The Archbishop of Canterbury has stated that Christianity is in danger of being driven out of the lands in which it was born; this is very true, but what is being treated in too casual way is the way Christianity is being driven out of the public life in the two principal countries in which it has thrived, namely Britain and the United States. We can only watch in thrilling admiration as it now thrives in Africa, Far Eastern lands, and South America.

All devout and committed Christians must surely feel deeply concerned over the way the Church and Christian faith in this country is being ignored and sidelined. The majority of people see the Church as irrelevant and having no place in their lives. The Church should be responding far more positively than it is, indeed it often seems as few in the Church really care. If a secular business found it was losing customers in the same proportion that the Church is losing members, drastic steps would be taken.
Christianity has been the faith of this country for over 1500 years and its influence has kept the country as a stable nation, offering moral and social guidelines. The Church has been at the forefront of most major social, educational and medical achievements.

We now face a systematic attack on this faith by ideologues in political circles to remove Christianity from public life; people who betray and dislike the culture which nurtured them and are placing restriction on Christian expression. Secularist politicians are trying to take Christianity out of public life.

There is a verse in Psalm 11. It was written when David was experiencing trouble and living at a time when society was in moral abandon. When the foundations are being destroyed, what shall the righteous do?

The foundations that are spoken of in this verse are the foundations of justice and order that support society; the social, moral, ethical and religious foundations that keep a culture from crumbling.

We are facing exactly the same situation that David is facing in this Psalm. We live in a nation where the foundations are being destroyed. We are like a car parked on a hill without the handbrake being put on, so heading for disaster.

Another foundation of this country, indeed the very bedrock of society, was the family, built on the Biblical concepts of father, mother, husband, wife; these terms have become abused, and with government encouragement and urging, have different interpretations to that given by God at creation. We no longer build our families on the solid rock of God’s word, but on the ever-shifting, ever-changing sands of political dogma.

The Judiciary have categorically stated that religious beliefs should not be an influence when making political or judicial decisions.

We live in a country in which we are supposed to be tolerant to other people. We are to resist all bigotry and prejudice and must not make adverse comment on race, religion or sexuality. Recent events have shown however, that is unless intolerance and bigotry is against Christians or Christianity; then it is open season. The only group which you can hold up to public mockery and criticism are Christians. We have been held up as intolerant bigots.

The devil has sure got a foothold into this country as people have given up on God and rebelled against Him. Minority groups have been allowed to acquire a power and influence way beyond their proportion in the country.

A Muslim man and his family living in one of our big cities decided to become Christians and attend the Church of England. As a result, his car was trashed, his house constantly attacked, and his children bullied at school. The police are stated to be reluctant to classify this as ‘hate crime’, yet this was hardly mentioned in the secular press. It seems to be only Christians who can offend.

Street preachers are being arrested on spurious grounds. A Christian Minister is being prosecuted for criticising Islam in a Church service sermon, yet the converse does not apply.

Christ is used as an expletive and is the subject of mockery and on television in a manner which the cowards who do this would never hold up any other religious leader to such banter.

As a nation we have let one traditional practice after another be eroded, taking the view each time it is only one thing which won’t make much difference. It is like taking one stone from a building at a time until eventually the whole structure collapses, and that is what is happening to our society. Our moral base is crumbling and the Christian Church has largely stood by, with even some clergy helping to demolish the moral foundation.

As we look and consider life in this country at the present time it must surely give to all intelligent people grave cause for concern for we see a nation in moral and spiritual decline where the barriers of decency have been swept away so that we are left without restraint where there is no definition between right or wrong.

In State schools more time is given to sex education than religion, which is probably excluded all together in some schools. A time may well come when young people will have no knowledge of the Christian faith at all, and from interviews seen on television, they have virtually none now.

When the foundations are destroyed, what shall the righteous do? How should the Church respond?

A great difficulty arises within the Church. We have no spiritual person of stature nationally to present our faith adequately. The man who should be that person is the Archbishop of Canterbury, but of course any man who was prepared to be positive in his views on morality and faith would never have been appointed to that position. Hope was raised on Justin Welby, but who failed miserably when marriage was being redefined, and seemed to be facing in both directions at the same time.

