MPs joining the Conservatives in saying ‘No’ to it’. (This is Division 141 in the Hansard link above.)
The Liberal Democrats tabled an amendment requiring a second referendum before a final agreement. Only the LIbDems, Plaid Cymru, the Green, Northern Ireland’s SDLP and a few Labour MPs voted for that. Most of Labour abstained. Again, half-a-dozen Labour MPs, the DUP and UKIP joined the Conservatives in the ‘No’ lobby. Accordingly, 340 MPs said ‘No’ in Division 156. Only 33 voted ‘Aye’.
Thirdly, Labour asked the House to mandate Theresa May to allow EU citizens the right to stay in the UK. They wanted her to give this assurance without securing an equivalent promise for UK citizens from the EU. The House defeated that amendment in Division 159 by 42 votes.
Finally, in Division 161, the House of Commons gave the Bill a Third Reading by 494 votes to 122. Labour imposed a three-line whip. (Their whips underlined the instruction to MPs to vote for the Bill three times.) Of couse, most Labour ‘rebels’ represent inner city constituencies which voted ‘Remain’. Equally, a couple of shadow ministers have resigned. Nevertheless, Jeremy Corbyn will impose no sanctions on Labour MPs who voted against. The point was simply to show Labour as a party respects the referendum result.
Some may wonder why Theresa May did not agree to seek Parliamentary approval when Gina Miller first brought her court action to compel it. After all, the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly to trigger Article 50.
The reason, quite simply, could be the hand of God. In this analysis, the Lord allowed the court case to proceed and by so doing blessed the United Kingdom. Firstly, he confused the minds of ministers so they would not notice Labour’s promise not to obstruct the process. That allowed the case to proceed. Secondly, the Supreme Court’s involvement gave legitimacy to the Parliamentary course of action. It silenced any doubters. As a result, the Government now has a much better hand. They can negotiate with the EU from a position of greater strength than if they had used the Royal Prerogative. The House even squashed the idea of a second referendum. That idea is now dead.
Thirdly, the Court ruled against giving the SNP (in particular) a veto over the process. That was possibly as important an outcome as any.
Psalm 30:4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
Now the Bill passes to the House of Lords, so remember to keep praying for our parliamentarians.
View our EU videos – relevant to the Article 50 debate
View our videos on YouTube. They are all around three and a half minutes in length and very watchable:
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Admiral Kuznetsov (background) and Petr Velikiy shadowed by HMS St Albans (foreground) steaming through the English Channel on their way back to Russia. Sir Michael Fallon described the aircraft carrier as a ‘ship of shame’, ‘skulking’ through the Channel.
Last week, the Independent reported Sir Michael saying the British navy was keeping a ‘close eye on the Admiral Kuznetsov as it skulks back to Russia.’ He described the vessel a ‘ship of shame whose mission has only extended the suffering of the Syrian people.’
In the letter, Stephen Green, National Director of Christian Voice, assured His Excellency Alexander Yakovenko ‘that there are those of us in the United Kingdom who recognise Admiral Kuznetsov helped liberate eastern Aleppo from jihadists. We are thankful that Russian planes supporting the Syrian army allowed Christians there to celebrate Christmas for the first time in five years. We are aware that peace talks have been taking place between the Syrian government and the armed opposition. We can see that has only happened because of Russian involvement in a crisis initiated at least partly by the United Kingdom.’
Fallon ‘weak and petulant’
Rt Hon Sir Michael Fallon MP has not adapted his view of the world since 1983, the height of the Cold War.
Stephen Green said today:
‘It should concern us all when a British Minister lowers the standing of the Crown. Her Majesty is a Christian monarch, ruling a constitutionally Christian realm.
‘There was nothing of Christian grace or strength in what Fallon said. We know the UK has no operational aircraft carrier and no longer, thank God, any further ability to wreak havoc in Syria. That is all the more reason not to portray weakness and petulance. Nor do we build peace in the world by ill-tempered insults.
‘That is why I felt I had to reassure the Russian Ambassador that the British people as a whole are not warmongers and do not share such views.
‘Sir Michael was first elected as an MP in 1983 at the height of the Cold War. He clearly has not adapted his view of the world since then at all.
‘It may not happen immediately, but at her next reshuffle, Theresa May should sack this sabre-rattling relic and appoint a good-tempered, Christian man of peace.’
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Today the Rt Hon Theresa May MP becomes the first world leader to meet President Donald Trump. The media is obsessed with their probable discussions on trade. The UK exports more to the US than we buy from them, so it could get tricky.
But trade deals often focus on tariffs or the lifting of them and movement of people. Let us say again, nations do not need ‘trade deals’ to trade. The UK and US are already trading. And there are such things as strategic industries. This Bible article shows they need protecting!
