LAW AND ORDER

THIS LAST WEEK the British LAW SOCIETY has suggested Guidelines that would commence letting in  Islamic SHARIA LAW to be observed side by side with British Law.    Many cries have gone up in protest.    'THIS is a Country with a Christian Tradition and heritage.!' To be under Sharia Law would be to return to the Stone Age!'  'THIS is England!  We have our OWN law!'  To air but a view.  There are MANY more.   I am sure even you will have your own view.
It is, of course, a RELIGIOUS matter more than political.      To be a true Muslim is to observe the Koran, and the Koran, for the most part will require obedience to its 'Law' the Law of Allah - the Shariah Law.       In Islamic Countries, Law based on the Koran is the order of the day.    And in SOME such Nations it is the Sharia Law that holds sway.   This is in many ways understandable, and although it may be strange, even unacceptable to one from a Christian or other Country following a different Legal Tradition based on different Religious concepts and laws, it has at least to be respected.
BUT the LAW we live under affects to LIFE we live as well.   It enforces standards and ethics that lie at the base of our human expectation of Justice.      The Koranic Laws have more in common with the Law of Moses in their harshness - a harshness meant to deter and even prevent the prevalence of crime.      To the modern Western world with a Christian heritage it is a Law TOO HARSH to be accepted.      In the last 50 years this has even seen to be the harsher as the West has rejected the Death Penalty for murder, Corporal Punishment at School and at home, and a growing permissive attitude to Divorce, Homosexuality, and Abortion.     This has indeed distanced us from the Islamic attitude in regard to what displeases God - and what is even conducive to a moral and settled society.
They have remained Legalistically tied to the Letter and Law - they have not grown in discovering the TRULY Loving and Merciful Heart of God.    Obviously I cannot examine or discuss the ins and outs of our two very differing paths of development, or even understanding of WHO God is and WHAT He is like.        Even Christianity can be 'legalistic' -  but JESUS, whilst upholding the Ten Commandments' said there was MORE to living IN the Law than just ENFORCING it.   It had to be kept and enforced IN THE SPIRIT OF GOD - in His Love.          Our path has been marked out by God in and through JESUS, His Life and Words.     This has given a new dimension to Justice - WE have a concept of God's Justice, tempered with Mercy and GRACE.  

In Society we have those who identify with Race, Colour, and Religion.     Among them are those who will be less or more intense about how they permit these things to dictate to their life and thought.
Even in Christianity there is an enormous difference of expression and even belief.     AND, as I said before many of them are VERY legalistic.    Others Traditional, and still others divided by all kinds of interpretation of what God requires of them.    To a great degree the modern Christian, the Church goer, has been conditioned to see Christ as a loving, do-gooder;  Someone kindly, forgiving, and charitable.       BUT in truth the Christian IS required to remember the LAW, and to DO it, as well as to love and be merciful, and full of grace in his/her dealings with his/her neighbour.   Jesus did not throw the Law out of the spiritual Window;  He testified to a Judge, and to a Judgement.   He came to help us all to avoid that Judgement.         Indeed it might be said of the 'Christian' that he has lost his Way, and forgotten his God, as he has sought his own secular enjoyment and pleasure, and to lose sight of Who Christ really is, and WHY He came to this Earth in the first place.

In all this it is only emphasised how sinful we all are by nature, and how prone to still we still are given the opportunity.    

In KENYA we are multi racial and religious society.        More than 200 different Christian Denominations,  Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others,     Where at times violence breaks out in a community, it is often due to a difference in the way some understand LAW.