Another difficulty is that we have those who are theologically conservative, trying to be faithful to Scripture, whilst those of liberal persuasion want to rewrite those parts of Scripture which do not conform to modern morality and social custom. It is fatuous and irrational to suppose biblical injunctions, which do not conform to modern attitudes, can be reinterpreted to suit to-day’s requirements. . Christians should not allow themselves to link their lives with modern society.

Such action can only cause confusion in people’s minds. They can be excused for saying if the Church can’t make its own mind up, how can they expect us to believe and trust them. No Muslin would ever think of challenging their holy book, the Koran, and look in amazement that even within the Church, there are those who dispute much of our Holy Book.

We have allowed the absolute authority of the Bible to be challenged, so that people venture more and more away from its teaching. If Christians lose the shared beliefs that have held us together, we will begin to fall apart and disintegrate.

The Church is beginning to look more influenced by the world rather than the other way round. The more we try to be relevant, the more irrelevant to our purpose we become. We should not be blown away by every whim of public opinion, but let our anchor hold in the storms of life.

But do not make the mistake of thinking you can violate God. He has laid down rules, but too often they merely are treated as a basis for negotiation. Seventy years ago men fought the battle of Britain against foreign aggression, now it is a fight for Britain against the forces of evil. We need a spiritual revival such as that which once swept through Wales in 1904.

Bishop Nazir-Ali, who left the Church of England, has been the one Christian leader prepared to speak out on these issues, stated, ‘if Britain is to defend its values successfully, it must rediscover the Christian faith in which those values are ultimately rooted.’

What can the righteous do? When the foundations are destroyed, many people feel unable to cope. The righteous can do their duty. Because the foundations are crumbling and the social order is deteriorating, we need not stand aside and express regret.

We must then do all we can to rebuild the foundations. We can do what that little band of men did who met in the Upper Room 2000 years ago and turned the world upside down

We should be most concerned about the way our faith is being undermined. It is not just any faith which someone has made up, but one which lies at the heart of our heritage. It is the only faith which can be proven; with the only leader who died and rose again. If you reject Christianity you reject all our values and history. We must live up to our heritage for intolerance of Christianity reduces goodness.

We must be ready to challenge the zealots who want to stop Christians from expressing their faith. We should not be bullied nor should we buckle down. Much has been written and said about the Equality and Diversity Act, a rather oppressive piece of legislation which makes some more equal and diverse than others, and offends Christian beliefs. Christians too have human rights.

Pulpits are being silenced; the teaching of Christianity and the knowledge of what God has said are being taken out of the school curriculum, with the requirement that other faiths have to be taught, so we have a culture which is biblically illiterate.

Let us stand for the old standards the way Christians once did, no matter how difficult that might become and not go with the trend of the times.

We need to be more positive, even aggressive, in giving people a clear vision of what it means to be a Christian and to have a Christian based society. We now have to proclaim it boldly and challenge those who try to put us down. There is a spiritual and moral vacuum, and if we do not fill it some other philosophy will which will be much inferior.

So, what for the future of the Church? There is hope and confidence if all members realize there is no hope if they are content to sit back and say ethereally, ‘God will provide’. Christ did say ‘I will build my Church’, but He expects a little help from His friends.

We must live in such a way as to show others how right it is to live according to God’s word and be open about our faith. The Bible states, let your light shine before men’ Even if the judicial system becomes corrupt, as more judges are deciding against us. In such an hour we are tempted to give up the fight, to yield to the immorality of the world, to give up on spreading the kingdom of God.

We can support those Christian charities like ‘Christian Concern’ which does such a devoted and valiant work in representing and defending Christians who face opposition because of their faith and suffer discrimination, sanction and suspension in this country.

In the absence of any great inspiration from the leaders of our national denominations, some of whom are more concerned with promoting their own c.vs than promoting the gospel, each local Church should devise its own programme of evangelism.

The only hope for our nation is a recovery of the gospel and God’s total Word for our Church and society. Without a return to Christian foundations of social order, our liberty, freedoms, justice and truth will disappear. A spiritual vacuum will be created which will be filled with something less acceptable.