Despite Mr Trump’s favourable noises towards President Putin, Mrs May cast the Russian Federation leader as a bogey-man, speaking of the anxieties of Baltic states and describing the return of Crimea to Russia as ‘illegal’. Reunification with Russia was backed by 95% of Crimea’s population. But she also talked about engaging and building relationships with Russia, ‘from a position of strength’.
HMS St Albans (foreground), escorting Russian Warships Petr Velikiy (centre) and the Admiral Kuznetsov (background), as they pass through the English Channel on their way back to Russia
On Wednesday UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon went out of his way to insult Russia. He described their aircraft carrier as a ‘ship of shame’ as it sailed through the English Channel. The UK does not have an operational aircraft carrier. Mr Fallon said the British navy was keeping a ‘close eye on the Admiral Kuznetsov as it skulks back to Russia.’ He described the vessel a ‘ship of shame whose mission has only extended the suffering of the Syrian people.’
The UK is nowhere in Syria any more, thank God. Mr Fallon could not exude any ‘position of strength’. He came across as weak, petulant, rude and divorced from reality. Can he long survive in Mrs May’s relationship-building world?
Or were hers just words? For how much longer will the generals and arms manufacturers continue NATO’s sabre-rattling on Russia’s borders? In her speech, Mrs May actually boasted that 800 British soldiers were taking part in that latest exercise.
Upholding our values?
Moving on, what did Theresa May mean when she said the US and UK must ‘project our values around the world’?
‘Responsibility to Protect’, invented by George Soros, was used in the past by the UK and US to destabilise leaders the globalist elite do not like. Its outcome in Egypt was to sweep Islamist parties into power. Libya has become a lawless staging post for people smuggling into Europe. Syria has been ruined. And in every case, thriving Christian families have been all but driven from their ancient ancestral bases.
Tam Dalyell, who died yesterday, opposed the war in Iraq
In 2003 Theresa May voted for Tony Blair’s stampede into war in Iraq. The result of that is 268,000 violent deaths to date, according to Iraq body count. It led to a complete breakdown of Saddam’s institutions of civil society, and Islamic State terrorism.
Thank God President Trump has put ‘America first’. The days of ‘fantasist Americans who want to control the world,’ appear to be over. Those words were spoken by the late ex-MP and ‘Father of the House’ Tam Dalyell, who died yesterday. His obituary is worth reading.
Christian Voice is calling on the UK Government to help rebuild Syria after the chaos they caused supporting the armed opposition. Please sign our petition to that effect.
Mrs May said: ‘The days of Britain and America intervening in sovereign countries in an attempt to remake the world in our own image are over’. Let us pray ‘Responsibility to Protect’ is dead.
Orwellian: Dame Louise Casey was appointed by Theresa May
She voted against homosexual men having access to 16-year-old boys in 1999. In 2002 she voted against gays and lesbians adopting. In 2008 she voted for an IVF baby to have a father and a mother. The next year she voted in the Equality Bill debates for churches to be free to hire and fire who they wanted.
But in 2010 Mrs May was appointed Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equality by Prime Minister David Cameron. From that date it all changed. In 2013 she turned out to vote for gay marriage in the Marriage Same-Sex Couples Bill. She voted for Cameron’s flagship bill at both second and third reading.
Donald Trump has already defunded Planned Parenthood and other ‘reproductive rights’ advocates. The LGBT page has disappeared from the White House website. Read about the feminist reaction to that here.
But Theresa May will need to drain her own gay-friendly establishment swamp before she can be a true partner to President Trump. Can she change?
Let us pray that May & Trump will have an opposite agenda and promote or ‘project’ righteousness. But as Mrs May did not mention God, let alone ‘the Lord’, or Jesus, once in her speech, this will need particularly fervent prayer.
European Union Integration
On the European Union, there were signs that Mrs May still does not understand that a wind of change, perhaps even a Holy-Spirit-driven wind of change, is blowing across the world.
She said ‘the most important institution is – and should always be – the nation state’. That’s a God-given. But then she said:
Europa on the Bull outside the Council of Ministers building in Brussels; the peoples of Europe are being taken for a ride.
‘Which is why if the countries of the European Union wish to integrate further, my view is that they should be free to do so. Because that is what they choose.’
It is always elites who want to come together like that. And when they do, people will feel ‘left behind by the forces of globalisation’ as Mrs May rightly said. The ordinary people of Europe will never choose further integration. Even as it is the European Union is going to fall. that is what happens to ‘earth’s proud empires.’
Mrs May must grasp that the UK does not need European countries to be in an EU for the UK to trade with them.
Torture
President Trump has spoken approvingly of the use of the practice of ‘waterboarding’ to gain intelligence. It was banned by President Obama. On its own this shows the folly of putting trust in princes rather than God.
Christ’s crucifixion brought mankind redemption. But it is not a good example for Christian states to follow.
There is no example in the Bible of the apparatus of the state using torture or ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ to extract information from prisoners. In 1st Samuel chapter 30 a captive Egyptian is brought before David. The king interrogates him, first having fed him. The captive divulges the information with no threat being used, only a promise of safety. (The UK could learn from that in the matter of interpreters.)