WHEN WE OPENED Testimony School, we opened it as a Christian School; a School that would not only follow the Kenya Academic School Curriculum, but a School that would also present Jesus Christ, to the exclusion of all others.        ANYONE could learn in our School, but ALL would attend Christian Education Class, and weekly Christian Union Meetings.    They would also attend morning Assembly and join Christian Prayers and listen to the Word of God as written in the Bible.     Every parent bringing a child to learn with us from outside in the community, has to sign on the Admission Form that they AGREE to this - and we have a VERY mixed School population.
NO ONE seemed to resent our demands or find them offensive.
THEN one day a Representative of the Hindu Community came to request us to open up an opportunity for one of their Sadhus to open up a Class for Hindu students on a weekly basis.  We said that we could not do this, as we were a Christian School.      She was very upset and took her complaint to the Education Board in Town.    I was called to account.      I explained that the Constitution guaranteed Religious Freedom.    Our School was Christian School.  It did not bar other students of other faiths from attending, but did not make provision for other faiths to be taught.     There were Hindu and Islamic School in Town where parents of those faiths could send their child.     SOME of those schools would not even ACCEPT a Christian.       WE explained the situation to every prospective parent, and without exception all had happily signed up to our conditions and rules.   We had a VERY happy and supportive parent and student body.       There was no further argument.   We have continued to enjoy a mixed student and parent body without complaint of any kind.
IT IS POSSIBLE for people to live together no matter what their differences are.     We need to have the option to choose our path.    We have need not to FORCE our beliefs on one another.   To a degree it can be LIVE and let live!      On the other hand we may have to honest with ourselves in the choices we make.        If England is Christian, why insist that England becomes Buddhist?    By all means build a temple, and worship as you wish if it is possible - otherwise why not choose another Buddhist Country to stay in.        People who are unaware of the Islamic Faith fear Sharia Law - with good reason. Such people would be foolish to move to Iran.       OH that we could all live in peace, but these last years prove the opposite.     Things WILL worsen in these respects.    Be READY, and prepare yourself as to how you will react.

JESUS WAS OFFERED DRUGS on the cross to alleviate his suffering.    He REFUSED.    Many have written about this even suggesting Christ was a 'drug addict'.     BUT we know that although he was tempted in every way just as we ourselves are, yet He never gave in to the temptation.    HE was not a Druggy.   He turned away from anything and everything that might distort, spoil, or destroy the Image of God in Him.

THIS YEAR we have seen many of our boys and girls both from inside and outside the Homes, bringing CANNABIS into the School, and into their lives.     We have seen promising minds and intellects blown away, and personalities and character suddenly changed and altered.      It has been quite a challenge.   We are still working on it.     We have been told that this drug is to be more and more legalised.    It is being hailed as a NEW Medicinal Wonder drug.      WELL this is not the truth for those under 18 - for them it is a danger - more it is will potentially ruin their lives. Here are a few of the things CANNABIS, Marijuana, Bhangi will do for your kids -
Continued use can affect memory, attention and ability to think clearly, making it difficult to concentrate, learn new things, and make sound decisions.     It affects movement and balance whilst smoking or drinking.  It produces a moderate reduction in I.Q.      
It produces a poorer (not better) performance in school.   Results in increased absenteeism from School, and increases risk of dropping out of School, College without graduating.
It also contributes to impaired emotional development, general dissatisfaction with life, and an increased likelihood to suffer from depression, anxiety, psychosis and other mental illness. THIS IS ENOUGH IN MY OPINION TO MAKE IT WORTH BANNING, SUPPRESSING, and even OUTLAWING.

BUT this drug is addictive; hard to give up once you start seriously to take it.   Once your are 'hooked' you are on the way DOWN towards even worse, even more destructive hard core drugs such as Heroin and Cocaine.!!!       And, yes, Eldoret is full of the worst moral and social evils.    From a small, quiet market town of 40,000 in 1972,  to a bustling small city of one million thriving on every evil trade. This has demonstrated a downward trend in our society generally, throughout the Country.    PRAY for OUR children.     Pray also for your own.

