The Promised Land

There is much understandable fuss today concerning the anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel last year.  Most of what we read and hear is of course nonsense.   Ignorant and deliberate propaganda from both sides, and a great many other sides with something to say or a benefit to gain from this conflict, shout loudly to all around.  Israel has many backers, the US and UK amongst many others, supplying weapons and diplomatic and other support.  The Palestinians have support, much from Arabs all around them but also these same Palestinians have grieved neighbouring states with their war.  Not all Arabs supported Palestinians in the past, most just wish to get on with their lives and end their own wars.  

For as long as man has trod these lands war has been the main employment during the Spring and summer.  Raiding and warring has enlarged and destroyed the states all around.  The Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians then the Persians alone conquered and lost this land.  Since then Greece and Rome and Ottoman Turks have ruled and passed on.  War is a constant, therefore war is to be expected when the Hebrews return to a land they believe was given to them by the only God way back in Abraham's day.  

Either this was true, or this was a lie.

If it was a lie and the Jews deceived we can forget about this and move on.  

If it was true, and the only God Yahweh, gave this land to the Hebrews while working out his plan for eternity in this world, then we must look again and choose carefully what we say and do.

Either way, it would be fair to say that politicians on all sides have little understanding of how the Living God works out his purposes, and Bibi Netanyahu is probably not one to acknowledge Yeshua Messiah as Lord.

Thousands have died in this last 12 months, some cruelly, some from bomb or bullet, some from hunger, others from lack of medicine and care.  Some soldiers have enjoyed killing, many have grown up with hate filling their hearts on both sides.  Few have been raised with peace in mind.

I have no answer to the present Israel/Gaza war.  The human cause is possibly Netanyahu attempting to avoid coming before the courts for charges of corruption.  Israel have jailed similar men for corruption before now.  His desire to kill those in Gaza being an excellent excuse to avoid the courts.  As I understand it, he cannot be tried while Premier.  Years of conflict, thousands untold dying along the way, have prepared Israel for this outbreak.  It may last a  while longer.  Many more will die.  

Politicians will talk of peace while providing arms and support all the while.  Israel must be supported, even though few of these men understand what the Lord God is doing here, and that one day they will stand before him in judgement!

I do not understand the workings here, but I know God is working his purposes out.  He is shaping the middle east for Jesus return.  Can we understand this clearly from scripture?  You may be able to, I struggle with the clarity bit.  

Is the Israel in Israel the nation to be surrounded by enemies?  Or does this mean the church of God, the people following Jesus until he returns is surrounded and opposed?  I know not.  

Does Yahweh rejoice in the death of the wicked?  

Certainly not, that is why judgement on us all has not fallen yet.  

He cries out as always that he gave his Son so that you could live with him for ever!  

Our corrupt nature cannot be saved, yet Jesus died for us so a way is open to meet and live with God.

He suffered for us.  

He took our sin.

Turning to Jesus, accepting his death on our behalf, and living for him brings life.

No riches or wealth in human terms, but life everlasting and worth having.

Somehow all this is involved in Gaza today.  

Many there have already met Jesus, they are not all Muslim.  

Many continue to suffer for their belief in Jesus, and not just in the Middle East.  

Let us learn from the conflict there that Jesus is till in control, he remains Lord of all, in spite of our own troubles and what we see in our biased media.  

Let us put our trust in him.

China Tightens Persecution of Christians Once Again.

Wiki

The point of the bible, a collection of books, Law, letters and literature, 'God-breathed,' that are intended to reveal the Living God to his people, and his way, through the death and resurrection of Jesus on the cross, to reconcile a sinful humanity to the perfect Holy creator.

Thus it is important that those who believe must translate the scriptures into a many languages as possible, and often suffer the consequences from dictatorial enemies of God.  One such enemy is the intellectually weak Chinese President Xi Jinping.  Desperate to keep control, possibly because of economic troubles and the growing 'Cold War' between the USA and China, he is attempting to secure his back, and to do this means he must ensure nothing that veers from his desire is allowed to function.  Hence the decision to attack the freedom of churches to exist.  Throughout the country churches are being closed down, sometimes knocked down, in Zhumadian, Hena province, a pastor and his wife were both bulldozed by developers wanting the church removed so they could build.  The pastor managed to dig himself out, his wife was buried alive.  This is repeated in many area of China, the churches are closed, only certain controlled congregations are allowable, few Christians will join these.  Indeed, such is the control, even these churches are watched constantly by the authorities.

  

Wiki

This of course is not the first time Chinese governments have cracked down on those who would not 'bend the knee.'   President Xi Jinping was himself a prisoner under Mao many years ago, though not for attending church.  Today he feels free to use similar brutal tactics to stop any who will not accept his dictatorial rule.  Such rule lasted for years under Mao, how long can this president remain in power?  His support is lessening in the party each time he squeezes opposition, in time honoured Chinese style he will suddenly fall, if a strong man arises within China.

