Update

SATURDAY, 31ST MAY 2008

FAILING TO ATTEND THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE

IS COWARDLY !

So comments Mr. Charles Njonjo, a one time Attorney General  for Kenya, and a respected member of the Anglican Church here.     He was writing in the Daily Nation about the failure of some of our Bishops to attend the Lambeth Conference of Bishops in London because of their stand against homosexuality.     He felt that their place was at the Conference standing up for their opinion instead of being an unheard opposition.     His arguments were fair and supportable.     But then right at the end he said -

'I find it impossible to keep quiet when people are frequently hounded, vilified, molested and even killed as targets of homophobia for something they did not choose - their sexual orientation.   Where is our Christian charity?

How sad it is that the church should be so obsessed with this particular issue of human sexuality when God's children are facing massive problems - poverty, disease, corruption and conflict.!'

 

One of our girls and one of our boys within the Testimony Family, both now grown up and living away, have recently publicly declared that they have chosen a GAY lifestyle.   They have CHOSEN it for themselves, although they might both say that have felt an inborn predisposition towards such a lifestyle.      Neither of them will suffer the loss of our affection, or prayer.     YET, we cannot say it has not brought heartache and disappointment to us as individuals and parents who can only see such a way of life as dangerously unnatural.       Mr. Njonjo is sympathetic towards those having such a disposition, saying they did not choose it, they were born with it.     But are we to give in to every unrighteous disposition that we might be born with?     Because we have inherited a bad temper, should we give in to it?    Because we have inherited sin are we to then put up with it without a fight?     Surely not.     To just give in is just as much a 'choice' as any other.   

It is also very easy to rationalize with sin and sinfulness, and in so doing to dilute true Righteousness, and degenerate the Image of God.       The current Archbishop of Canterbury has said that as long as a priest performs his priestly duties well and ably, then his private life is of no account.      Surely this cannot be?     Can a man or woman who is willingly given up to living below God's standards, be fit to stand as a Godly role model in front of the church and the world at large?

THE BIBLE refers to Homosexuality / Lesbianism as an 'ABOMINATION'.     Something in itself 'unnatural' and not meant to be.     As such it cannot be encouraged or praised; cannot be treated as being in fact what it ought to be.         I am talking about the ACT of homosexuality - the lifestyle - the habit.          To let a man or woman having such a lifestyle hold an office or position in society that is expected to reflect the Righteousness of God would be wrong.    IS wrong, in the sight of God.           Does this mean I must hate the homosexual man or woman, or as Njono suggests - hound, vilify, molest or even kill' such a one?    NO, of course not.     There IS room for Christian Charity, but it is not in telling the homosexual that he is doing good to indulge his homosexuality - or in encouraging him to do what is not meant or intended by God to be done.        We must not argue for the Image of God to remain damaged, but instead seek for its restoration and healing.         Isn't this why Christ came?       Some say that He came to forgive us, and in doing so it appears that the need to cease from sin has been removed - 'Because Grace abounds - shall sin continue?    Heaven forbid.'    

 

PAUL SAYS IN ROMANS 6v12

'Let not sin therefore rule as king in our mortal (short lived, perishable) bodies,

to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions

v.16 - Do you not know

that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will,

you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death

or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God?

v17 BUT THANK GOD,

though you were once slaves of sin,

you have become obedient with all your heart to the standard of teaching in which you were instructed, and to which you were committed

v18 - AND HAVING BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN,

you have become the servants of righteousness

(of conformity to the divine will in thought, purpose, and action)

(The Amplified Bible)

 

CHRIST CAME to provide the means for our FREEDOM and DELIVERANCE from SIN.     God has provided a WAY for every human being to be set free from his sinful inheritance.       It is not God's WILL that anyone should be unable to display and exhibit His Likeness.       He wants every man and woman and child to be like HIM in pure Righteousness.          But it is a choice He leaves with us, a choice that is left even to the called Christian - and remember 'MANY are called, but FEW are chosen.         We who are the Children of God are MEANT to be LIGHT THAT WILL ILLUMINATE THE PERSON AND CHARACTER OF GOD in a world that has forgotten and even sought to obliterate His memory.       Man has then gone on to forget Who he was made to represent and be like.

PAUL SAYS IN THE OPENING CHAPTER OF ROMANS, that men and women turn away from the NATURAL and meant use of each other's bodies when they LEAVE GOD OUT.      Homosexuality is not anything but a curse with which God curses those who have forgotten and set Him on one side to follow their own fleshly lusts - He GIVES SUCH PEOPLE UP to the lusts of their own hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring oft their bodies among themselves (abandoning them to the degrading power of sin - Romans 1v24 Amplified Bible).     In the Word of God it is not our 'sexual orientation' so much as the 'lust of our own hearts' that is the real problem for mankind.     Because of this 'he gave them over and abandoned them to vile affections and degrading passions -

for their women exchanged their natural function for an unnatural and abnormal one,

and the men also turned from natural relations with women and were set ablaze with lust for one another

men committing shameful acts with men and suffering in their own bodies and personalities the inevitable consequences and penalty of their wrong-doing and going astray

which was their fitting retribution.'      and so on to the end of the chapter!