In School we have of course worked hard to get the co-operation of our parents, and in School we have done our best to set up a good Counselling Service and also commenced an Awareness Project.
We see clearly the thrust of the Enemy in all that is coming upon the children of our world.   We know this is not some unmotivated, natural world wide development.      This is a planned environmental attack using the media, and the general collapse of a god conscious population.     AND it is not only the West or 'Christian' World that is under this attack - it is worldwide.      We have another drug on the market here - from Asia.    It is known as KUBER.   Perhaps not SO dangerous, but certainly a good introduction to more risky solutions, and also contains an element of Cannabis.
KUBER is a smokeless chewing tobacco containing up to 25% nicotine, making it (once again) highly addictive.     It also contains up 28 different cancer causing agents, and users take in up to three to four times more nicotine than a cigarette.    It has already been banished from Malawi and Tanzania.
What are its Effects?
MAINLY Delusions, Hallucinations, and lowered inhibitions.     Additional side effects, can be Dizziness, Headaches, Drowsiness, Gum bleeding and week teeth.      LONG TERM effects can produce Discolouration of Teeth, Cervical Cancer, Infertility, and Mouth & Throat Cancer.

When JESUS died on that Cross He knew what He was doing.   He was not on drugs.   He knew what He was doing, and He did it for me, for you, and for our children.    HE knows the Way out and away from sin, and from the destruction it wreaks.    HE knows how to get the better of drugs and drug addiction. If Jesus lives in us, we also have the POWER to turn away and RESIST the temptation of drugs.         If Jesus is LIVING in us ?   THIS is the real question, for without HIM we can - non of us  - achieve anything.

EASTER is not far.     Pray for NEW LIFE to engulf us all.    

Our love to you all in His Wonderful Name


John, Esther, and Daryl Green

MOTHER AND CHILD

ON THE 17th  MARCH our little daughter Helen (Tweety-pie), now twenty five, gave birth to a little daughter named Abigail.   Helen is a 'single parent'.       She, like myself, never saw he own Mother or Father.   She was just abandoned in the hospital.    Since then she has been our daughter, and today she is back with us, plus baby.    Distressed as she has been in her situation, she has been delighted and thrilled to receive her very own child and daughter.    THIS little child HAS a loving Mother.
Some years back I addressed the Mothers Union of the Anglican Diocese here in Eldoret.   I spoke to them on 'Mother and Child'.   I challenged them, and I now repeat the Challenge here in this week's Blog.

 IS the Fire of Heavenly Love Burning in our Soul?'

'Can a woman forget her sucking child,

that she should not have compassion

on the son of her womb?

Yea, they may forget.

YET I WILL NOT FORGET THEE - Isaiah 49v15

IN JAMES 1v27 (Bible New Testament) James briefly describes pure religion.   He writes and says that it is  ' To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself un-spotted from the world.'   No doubt he would think even a Motherless child might need even greater charity.

When I came to Western Kenya is 1968 I found children in need, but the most of them were cared for by their immediate community.   The Extended Family Tradition still worked for the orphan and widow then.   Even in Eldoret in 1972 there were no children living on the Streets, destitute.    BUT with the increase in Urbanisation things changed quickly.   Old values began to break down, until in this present day they have all but disappeared, so that Adultery, Divorce, and plain Prostitution are the order of the day.  Home-life continues to be threatened, and children are forced to become adults before they have truly understood their childhood, or family life.  Some, a growing number, will never know the love or security of their own home and family.

With more than THREE million children homeless right now, in Kenya, a problem affecting future society, faces the Nation as a whole.   The Government is propagating Fostering and Adoption as the way forward to combat this situation.   FOUR YEARS ago the then Vice President of Kenya said that in his opinion, by the year 2020, ALL children now on the Nations streets would then be with 'Foster-parents' and Children's Orphanages would be non existent.      Even with the inducement of proffered financial help in caring for an orphan or destitute child we are discovering it isn't working out the way the Government envisaged.     Children still flood our streets.   The number of needy children without home or proper care increases daily.  