The most graphic Biblical example of torture is actually that employed by the Romans to execute our Lord. It is not a good example to follow. The Roman Empire was pagan. It acknowledged neither the Almighty nor his authority as King of kings. It was ignorant of his creation ordinance that mankind is made in the image of God. Other human beings, in Christian theology, are worthy of respect.
Mrs May said ‘As Churchill put it, we “speak the same language, kneel at the same altars and, to a very large extent, pursue the same ideals”.’ Do we indeed worship the same God? Sadly, Mrs May failed to mention the Most High in her speech, not even asking the Almighty to bless America. But if we do, he requires a higher standard of us than our Islamic enemies.
Proverbs 25:5 Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.
Isaiah 2:4 And he (the LORD) 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.
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’
Philip Egan
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’.
Theresa May appointed Louise Casey
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’
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid MP
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.
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 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.
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;
The judges of the UK Supreme Court ruled that Parliament must vote on Article 50.
The Supreme Court ruled this morning the UK Parliament must give its assent before the Government can trigger Article 50 and begin the process of leaving the European Union.
The verdict was arrived at by a majority of eight judges to three.
It means the Government cannot rely on the ‘prerogative powers’ of the Crown. Instead, the Court said Parliament has the duty of enacting the decision of the British people in the 23rd June Referendum.
However, the Scottish Nationalists, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party MP, the SDLP and the Liberal Democrats may well vote against the triggering of Article 50.
A majority of Scots voted to stay in the EU, but the judges ruled unanimously that neither of the devolved assemblies nor the Scottish Parliament can have any say in the terms or the process of leaving the European Union. That is an serious blow to Nicola Sturgeon of the SNP and a huge relief to Theresa May.
So in practice the Supreme Court ruling is something of a pyrrhic victory for Gina Miller, who brought the action.
Theresa May has stated Britain will leave the EU’s Single Market.
In a series of videos filmed in Europe last spring, this ministry discovered that the European Union was never a Christian project, as some have claimed. It was always intended to be a revived Roman Empire.
That meant there was a spiritual dimension to the EU project. The EU was set on a collision path with the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ the King of kings. It followed the United Kingdom was spiritually better off out of it. Economic and security blessings could follow, depending on the extent of national repentance.
View our EU videos – relevant to the Article 50 debate
View our videos on YouTube here: they are all around three and a half minutes in length and very watchable:
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Firstly, the ‘No to Racism’ placards are from ‘Stand up to Racism’. That is a Socialist Workers’ Party offshoot.
It was formed when the SWP brand went toxic in 2013 after two women accused a senior member of rape.
As the Guardian reports, ‘Weyman Bennett, one of two co-conveners of Stand Up to Racism, … is a longstanding member of the SWP’. For the record, the other, Sabby Dhalu, apparently comes from the National Assembly Against Racism, an organisation associated with the Trotskyist Social Action.
Well, you might expect those two to be opposed to the policies of Donald Trump. And anyone vaguely to the right of Leon Trotsky, to be frank.
Why have Stop the War joined?
Stop the War cannot see that Trump is a man of peace. It’s Hillary they should have worried about.
Stop the War’s articles are highly critical of President Obama’s pro-war policies, US and UK destabilisation of Iraq, Libya and Syria and NATO sabre-rattling in Europe. Look at this article on the Christian Voice website in which we deplored the NATO build-up and celebrated the 2013 vote in the UK Parliament which stopped airstrikes against President Assad’s forces. Now look at this one on the same subject on Stop the War. You will not find a hair’s breadth of difference between them.
So why are we in this ministry praising God for President Trump’s election and his ‘America-first’ inauguration speech? Because he says he is going to seek peace with Russia and stop interfering (let alone starting wars) in other sovereign states.
If Hillary Clinton had been elected, she would have given the green light to every war-mongering hawk, neo-con and interventionist in both the Pentagon and the US State Department. She was the WW3 candidiate, Trump is the man of peace. Why do Stop the War not get that? Stay with us! All will be revealed.
Militant ‘wimmin’ on the women’s march
Feminists on the ‘women’s march”
OK, others on the ‘women’s march’ are just die-hard feminists, and they do have a point. You would expect Donald Trump not to subscribe to the feminist dogma that men and women are from competing tribes, continually squabbling over the division of a cake of a given size.
But Stop the War marching against someone patently anti-war? Why? Because they are ‘for Palestine’ and ‘against Islamophobia’, that’s why. Stop the War is hopelessly pro-Muslim. They have a disgraceful article on their website claiming the inhabitants of Mosul actually welcomed the Islamic State takeover in 2014. They do not even agree with fighting Islamic State or Muslim terrorists.
So that is why they hate an American President whose only pledge on military action is to destroy Islamic State. And on that note, Stop the War, we’ll have to differ.
Micah 4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)
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