May God give all Churches and Christians the courage to stand and fight whilst we have a place to stand. May we yield ourselves to Jesus Christ who always has our good at heart; One we can trust, who loved us so much that He gave His life at the Cross that we may have everlasting life. We must learn to live by His plans and never be led by society.

Let me close with the words of Pastor Niemoller which come to mind as an appropriate reminder to Christians of the danger that exists to our faith.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

The Archbishop of Canterbury in his Christmas address spoke of the danger of Christianity being wiped out in the Middle East, a very real threat indeed. But whilst not on the same violent stage, Christianity is being severely threatened in Britain, and from the comments I have heard on American television and in sermon, to a lesser state in the United States.

In this country we have a Prime Minister who once again at Christmas was peddling his (supposed) Christian beliefs whilst in practice assiduously working against Christian values and belief. For instance, his re-definition of marriage where we have the risible situation of the calling of a man as a ‘wife’ and a woman as a ‘husband’; and the sending of government lawyers to the European Court to argue that wearing of a Cross was not a Christian requirement. There is intolerance of anyone with views other than his own.

All manner of restrictions are placed on Christians as street preachers are arrested; people are suspended from work for expressing their faith by word or symbol, whilst Muslim women are permitted to dress in a way which is contrary to that of women in this country in order to demonstrate their faith.

Public officials remove crosses from display lest it offends other faiths, although other faiths do not appear to worry and even support the display. Now some brain affected railway officials have removed a stain glass window from a railway station which portrayed a picture of a saint whose name glorified the city’s magnificent and famous Cathedral.

We have a judiciary who state that religious beliefs should not enter into consideration in political or judicial matters. Consequently there is a hue waiting list of children for fostering and adoption because parents wish to take them to Church or refuse to teach homosexual behaviour.

Our schools, which by law should hold assemblies of Christian ethos, are allowed to ignore the same; and when religious teaching is given it must contain all faiths, and now a judge has ruled atheism must be included in the school curriculum.

In the face of this the Church in this country has at national level remained largely silent, except for at least two bishops who have actively campaigned for same sex marriage, and encouraged clergy to participate, which one Vicar has done without any sanction or action having been taken against him.

We need indeed to pray for a revival, but as there is no leader nationally with enough charisma to show the way, each local Church must devise programmes of worship which will inspire a return of a strong Christian presence in this land once more.

Christmas message

I thank all who have turned to this site over the last year and read the words in the postings.

I wish you all a very happy, peaceful and blessed Christmas and hope you will join me again at the end of next week.

I would very much like to hear from any of you and so know the names at least to whom I writing.

The response from the United States has been an overwhelming factor and source of much encouragement, especially as often the content is primarily relating to the United Kingdom. Well might I say therefore, God bless America!

I hope those of you who kindly read from the UK will tell your friends, especially members of your Churches


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A bus on a road in Kenya was carrying people to a shopping centre when it was ambushed by a group of Islamist militants who stormed the bus and wanted to carry out their usual insidious practice of separating Muslims from Christians. They ordered all Muslims to one side, where they would test them to see if they could recite verses from the Qaur’an, and if they failed they would be taken away and shot, as we have seen in previous attacks.

On this occasion the plan failed as the Muslims were friends with the Christians and stated that the attackers must either shoot them all or none. The militants killed two and injured four, but the rest were released. The news media has not identified the faith of those killed.

If all Muslims were to act as nobly as those gallant ones did, what a much more peaceful world we would have, as well as greater inter-relationships between our two faiths.

Luke 3 v 7-18

Sunday next is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, and the theme is on John the Baptist. We do in fact honour John on the 24thJune, and on that day in Spain, which is still largely a Catholic country, they do so in style with ceremonial processions through the streets. John was a very special character in the Bible, being described by Jesus as ‘a prophet greater than any born of woman.’