WHERE IS THE FIRE OF HEAVENLY LOVE?   Where are the Christians that truly Love and Care for each other - or is it that they ONLY care for those of their own Denomination?    Selective Christians loving their OWN little group, or clan - a kind of Christian Tribalism.   Look at Isaiah 58v6 with me for a moment.   THIS IS STRONG STUFF FOR LENT!!!!
Soon to end _ Lent I mean, a season for going without prior to Easter. Those who observe it will once more be free to take up their self pleasing and comfortable life.   Free to break the fast, so to speak, and once more free to indulge themselves at Christ's expense.
BUT GOD has another idea altogether about Fasting and what it entails.
He says in this Scripture -THIS is the fast I am looking for .....

'THAT YOU undo the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens,

and let the oppressed go free AND that YOU break every yoke.

IT IS TO give YOUR bread to the hungry

Bring the poor into YOUR house

That YOU cover the naked.....'

There is a great deal in this chapter to get to grips with in our confined and selfish lives.   Let me ask you, humbly and meekly as Jesus might - DO YOU have room in your home for a motherless child, a hungry child, a naked child?   Do you have the means to reach out to single mother?  And, of course, this is just the very beginning......

IS THE FIRE OF HEAVENLY LOVE BURNING IN YOUR HEART for each other.     For your neighbour, Christian or otherwise?

The Bible encourages us NOT TO LET THAT FIRE GO OUT!
How COLD is your heart right now?  How impervious to the drift of what I am sharing here?  Or is there yet a little warmth left there; a little warmth that might be kindled into a FLAME OF HEAVENLY LOVE.

When I had been in Kenya a Year I was unsatisfied and a little disillusioned.   Life in Kenya was NOT what I had dreamt it might be.   My personal ego felt let down, and I was missing home.   IF I had given in then to the dictates of my carnal self; if I had not stopped feeling sorry for myself, I would have completely MISSED out.    The Fire of Heavenly Love would never have even sparked in my soul.   I would never have come across children whose lives had been damaged and injured;
I would not have met my wife, and we would never have built a home together for our very own three children - a home that expanded into an ever expanding family as more and more homeless children squeezed themselves into our hearts and lives.    Between 1972 and 1998 our family rarely numbered less than than some 40 or 50 children.    And since then we have added space for some hundred or so more so that there are now FOUR family homes.      How have we been able to do this?    We had no income of our own.    No, we just had to trust God that as each child that came, GOD would provide for according to Matthew 6v6.     And He did!   He does it still.     We tell HIM our needs, and He arranges for us to receive.    We make no Appeal or Request to any other than God in Heaven.
.    
I had started to take in children just six months before I first met Esther, my wife and partner.    When we came to discuss marriage we had to agree on a few very important matters affecting the future.
I WAS CARING FOR 28 KIDS BY THEN, and each one needed love, patience and long suffering. Some would be a disappointment;  each was a potential heart-breaker.
COULD WE make our own home and family the home and family of ANY other child God might send to us ...?    Not all would be able to accept us as parents, or our family as theirs - there would be set backs, problems and tensions - even total rejection.   Should we, could we, expose OUR children to such an atmosphere?
Could we be willing to forgo our own family privacy, freedom?  
Could we be willing to do our best to treat our own kids and the kids of strangers with us, just the same, and to love them all equally?
Could we be willing to TRY and give to children who had lost home and family another chance to have just what they had lost - a home and family?
We said a rather diffident YES to it all - not beginning to realise just how much more it would take than we had expected.     WE did not succeed perfectly, BUT much has been done, countless hopeless lives given hope and comfort, and a chance to find happiness.
We TRIED, and we adventured ourselves, hand in hand with Jesus.   WE sometimes suffered doing it!
At times we might have run away.........but as we prayed for strength He had compassion also upon us, and BLEW upon the dying embers of our human love, and His Heavenly Flame was enlivened within our hearts and the FIRE of Heavenly Love once more sprang up within us, and we carried on.   WITHOUT HIM we would indeed have achieved NOTHING at all.

