OUR DAUGHTER ELISABETH, aged about 6 years, with two close friends from the Testimony House Family. Sarah to the left and Catherine Senge on the right - both a little younger. This was taken in the year 1982, twenty seven years ago. Time goes by, and children GROW up. Elisabeth now with two children of her own, Sarah also a mother of (twins) working in Mombasa in Banking, and Catherine workin
g with TFH as the Mother of Tyndale Cottage. Catherine is married to Mika Yego, and they have worked together in Tyndale Cottage as Mum and Dad to 30 children since they married in 2003. TODAY Catherine has given birth to their own FIRSTBORN SON. SUCH joy ! Such very real HAPPINESS. ALL their thirty children already shouting and laughing with sheer delight at having a NEW baby brother in the family! SARAH w
ith her twins, to the left is working with the Co-op Bank Ltd. She is in fact heading up a new Branch in Mombasa, but home is still in 
Eldoret. So, at least for the moment her twins are still in Nursery School here in Testimony. And LIZ is back in the UK with HER family, all still living and working in Rochdale, Lancashire. All remain friends and 'sisters'. GREAT to see all three grown into motherhood, and into such wonderful people. It is the LORD our God that has enabled them to GROW. We feel SO proud of them all. Esther and I are blessed to have so many of our 'babies' gro
wn up around us, but we DO also feel the miss of our very own who are so far away. And for me, I guess I miss my Lizzy the most - hope all my sons will forgive that little bias on my part. I guess daughters ARE special, and perhaps they are (from a father's point of view) a bit more doting or affectionate than our manly sons.......? But we love and appreciate each and every one. AND even those who remained in our Family Homes after they became 18 did not seem to have caused those growing up behind them in the family any undue suffering or imposition. Nor have any of them seemed to be any the worse for staying on until they felt strong enough and equipped enough to leave. For the most part most seem to be very normal, well balanced, responsible adults. This is what we expected would be the case; it is the result of a normal upbringing under as near normal circumstances as possible. It has worked. SOCIOLOGISTS please take note - Child Welfare Services TAKE NOTE.
ith her twins, to the left is working with the Co-op Bank Ltd. She is in fact heading up a new Branch in Mombasa, but home is still in 
Eldoret. So, at least for the moment her twins are still in Nursery School here in Testimony. And LIZ is back in the UK with HER family, all still living and working in Rochdale, Lancashire. All remain friends and 'sisters'. GREAT to see all three grown into motherhood, and into such wonderful people. It is the LORD our God that has enabled them to GROW. We feel SO proud of them all. Esther and I are blessed to have so many of our 'babies' gro
wn up around us, but we DO also feel the miss of our very own who are so far away. And for me, I guess I miss my Lizzy the most - hope all my sons will forgive that little bias on my part. I guess daughters ARE special, and perhaps they are (from a father's point of view) a bit more doting or affectionate than our manly sons.......? But we love and appreciate each and every one. AND even those who remained in our Family Homes after they became 18 did not seem to have caused those growing up behind them in the family any undue suffering or imposition. Nor have any of them seemed to be any the worse for staying on until they felt strong enough and equipped enough to leave. For the most part most seem to be very normal, well balanced, responsible adults. This is what we expected would be the case; it is the result of a normal upbringing under as near normal circumstances as possible. It has worked. SOCIOLOGISTS please take note - Child Welfare Services TAKE NOTE.THIS WEEK a woman living in northern Italy obtained Judgement an
d damages from the E.U. Court in which 7 judges agreed she was right to object to her child having to sit in school classrooms adorned with a crucifix. She is an atheist, felt it was unjust for her son to have to learn under a religious symbol to which he did not subscribe. It was an abuse of his human rights, and a risk to his psychological and sociological development. General outcry from the Catholic populace, but it seems the Judgment might carry even - after an Appeal........ IS CHRISTIANITY UNDER ATTACK? Certainly it might seem that it is not a popular religion or even philosophy. And now the European Union is poised to RULE on its practice and presentation within the confines of a constitutionally Christian Nation. Going that way in the UK as well. We may not wear jewelery such as a gold cross, or in any way draw attention to Christ or even our personal faith if it 'might' offend another viewpoint. Christianity could seem to be being put to death, rather like the Jewish People who went to the Gas Chambers, sheepishly without a protest or a visible concern. Yet RELIGION generally seems still to be tolerated.......... And of course when Antichrist finally becomes identifiable on our world scene HE will want to be worshipped.......there will still be religion - NOT Christian or Jewish, perhaps not even Islamic or any other either - but a form of religion for all that. WHERE is the world going? Where is Europe going - and the United Kingdom, and the United States ? Christianity is slowly being diluted, dismantled, and even obliterated worldwide. And I am not going to get started on any kind of religious or nationally divisive argument. I do not need to do so, since what is happening is bringing upon us all such complexity of DIVISION that together with the general collapse of the natural world in which we exist, will also come social degeneration and conflict on an increasing scale. What we have now called Human Rights is now more than all LAW and Order.