A period of 400 years elapsed between the Old and New Testaments and John acted as a bridge between the prophecies of the Old Testament and the coming of the Messiah. God chose John to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus.
John attracted huge crowds to see and hear him; they came from all directions, North and South, East and West. They came from all levels of society

John was bold and fearless preacher giving a message of confession and repentance, and did so in the most direct way accusing them of being a brood of vipers, and told them there was a wrath to come. He was not one to seek popularity and attacked hypocrisy. Most preachers would rejoice in being able to emulate his appeal, although they would hesitate the language he used in today’s atmosphere where the least criticism raises accusations of phobia or bigotry.

The Church now needs Ministers like that who will give sound doctrinal teaching, not flinching from doing so and will not fear of what people might say. Jesus said, ‘woe unto you when men speak well of you’.

John spoke of God’s judgement and hell which is now considered to be offensive. I attended a meeting where there was stated to be a famous mural which was supposed to show sinners being chased into hell. I commented to several other Ministers that I could not understand it as it was faded somewhat. One answered that it was outdated as ‘we don’t preach about hell now’. When I said well I do, I received looks of horror as if I had landed from a strange plant. But we should acknowledge that when Jesus spoke about heaven, He invariably spoke of the alternative, hell. People would rather have smooth comforting words I accept, but a Minister’s duty is to say what should be heard instead of what people want to hear. People will never take notice until they are afraid of the consequences, and if we are silent we are betraying our calling.

Because of his successful appeal to people a delegation of priests was sent out to find out if he was acting in an orthodox manner. The Jews believed, and were proud of the fact, that they were God’s chosen people and He would one day send a Messiah who would be a great national leader who would lead them to world conquest. It was also believed that prior to the Messiah coming Elijah the great Old Testament prophet would come back to herald the Messiah’s coming.

The priests wanted to see who John actually was. When John spoke of baptism it was not the meaningless kind that is sometimes practised in churches today. Baptism was a symbol of admittance into the Christian faith, taken by someone who had come to need a personal Saviour in the person of Jesus Christ, who they would take into their hearts and lives and live according to His teaching.

John wasn’t concerned with numbers or adding to some Church roll, he wanted genuine commitments. The Bible is clear in all four gospels that the Christian life involved repentance and the following of a new way of life. If we analyse our lives we will find there are things we have said and done and sincerely wish we hadn’t, but there is nothing we can now do except pray that God will forgive us, and that others will accept our flaws.

The place where John ministered was way out in the wilderness a bleak and desolate place, living off the land, getting his clothing from wild camel and food from whatever grew there. There is a wilderness in many people’s hearts.

John calls us to a new life in Jesus Christ and it was with such a desire that people sought out John. Jesus can come to us in very different ways. It may be through a poster we noticed, which is why we need well thought out poster displays which will catch people’s eyes and strike them, and they ought to be relevant. Thousands have been led to Christ through reading posters placed on the London tube system by the London Christian Mission. Other people have been influenced by the words of a preacher, but the most telling witness is that of other Christians drawing in others by their way of life.

It is possible to become so engaged in religious activity dressing ourselves with religion without changing our hearts. Church attendance is essential and proper, but words without practice are of no merit. We Christians need to be more aggressive about our faith and be prepared to act and rebel as other faiths do when bloated bureaucrats try to stifle expression. We have to display in our manner of living we are Christians, and that extends throughout the whole week and not just on Sunday. Confession has to mean repentance and an honest intention not to go on committing. It is sheer hypocrisy to say sorry and then continue doing what we know is improper.

We are now approaching Christmas and the secularisation of it is almost complete, which is why all who hold the Christian faith dear must be prepared to support Christian worship. Advent is a time when we come out of the wilderness and be inspired by the ministry of John the Baptist.

For the past 45 years a school in Indiana has performed a Nativity play. This year a father with the aid of two left wing anti-Christian organisations filed a lawsuit objecting to the performance on the grounds of a violation of state and church separation.

A judge has upheld the complaint resulting no doubt in the sadness of other children, especially those who have rehearsed for parts in the play.

What a miserable, arrogant contemptible and self concerned man it must be that prevents little children from enjoying the season they look forward to so much. No doubt he will be celebrating himself with the secular indulgences, taking personal advantage of this Christian festival.

Personally I think the judge should have been a little more human and treated the complaint with the contempt it deserved.