WHAT might YOU do now for the needy - both the young and the old!?
You might do it together, as the Anglican Women do in the Mother's Union.    You might be moved individually, to open your home, and fast from your ownership and personal privacy.   Remember to receive Christ is to receive God's Holy Spirit into your very being.    He will come in as a FIRE of Heavenly LOVE, to set YOU on fire for each other, for your brother and sister in Christ, AND for your neighbour.     If you let it, it WILL burn forever until you reach your heavenly destination, there to SHINE the more, for ever, as a STAR that never dims.     Especially, my Sisters and Mothers in Christ, BURN for Jesus.    Reach out to those in need around you.    Share with them what you have, and see them prosper.  Take care NOT to quench the Spirit within you.

Our FATHER in Heaven grant you ALL a very special and thoughtful week.    EASTER is not too far away - may we enter into it with something new in our heart.

John and Esther and Daryl

PS- photo of Abigail taken the day after she was born.    She is
a hungry baby with a lusty cry that brooks no stopping till she is back to sucking once more.  After getting what she wants she is quiet, quick to sleep and no trouble at all - like most of us I suppose.    Mother doing very well, and already set on spoiling her little daughter..

IN FORGETTING OUR NEIGHBOUR WE FORGET GOD.

FORTY YEARS AGO Moses was in the 2nd term of a two years Course with the Nairobi Christian Industrial Training Centre.   He was then about 18.    He had come to stay with us five years before having already completed his Primary Education.   I still have a letter he wrote to us that year, written in the midst of his Course -
'........and what you said really burned my heart; as you said that you and Mum want me to have a good and clean life, in which God can Bless me abundantly with joy, a good wife, and a happy home and family in the future.  I tell you Daddy, I thank you very much for the word that you have been preaching to us.   I really know that my body is a part of Christ's Body, and that it is the temple of God.    All around us here in Majengo (a part of Nairobi) all the young people are occupied with sex and prostitution.   I am so glad because I was Saved before I came here.      My life is hidden in the Lord - I truly cannot join HIM to a prostitute.'
IN MY DIARY I had written - 'When Moses went to Nairobi in January this year, we really did fear for him. The locality in Majengo was very bad, and notoriously immoral.   It brimmed over with fleshly temptations of all kinds.  We have followed him in prayer, but we have come to realise the terrors facing many parents to day, who watch their children leave the shelter of home and family, and Christian influence, for the wide open world in which they must seek to stand, and eventually make a living.  (much worse now in 2014)

It has been a GREAT JOY to us to see Moses standing so firm upon the Rock of his Foundation, our LOVELY JESUS.   Praise His Name.    We hear that Moses is continuing to win many to Christ in the BIG City.'

Moses went on to complete his Course in Painting & Signwriting and soon afterwards married the love of his life.    He became a teacher in his craft, and eventually a Lecturer.      But the real GOAL was always to WITNESS for Christ.       He now has a Church in Nairobi, Bishop of many churches he has himself planted and watered with the Word of God. He has also a Bible College AND a Children's Home, with his headquarters in another grimy and depressed area of Nairobi.     He has held on to his Faith in Christ, held on to the wife of his youth, and has enjoyed a family full of children and happiness.    God has walked with him and answered all his prayers.    Now 58 he has not faltered.   He remains a LIGHT in a dark place.

INTERESTINGLY my Diary reports, on the same day in 1974 on another Letter received.  Perhaps it might be still relevant to include part of what was written here.
'NOW HOW ABOUT THIS?   (it begins)!    This is an extract from a recent Letter sent to us by Christian friends  -

".....We do not find anywhere in the Word that we should 

found Schools, Hospital, Orphanages etc..., to win the lost.

It has been said that the lost will not listen to us if we take no thought

 for temporal things, but this is not true.

Ministers are to preach the Word.   It is easy to get side tracked.

Be careful about this!"

Wherever your opinion may be in respect of this comment, I feel that a ministry such as ours can and does contribute to the winning of souls - After all just consider how many MOSES has been able to win?

IN 1974 MY Diary rambled on a little to say........

