DO NOT CONFORM TO THE WORLD

THIS PHOTO IS OF A COTTAGE IN A TINY VILLAGE CALLED 'ALFRISTON' IN SUSSEX ENGLAND.
I have put it in here because it speaks of a bygone age!     And recently I have been considering how that time not only passes by, but at certain times seems to come to the end of a chapter, an age, an era.      THIS COTTAGE has stood for 800 years and seen time go by whilst remaining almost the SAME in its snug garden.    But different ERAS have seen changes in the world around it.   In its social life.   Things have gone on.     They have certainly gone on since I was born in May 1940.
I read just recently a comment from someone writing about those days and remembering what did not even EXIST then - ' No personal computers, no Internet, no cell phones, no calculators, no FM radio, no ATMs, no satellites - (until Sputnik), no Debit cards no cable TV, no MTV..........'      How DID people manage to live in those days without all this electronic and technical advance?    We lived very well indeed with less stress and perhaps less fear.     Just a hundred years and the whole world society has CHANGED even more radically and quickly than in the Industrial Revolution.     And by 1960 the introduction of Television began to shrink the world until now with mobile phones, the Internet, and Cable TV we can have the world IN our homes.      More than that we have speeded up the process of learning and 'knowing' EVERYTHING.          Reading in the PRESS we are confronted with what the Owners think will SELL the Paper -  Sensational news - mainly violent, corrupt, disappointing and tragic, and SEX.      Sex is probably number one - a close runner with Corruption.  
When I look at the photo above, and even remember my own childhood in the North and West of England between 1940 and 1960 I see little of what we endure in society today.      Of course crime and immorality and injustices existed.....but today it seems NOTHING ELSE EXISTS.      In this last few years we have seen civil unrest and political and religious terrorism destabilise the peace of the world.      The London Riots, still seem unbelievable.    But we have lived progressively with Famine, Disease, and Insurrection all over the globe.      And SINCE the 1960s it seems as if man cannot live apart from SEX.     Indeed Violence and SEX dominate our world scene.     And from sexual permissiveness and liberal manners awful statistics are available.      For example statistics show that adulterous behaviour is out of control.    The Kinsey Institute estimates that during their married lives 37% of American males will prove sexually unfaithful to their wives and 29% of their wives will commit adultery.
Adultery is family-obliterating behaviour that destroys the very heart of society, with devastating consequences for children.    According to social critic William Kirkpatric, divorce is "up 700% in this century, with most of the rise occurring in recent decades"   He also notes that "the pain of parental divorce is more difficult for a child to overcome than the death of a parent."        Teenage pregnancies are up worldwide, and with the the incidence of single parent 'families' rising.     AND more and more of those cases relating to people going on the rampage, killing without apparent reason, are found to be from 'one parent families.
THE WORLD has radically changed and LEFT BEHIND its old moral values and concepts.     This began I believe in the 40s, and began to be clearly SEEN in the 60s since when a NEW WORLD ORDER has come into being both in Political Science, and in MORAL and SPIRITUAL perception.     A BRAVE new world indeed.     Where is BEAUTY?    Where where is FAITHFULNESS?   Where is SPIRITUAL worth? As I have often felt in my heart - the evolutionary teaching that 'Men came from Apes and the Jungle' seems much less likely than that Men are turning to become APES, and are returning to the law of the Jungle.
Perhaps we should wake up with a start and realise what is happening to humanity - the Cartoon was drawn in 1922!

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THIS WEEK our weather has taken a turn for the better with deliciously warm and sunbathed days.

Also the Nation is quiet and slowly getting over the enormous shock of the West Gate Massacre.  BUT perhaps not feel quite as secure as before.       One of our old girls from Testimony House who is now a teacher away from here, lost her fiancee at West Gate.    He was there shopping and was one of those shot down.

ON WEDNESDAY OF THIS WEEK we received the three girls I mentioned Last Week.    They all arrived together with their Uncle and also their Pastor.       We officially Admitted them to the Homes, trusting that eventually the Children's Department will have them duly Committed to us via the Court.
PERIS, aged 16 is standing at the back of this photo, and to her left is Susan aged 13 and lastly Mary aged 8.     ALL three are suffering from severe Malnutrition, and Mary had been diagnosed as having HIV when she was born.     She had not been checked in all the years till now, but yesterday at our HIV/AIDS Ampath Clinic she was discovered to now be NEGATIVE.   Much Praise and Thanksgiving indeed.
Peris is staying now in Testimony House as part of their family, Susan in Tyndale Cottage and their family, and Mary in Drakeley Cottage and their family.    All three VERY happy and already settled in.     They have yet to be tested as to their academic ability and placed in their appropriate Class.    Not many weeks left of this last term - School closes on the 8th November.
We feel we have guided very much by the Holy Spirit in granting places for these sisters.    AMEN.!!

We also received a NEW cow calf last week.   Her poor mother unfortunately died giving birth to her, but the calf is strong and bright, and already the darling of all the children.     We still have THREE cows and three calves - one a bull calf.    All are doing well, and enjoying their new quarters in the boma near to Tyndale Cottage.     

LIFE HERE CONTINUES by His Grace, and His Love in and through you all.     The sun is shining, a light breeze like a breath of blessing moving about the compound, full of colour, freshness and peace.      It is as if 'time' stands still at times here.     His Word continues to order our lives and implant faith and confidence into all our hearts - no matter what is happening around us, or how adrift and alien the world might become.    The is something here in Testimony like the Cottage in the photo.   The World does batter upon our doors and fences at times, but we are KEPT by His Power, and so far we remain a WITNESS to the everlasting Commandments of God.

God Bless and be with each one of your, our dear friends, and co labourers with us.  

John and Esther