d damages from the E.U. Court in which 7 judges agreed she was right to object to her child having to sit in school classrooms adorned with a crucifix. She is an atheist, felt it was unjust for her son to have to learn under a religious symbol to which he did not subscribe. It was an abuse of his human rights, and a risk to his psychological and sociological development. General outcry from the Catholic populace, but it seems the Judgment might carry even - after an Appeal........ IS CHRISTIANITY UNDER ATTACK? Certainly it might seem that it is not a popular religion or even philosophy. And now the European Union is poised to RULE on its practice and presentation within the confines of a constitutionally Christian Nation. Going that way in the UK as well. We may not wear jewelery such as a gold cross, or in any way draw attention to Christ or even our personal faith if it 'might' offend another viewpoint. Christianity could seem to be being put to death, rather like the Jewish People who went to the Gas Chambers, sheepishly without a protest or a visible concern. Yet RELIGION generally seems still to be tolerated.......... And of course when Antichrist finally becomes identifiable on our world scene HE will want to be worshipped.......there will still be religion - NOT Christian or Jewish, perhaps not even Islamic or any other either - but a form of religion for all that. WHERE is the world going? Where is Europe going - and the United Kingdom, and the United States ? Christianity is slowly being diluted, dismantled, and even obliterated worldwide. And I am not going to get started on any kind of religious or nationally divisive argument. I do not need to do so, since what is happening is bringing upon us all such complexity of DIVISION that together with the general collapse of the natural world in which we exist, will also come social degeneration and conflict on an increasing scale. What we have now called Human Rights is now more than all LAW and Order.The dwindling Christian Presence in the world, even in the WEST has lost its way and its VOICE. In Islamic Countries all other religious pronouncements are suppressed, even disallowed. Not so in Christian Countries, where it seems it is fashionable to be religiously self effacing and accommodating, even to the extent of permitting one's own national identity to be in question. But then perhaps Christianity has actually lost ground, and individual significance ignored nationally in those Countries nominally known to be 'Christian'. Unlike Islam for example, our children in the UK and North America are not brought up in the Faith of their fathers - are not taught the Word of God and are increasingly unable to celebrate Christian Festivals or to even observe them. The fault of our Governments, or ourselves?
BUT, I AM for GOD! I want to Honour God, and to see Him sought after by ALL. One does not need to observe religion for that to happen. Should one lift up the Cross in the face of those who do not believe in what it speaks to the Christian about, even though it 'might' to offend them or their 'feelings'? YES - I cannot reason otherwise, because the CROSS is central to the Salvation of ALL men - all men that ARE sinners! All men, women and children NEED to be saved from their sin, whether they know it or not. To HIDE the cross is to hide the TRUTH, and to diminish it, and perhaps even to silence it. The Apostle Paul once wrote these words -
'I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing
to make a display of the knowledge of nothing,
and to be conscious of nothing) among you
except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.'
1. Corinthians 2v2 - The Bible.
It is the CROSS on which Christ paid the price for ALL our SIN which, when it is lifted up and drawn attention to, draws all Men (all Men that seek GOD, and are conscious of their sinfulness). It is not a church, a mosque, a synagogue or temple; it is not a set of religious rules and traditions that can achieve this. It is through the Cross we all come to the knowledge of sins forgiven as we look, appreciate, and own what was done there for each and every human being in and for the Love of God. There we LEARN of God's Love, Mercy and Justice. There we learn that God has no favourites, and that His mercy is for all men everywhere. Nothing barrs Him from loving any one of us from any tribe, nation or faith. He died to ransom me, and you, and all mankind past, present and future. All we need to do is to believe, and then we can embrace each other as brothers and sisters equally before God. We need to humble ourselves and say Thank you God for loving me, NOW give me a life and heart to love everyone else.
WE love you all too!
John & Esther
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