'Many established church denominations ARE involved in social work to such an extent that they have left preaching the gospel.   This is true.   HOWEVER, we feel that if more Born Again Believers were engaged in Social Work then much MORE would effectively be done for Christ.   Social Work without God is work without faith.    It is useless, and from the world problems around us we see the obvious truth of this.   BUT Social Work WITH God demonstrates work WITH Faith - it is total involvement of God and Man with Man!

Testimony Faith Homes is a Gospel furthering work seeking to further the Gospel in and through the lives of those God brings to our door, as well as through the written and spoken Word of God.   We feel it best for God to care for the poor and needy than for the Devil to do so!

We do feel this is an 'easy' task  (we would still say the same today).   There are heartaches and sorrows many times,     Not every child responds to God.   Each is an individual.   Some actually run away from us as thieves, leaving us feeling failures even though the 'seed' of God's Word was sown in them, and they leave still with more than they initially came with.     We continue to pray on for them, knowing that the LORD still seeks after them.'     And MOSES yet stands in sinful Nairobi  -  not ALL the ground is hard, not all the seed sown is without harvest.

FORTY YEARS AGO!    .  And today in 2014 there are still heartaches, hurts and tears because of those who stop their ears from hearing and their eyes from seeing,    BUT as we look at those who have left us WITH Jesus in their hearts and lives, and even those who left without believing, only to be found of Him later, -- THEN our heart is filled with Joy and all our sorrows are as nothing compared.   In the last THREE WEEKS we have had to come to terms with possible closure of this ministry!     Funds were still coming, but every month outgoings have been more than receipts.  Bills began to mount up.      This had been a trend for more than six month's in fact, and there was need for us to KNOW what WE should do.      Well even the disciples got to the point of seeing the possibility of the ship going down with all hands - THEY also cried out..        And in the midst of OUR crying out the Lord laid our worry to rest, and the 'storm' of apprehension we had been enduring subsided.   'Oh ye of little faith!"     Yes, even after forty years of similar upsets and challenges.     BUT how wonderful that HE is able to PROVE HIMSELF in being with us, and in having everything under His control.  And we thank all those who work hand in hand with Him to give us such evidence.

TWO NIGHTS ago we suffered a severe electrical storm of wind and rain.   It continued through the night, died down to a cold and cloudy day following, and now TODAY the sun is shining once more, though there ARE clouds around.    Might be the early beginning of the RAINY SEASON, or maybe just a little hic-up in what has been the best summer weather for many years.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS AIRLINER?    Where did it and its 250 odd passengers vanish away to?
For a WEEK the world has waited for NEWS.      How could such a huge Airliner and all its passengers just disappear?     MANY suggestions have been made.   TODAY we are told it was in fact HIJACKED!     Yet still no sign of the plane or the passengers.     STILL GUESSING!    And this is yet another instance of world insecurity.     DID it CRASH due to some technical problem or human error? Was it sucked into some kind of 'black hole'?     Was it kidnapped by Aliens?  
NOTHING LIKE it has happened in such an overwhelming way before.   Oh yes an occasional solo flight in a small plane maybe, but nothing on this SCALE.     This is frightening.    Will it happen again? Will the aircraft or the passengers EVER be found?     We imagine the distress and horror of the relatives and friends still waiting for NEWS.     What will this do for Air Travel in general?   Will FEAR grip potential passengers.      Truly our World is beset with increasing challenges to security and peaceful living.  Keep these verses in Luke 21 verses 25-26 as a constant reminder that time is running out.....

'There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars.

And upon the earth there will be distress (trouble and anguish) of nations

in bewilderment and perplexity, without resources, left wanting.

Embarrassed, in doubt, not knowing which way to turn

at the roaring of the tossing sea.

Men swooning away or expiring with fear, apprehension and dread and expectation

of the things that are coming on the world;

for the very powers of the heavens will be shaken and caused to totter.