In 1951 the 'China Inland Mission' was removed from China by Mao, the missionaries feared for the churches they left, scattered all over the vast China hinterland.  Small and large churches existed in every city, many towns and villages, and they were expected to suffer.  Indeed they did!  Eventually an 'Official Church' existed in China, all under central control, even the powerful Catholic Church was restricted.  However, the vast majority of believers did not exist in these churches.  Throughout China the churches grew, not diminished under persecution.  Millions among the vast population gave themselves to Jesus and saw the back of Mao and the present prosperity in the land.  Of course many suffered, from persecution and through the dubious ideas of Chairman Mao.  Chairman Xi will also see similar results now as he attempts to kill of the 'word of God.'  He will find, as others before him found, that in time he will disappear yet the church will remain and flourish. 

Jesus is not beaten by Chinese or any other President, He is Lord of All.

PikBest

Hypocrisy, Books and Parliament.

Axios

Donald Trump last night insulted insulted Christians everywhere by making use, without informing the church authorities, of St Johns Church for a photo opportunity.  Not only did he not inform the church authorities his police fired tear gas at them as they provided refreshments to the peaceful demonstrators. 
For a cheap election stunt he abused the church itself, physically assaulted the clergy and then had the audacity to stand with a bible in his hand in front of the building!  What hypocrisy! 
For myself I doubt there has been a 'regeneration' within him since his many 'prayer meetings.'  I am not keen on his 'spiritual advisor's as the main woman appears to be more concerned with raising money than Jesus.  It appears Trump merely wishes the 'evangelicals in the Mid West' to come out and vote for him, he is unafraid to make use of the church building or the good book itself in and effort to obtain votes.  You have to wonder what goes through his mind sometimes, he appears to have so little understanding of the real world.    

No-one who has read the bible can ever vote for this man.
Trump has taken advantage of the natural response to an 'out of order' police force running amok not to bring order but to create a divide, a 'them and us' situation, so he can pretend to be on the  side of right, whether it is 'right' or not does not matter as long as he gets votes.  His voters sadly will understand and follow his lead.
Adolf Hitler used similar tactics.  Pointing the finger to the Jews and anyone else believed to be responsible for Germany's failure he obtained success.  This is an old rabble-rousing trick, Boris Johnson was also doing the same thing with his absurd 'Get Brexit Done' call recently, we now know he was not capable of getting anything done bar creating children for others to rear for him.
St Johns Clergy have immediately indicated their disgust at this man's cheek.  None wished Trump to make use off and abuse their building, it is clear no Christian can support such a man walking far from God yet here we see him abusing the Bible for his own ends.
What a disgrace.

************

An interesting note regarding the past.
1968, LBJ, besieged in the White House by over 100,000 peaceful protestors objecting to the Vietnam War.
1969. Nixon, besieged in the White House by more than 500,000 peaceful protestors similarly.
2020.  The man claiming, "I am your President of Law and Order." Encourages the use of tear gas on peaceful protesters, threatens to bring in the Military to clear the streets, and suggests shooting protestors.
Some 'President for Law and Order,' the previous two, professional politicians of course, did not call on the guard to use tear gas on ether occasion.
  

The difficulty discovered after finishing a good book is finding one, on a differing subject, that will take a similar hold.  This is not easy.  Several books which have been opened are full of words, words that require to be read slowly.  Others are somewhat slow in themselves and picking up the book is not easy.   Some find time to waste during Lock Down to tidy up their bookcases.  The media is full of those arguing whether books ought to be in alphabetical order, subject order, authors name and such like.  The really stupid file all their books in colour order greens, blues, reds...I am left wondering if any have actually been read?  However while adjusting the space for the Great War books I did wonder if I need a new house, one with a library possibly?  
Now, how to get rich quick...?

Guardian

At first sight Rees-Moggs idea that all MPs must attend parliament in person to ensure proper voting appears somewhat foolish.  Indeed as many MPs will be unable to attend due to Lock Down keeping them in because they or a relative has the symptoms or have been advised, by this government, to remain indoors due to a disability, it certainly appears stupid.  Long queues nearly a mile long, waiting to vote, all 6 ft apart, will certainly induce ridicule from the public.
Hold on though, Rees-Mogg does not have 'ideas.'  Rees-Mogg did not come up with this, so who did?  I venture to suggest that the famous bald man who, 'for the sake of his children,' spends time driving them up and down the nation is responsible.  Not only will this ensure Boris has support at PMQs and therefore appear less foolish, but parliament itself will be made to look stupid, turning the attention off Boris and elsewhere.
Brilliant!  Now when the Leader of the Opposition tears Boris apart the sheep behind him will be able to drown out his embarrassment by whooping and cheering as if they meant it.  Boris will still look unfit for the job however, but at least he can try and hide by appealing to his sheep.  