 

KNOWING THESE THINGS, how can we not reveal them as charitably as we can, wanting -as God Himself does - that men might live and not die!        There are NO practicing homosexuals allowed admission into Eternal Life and the Presence of God.     No practicing sinner will be there with God.    1. Corinthians 6v9-11.   No one with the heart and mind to enjoy what God hates can possibly be able to stay where He is.    How CAN two live together unless they be AGREED.         Thus it is for the Christian to declare what God AGREES with, and what He does NOT agree with!      We are not to be silent about, or acquiescent to, the practice of SIN in the world and society around us.        We must not trade with it, or be seen to compromise or make allowances for it in our life IF we say God lives in us.      AND He has given us the Power to resist sin within our own selves that we might indeed be able Role Models.

 

IF I WERE A BISHOP IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNIION.

or even a humble curate

I would make sure I visibly stood my ground against the acceptance of sin in Society around me,

AND in the fraternity of all those standing for the Lord Jesus Christ as Ministers of Righteousness.

I would definitely be a Thorn in the Lambeth Conference.

I would not hide my light under a bucket - I would make sure I was SEEN and HEARD as well.

And this not only in regard to the practice of homosexuality, but in relation to ALL unrighteousness.

 

Poverty, Disease, Corruption and Conflict need to be fought and assuaged

BUT we have to remember they are the result of uncontested SIN in the world

They are the result of men living without God in mind and being yielded instead to the flesh.

Good Works are commendable

BUT without the GOSPEL preached lived and responded to Good Works will not save Mankind or the World.

 

I love Sinners.    I long to see their Salvation.     I reach out to them with compassion and not judgment, but I do admonish their sin as lovingly as I may, yet without trying to excuse it or support it.      Esther and I ask you to pray for us as 'parents' to those who have fallen into this and other pitfalls, and to pray for them also that even now the Lord will deliver them from the 'Trap of the Hunter'

 

 

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AND NOW THE END OF MAY HAS COME!

Month has succeeded month so quickly this year.       We are already half way through the second School Term.     To day four of our children (all from Testimony House) have moved out into their own apartments in Eldoret Town and surrounds.       They all seemed quite ready for it, and excited at the prospect of looking after their own place.       They have been out earning their living for three months already, and have been able to gather together the basic necessities they need .     It is a beginning.     Not an easy transition, but they are all within easy reach of us, and we will see them often I am sure.      We have had a party for them and prayed for them and given them our blessing.        SOON four new children will come in to take their place.       There are always MORE children - more and more children.      Even so come Lord Jesus.

 

Steven Stuma and his wife Emily came to have supper with Esther and me this week.     We had a really lovely evening together.       They had left one of our Relief Houseparents with their little family whilst they were with us, so they felt quite safe.     Steven spent a good number of years in Testimony House when Esther and I were parents there.     He is as a son to us, and indeed Emily is a lovely daughter in law.    It is a comfort to see them with a House now of their own, and we laughed and cried together remembering years gone by, and the experiences both good and bad that were part of 'family life' then, and those that are now part of their own daily lives.      We felt very encouraged,     We thanked God.        We are hoping to replicate the blessing with all the Houseparents, family by family as weeks go by, and of course we shall also be visiting their Homes as well.       This will enable us to deepen the love and unity that we long to see built up more and more.

 

In Kenya petrol is currently selling at approx. Ksh.105/- per litre, which again is approximately 50p less then you will  be paying in the Uk.         However relatively this is still VERY high in relation to the cost of living here, and as I have said last week sent all costs upwards.       This has caused us to look at the way we use the vehicles ourselves, and we have managed to make a considerable saving on re-organising our visits to town and around.      This together with a few other economies have helped us to save about £1,000 a month.      Amazing what you can do when you try, and of course it has also opened our eyes to many other things which have been good for us all as stewards of the Kingdom of Heaven.        We have also decided to change our main household supplier of general household commodities.      Quite a juggling act - and just heard meat will rise by Ksh.15/- per kilo next week.       Wow! win some - lose some.     But in the END all is balanced and provided for.          I hope you will not mind me sharing a few factors from time to time, as I feel many of you need to see that even though, in the main, cost of living is cheaper than it is in the States and Europe, it does fluctuate and affect us just as it must be doing there with you.    The whole world is heaving with a great deal of uncertainty and economic indigestion!          Esther and I were talking about it last night, and beginning to feel a bit glum.     But then the Lord spoke to us and asked us what we were bothered about.        No matter what happened HE held us, and all that belonged to Him, in His own hands.    He would not let anything fall.      Immediately we relaxed, and realised what an amazing life we have.

What a wonderful Lord He is.

 

Monday is a National Holiday for us in Kenya.     School will be closed.   JUNE will have begun.     This is the month we hold our A.G.M. as a Society, and also it is the month we have to write a full Annual Report of our work and ministry to the Government plus Annual Returns to Tax and other related Government Departments.    Quite a bit of red tape this month.      Not my favourite month, but we will find much to Praise Him for I know.

 

We pray His Presence and Richest Blessings on you all.

 

 

John and Esther

 

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