The British Broadcasting Corporation is the State’s broadcasting network in this country and has a well established reputation for being biased in a left wing political sense, against Israel and Christianity. This was so blatantly displayed in a recent broadcast radio interview with a man named Barry Trayhorn and Libby from the Christian defence legal team of ‘Christian Concern.’

Barry was employed as a gardener for the Prison Service in Cambridge, and as he is a Pentecostal Church Minister, was allowed to take services in the Prison Chapel.

At one of the services he chose to speak on a verse in 1 Corinthians Chapter 9, which states among other words that a man should not sleep with another man. He must have been either naïve or seeking to be dismissed by speaking on this in a state institution, which of course he was. There was no way that quoting the Bible would be reckoned to be acceptable by a State institution in this country. (perhaps the Koran but not the Bible)

He agreed to be interviewed by a man named Iain Lee of Three Counties Radio, and similarly was Libby. I had never heard anyone being so rude, and aggressively rude. He would not allow either to answer properly; calling them bigoted, repulsive, obnoxious, and mocked the Bible as man written. Barry was totally out of his depth with such a man, and should never have gone near.

In the rarest action, the BBC responded to complaints, stating that the interview was totally unreasonable in manner and tone and apologised. For the BBC to utter an apology of this nature, shows how bad it was, and Lee had to do the same. I read he has since been removed from his breakfast show.
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David Cameron is ever anxious to speak of his Christian belief, which causes it to be asked why he allows massive foreign aid to be given to countries which discriminate against people because of their religious (Christian) beliefs contrary to the Universal Human Rights Charter. He is being asked by Lord Alton and Fiona Bruce MP to take action to stop giving aid to those countries.
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News reports regularly are telling that militant Islamic fighters are infiltrating the refugee influx into Europe, indeed ISIS have openly claimed their agents are being smuggled in.

News reports also tell that Christians are being slaughtered in such numbers in the Middle Eastern countries, apart from Israel that is, that soon Christianity will have been removed from the area.

We are used to hearing President Obama discrediting his Office and the great nation he represents, but one of his latest pronouncements reveals how much out of touch with feeling in his country. Referring to the admission of migrants from Syria into the United States,after other politicians had claimed priority for Christians,he is quoted in Britain’s leading liberal newspaper as saying, ‘when you see individuals in positions of responsibility suggesting Christians are more worthy of protection than Muslims are, it has to stop'.

He seems blind to the obvious in that if his country can only take so many people, Christians should have priority. Whilst no one should suffer for their faith, the situation in the Middle East is that Islamic terrorists are not killing Muslim people, but are killing Christians, in which case this alone determines priority. I seriously doubt that Obama is a Christian.

Despite Obama’s passion for same sex marriage and abortion, the United States is still a Christian country.
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Nissar Hussein, a father of six children,was set upon by hooded men armed with pickaxes when he went to move his car which he is forced to leave outside a police station in Bradford. He does that because his car was damaged severely more than six times, all because he converted to Christianity from Islam. He is now detained in hospital.
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The Christian Legal Centre is representing a street preacher who was convicted for a public order offence because he was preaching the gospel. At a previous Court hearing the judge convicted him because he referred to a verse in the Bible which the judge said he should not have done but use another verse instead. Effectively, the judge is trying to decide which verses can be quoted from the Bible. The appeal is tobe heard in December.
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The European Union is displaying its bias against Israel in a recent edict which requires good made in Israeli factories to bear the words, ‘made in the disputed territories’ rather than just ‘made in Israel’. What these blinkered bureaucrats do not either know or alternatively choose to ignore, is that such factories employ Palestinian workers who earn more than they would otherwise do so.
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HEBREWS 10 V 25

As members of a human family we like to meet with brothers and sisters in our parents’ home and as members of a Church family we should welcome the chance to meet with our Christian brothers and sisters.

A Church family is unique in that it consists of different ages, backgrounds, experiences and sexes. It is where God provides for us to be come equipped to carry out His message to the world. We sing praise together, pray for each other and for the worlds needs share bread and wine in Holy Communion and remember what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

We live in two worlds. We live in the earthly world but we also live in the world of the Spirit, and there is always the danger we can forget about God and become so involved in earthly activities.