Another Debate

PM

A good insight into the UK today is seen in the outrage caused by Dan Walker.  This man has the temerity to believe in God and work for the BBC!  Not only but also he has got a plum job with the 'BBC Breakfast' show!  How dare he after all this man is something horrible, he is a Christian!  The 'Daily Mail,' 'Independent' and 'Daily Telegraph' all ran articles from those questioning his right to the work.  Rupert Myers in the 'Telegraph' wrote 'The BBC has done nothing to explain how someone who believes that God literally created the Earth in seven days can present the news accurately.'  He could have asked how many atheists, liars and perverts already read the news on the BBC slanting the stories to follow the establishments will but he failed to ask this.  Reading a prompt with a prepared story must be harder than I thought.  The 'Telegraph' failed to allow anyone to comment on his piece as I suspect they would have opposed his approach strongly.  Why should such a question be asked?  Why should his faith cause such outrage?  Thirty years ago no-one would notice so why shout out now?

Daily Mail

Another of this ilk is found with Richard Dawkins the anti God botherer.  He had a stroke poor man and the Church of England Twitter account tweeted 'Prayers for Prof Dawkins and Family.'  This of course caused outrage!  The militant atheists and the rest of the usual suspects jumped at the chance to take offence and claimed the church had 'trolled' the poor man.  Quite why an official Tweet should do this I know not but loudly they proclaimed their empty beliefs  (which few can put into words) and criticised the church for doing the decent thing.  Asking folks to pray for another is now wrong it would seem?  Where is the 'tolerance' these folks desire for their opinions, where is the respect for others opinions in this 'democratic' age?

(Interestingly the Daily mail put up a picture of Richard Hawking first! Journalism at its best in the DM!)

What we have is nothing other than an attack on Christianity from those in the media, the gay lobby and the militant atheist, all the usual suspects.  Why so?  They of course have no idea why they hate so much.  For some Christianity is bad because it tells them where they are wrong and as we all know right from wrong their conscience is tickled and therefore they reject it and hate so easily. Others have their own many and varied reasons but none understand how the spirit of the air is using them to break up this society.  The feminist lie destroyed many woman by separating them from men and encouraging them to stand alone, it hurt many confused young men also.  Easy divorce and free sex left many single mums struggling for a man to join them, a long time partner.  Liberal philosophy was supposed to free the individual and instead encouraged selfishness and greed, something Thatcher also encouraged rather notably.  Lack of discipline in schools and lack of a 'norm' among teachers led to indiscipline among the young with the fad of the 'celeb' and dumbed down TV offering bread and circuses for the people to keep them from thinking people lost their way.  Today gay marriage and the cult of the 'transgender' shows how society had lost all sense of right and wrong.  People come in many shapes and sizes, life offers many difficulties and we ought to be helping one another through these with no condemnation and lots of acceptance.  What a shame it is not returned as the CoE Twitter account shows. 

One by one the basics of life have been eroded.  Each time a justification was offered, simple to understand and sounding so acceptable at the time, each time a society was being turned by the bad guy into one that does his bidding and they have not seen it yet.

Today we can hate only three kinds of people, paedophiles, Muslims and Christians!  One is dangerous to children, one is going to kill us all and the other, yes the other is dangerous but I wonder why? Why are Christians so hated by their enemies?

Ask yourself that.

  

Cold Weather

I do complain about this cold weather, and rightly so! I feel that my rightful place is amongst the sunshine that is scattered so freely towards the centre of the planet but appears so fleetingly in my life. Tonight, the cheery weather folk tell us, snow will make its way from Scotland and the north of England and cover us in deep layers of the white stuff! The 'Daily Mail,' in the usual calm manner, has a headline 'Met Office Forecasts 18 Inches of Snow!' I doubt we will receive 18 inches, two or three would be bad enough, and I suspect the temperature will fall to below zero.
However this is nothing really. In a few days this will end, with flurries on and off until Spring actually arrives. However today Beijing, the Chinese capital, recorded a temperature of minus 60 at one point! In many places it was so cold the heating would not work! I also came across Christians in prison in North Korea, a place on a similar latitude to Beijing, who are imprisoned for their faith, in jails without heating I would imagine. Thousands locked away, many suffering like their fellow citizens from malnutrition, in temperatures lower than many of us could withstand! So while it may be depressing, and cold weather is, and while it may be dark and dismal, at least we are a lot better off than many.  

A Postcard a Day

I stole this picture!  It comes from one of those intriguing sites that at first look somewhat dull but actually contain some excellent items. This site gives us a postcard each day and some, like the one shown are very interesting indeed. This picture shows the original post box, an idea of Anthony Trollope the author and Post Office employee. Situated at Barnes Cross, Holwell, near Sherbourne in Dorset the box was first used in the 1850's and even old Mike cannot remember that far back, I think. The uniform shown dates from that time and is reminiscent of some of the gear worn during the 1970's, although not by me! I recommend this site as there are some excellent postcard shown there. The photography is often marvellous and the subjects, ancient and modern, often intrigue. Some time ago I passed through London Bridge Station on a Saturday and there were numerous stalls selling postcards.I was surprised at just how many, and indeed how much! There are numerous other postcards sites also, but I think this is one worth a look!   A Postcard a Day.