The Bible says, ‘let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another’. We need to meet with others to have fellowship, to gain and give encouragement. Each of us has to make an effort. Most people believe in God and many have a respect for the Church, but that is as far as it goes. They don’t want God or the Church to intrude into their lives, unless of course they want a baptism or wedding and then both can become useful.

But just believing in God’s existence is not enough we have to draw near to Him and the only way is through Jesus Christ. There is one way, one Saviour, one way to eternal life.

Jesus is described in the Bible as the great High priest of God. The function of a priest is to be a bridge between God and man so that we can come into God’s presence and Jesus makes that possible. Jesus can take us into the very presence of His Father.

Some people treat Church like a petrol station. They go to refill their spiritual tanks, and although there are lots of people on the forecourt, don’t wan t to get involved with them, but just drive in fill up and shoot off.

There are many, far too many people in recent times, who have forsaken Church and it can be so very easy to give up, go with the flow and fall away. Once this is done it is often hard to get back into the practice of coming to Church. This is why the Bible urges the need for Christians to be with each other.

There are numerous reasons for people giving up worship. There are the cynical voices pouring scorn making people feel doubtful. There are forces of secularisation, now given so much attention and credence. There are pressures from within families where some members are anti-church, notably husbands regarding their wives. The worry about taking a public stand, and indeed, from within the Church itself.

I know a lady who was a wonderful practising Christian, as practical as one might be. Always the first to offer help when any member was unwell, or in difficulty. Very active in the Church, taking a leading role in all activities, social and religious. PCC Secretary, trained to be a Lay Reader, and then a new Vicar came to the Church with a wife who was one of the most unpleasant women I have ever met. She was intensely jealous of anyone likely to overshadow herself or husband, and made the other lady’s life so difficult she gave up attending a Church she had attended for many years. Perhaps the lady was wrong in not moving to another Church, but when you have been attending a Church for which you have become so attached, it can on a human scale be quite demoralising.

So we should not be tempted to separate ourselves from those who are joined to us by a common faith. Meeting and following Christ can be costly but mostly well rewarded. We must always be aware of the fact that in many parts of the world Churches cannot exist, nor can Christians meet with other Christians for fear of imprisonment or even death. Increasing hostility is being displayed in countries like Egypt, Pakistan, and Nigeria, where Churches are burned down and bombed. Here we still have freedom to worship, but if not cherished and valued and fought for will be lost.

We are living in an increasing anti-Christian environment with so called Equality and Diversity laws making it hard for Christians to express themselves, as public servants strive to find ways of excluding Christian expression.

Coming to Church should be like sons and daughters coming to meet with their (heavenly) Father in complete harmony. My sons regularly visit my wife and self, and I would be very concerned if they did not. Our heavenly Father is also upset when His children neglect Him.

But there is one thing I feel needs to be stressed. We should ensure the Church we attend is one faithful to God’s Word and seeks to build each other up through the Scriptures, and where the true gospel is preached.

We have to acknowledge however sadly this is not always the case, so it serves no purpose going to a Church which fails to do these things. Too many preachers have their own agenda, which is created around a morality not supported by Scripture, and where the teaching is given to subscribe to the culture of the day.

You must find a Bible based Church. Research in America has shown that going to Church and meeting with fellow believers is good for your health. A survey in North America of 4,000 people, found that older people especially who attended Church, were less depressed and far healthier that their non religious counterparts.

There are few people who can say with hand on heart I have no worries, problems, everything in my life is sunshine and roses. We all need spiritual fulfilment.. To all who are worried Jesus says, ‘come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls’ He is saying He is waiting for you and has got the help if you only will go to Him.

Jesus added, ‘take my yoke upon you’. A yoke was a wooden frame placed on a persons shoulder in order to make a load easier to carry. So Jesus is saying let me help you carry your burden. In John’s gospel we have the promise of Jesus that He will never turn anyone away.

Let us therefore draw near to God. holding firmly to your belief, and never give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us always give each other encouragement. Don’t let unpleasant people, secularists, or anyone else hold you back. Remember too, Jesus said if anyone rejected Him, He will one day reject them. Such a fate is too horrible to consider.