BUT WE who trust and put our confidence in God and in His Word, even JESUS, need not fear nor be made to shrink or turn back from pressing forward in the Great Enterprise of bringing in the Kingdom of our God.     This, dear friends, is the time to AWAKE and SHOUT aloud for God, and for our KING,

Breath deeply in, Look up, and ARISE and SHINE for God, as we expect the coming week.  May He ever comfort, strengthen and give you FAITH

John & Esther and Daryl Green

HOW SHALL I CURSE WHAT GOD HAS NOT CURSED?

WHO CAN TRUST THIS SUNNY SMILE?    Can You?  Can I?  Can Benjamin Netanyahu, or Israel?   What does this smile cover up ?     How long will America back Israel, and who will bring their 'Special Relationship' to an end?
THIS Smile is pleasant to look at, makes the President look good and well disposed.    But God once said - 'Burning lips (that utter insincere words of love)  and a wicked heart are like a potsherd (an earthen vessel covered with the scum thrown off from molten silver, making it appear to be solid silver.)     (Proverbs 26-23...)    'He who hates pretends with his lips, but stores up deceit himself.   When he speaks kind words do not trust him, for seven abominations are in his heart.    Though he covers it with guile (with a smile) his wickedness shall be shown openly before the assembly'    
THIS WEEK President Obama snubbed Mr. Netanyahu, walking out on him publicly.     Should this be taken as a Warning to Israel - a warning not to rely upon their friendship and power?    It IS so easy to lean on what you can see, what you can reach out and touch.
BUT GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD.     He wants His children to trust and depend upon Him only, and He will go to any extent to point this out to us, even if it brings us discomfort, and hurt.      BUT, look out Mr. President!    Take care!    In predicting a 'curse' upon Israel there is some cause to fear.
Genesis 12v2-3 God tells Abraham - the 'founder' of Israel -

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you with abundant increase of favors)

AND make your name famous and distinguished,

and you will be a blessing (dispensing good to others).

AND I will bless those who bless you (who confer prosperity or happiness upon you)

and curse him who curses or uses insolent language towards you

IN YOU will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed

(and by you they will bless themselves).

BUT NOW a situation has arisen since ISRAEL was reborn and the Arab world disturbed.  A situation that has turned JERUSALEM into a pivotal place of importance relative to the peace of the Region of the Middle East, and to all the world.     PERHAPS the time has come of which Zechariah 12v2 has come and we in the midst of what is to follow.

'BEHOLD (says God) I am about to make Jerusalem a cup or bowl of reeling

to all the people round about.......

IN THAT DAY I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people;

all who lift it or burden themselves with it, shall be sorely wounded.

And all the nations of the earth shall come and gather together against it.'

ALL the Nations of the Earth will come to be AGAINST Israel, and come up against Jerusalem.  Even the United States of America?    Yes I do believe so.     Israel will stand ALONE apparently helpless and indeed it WILL seem all is lost for them, and a huge number will die.       BUT GOD will stand with them on that day.      JESUS will be SEEN to be with them, and HE will turn the defeat into a great Victory, to the hurt and distress of ALL who came up to fight against Israel.    THIS chapter is unfolding now, and you might be wise to read it and understand it.

Do not be deceived.      God knows the imperfection of every man, and knows the imperfections of Israel but He will not cast them off forever;  He will not forsake them or see them destroyed.  He WILL save those that trust in HIM.  He still cares for Israel - and He still cares for Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is HIS CITY - it belongs neither to the Muslim, the Jew, or the Christian.   It is God's City, the place from which He will rule one day.    I am saying this because not only the secular world does not SEE this but also a section of the so called 'Christian' Churches do not see it.    They are in fact saying Israel is finished and Jerusalem is expendable.     Take care that YOU are not so deceived.

I personally am not a JEW.    I honour God, and I respect Israel, out of which nation my Salvation has come,     I feel it is from Jerusalem that the greatest Blessing and Glory of God has been illuminated and made available to Man.     It IS a special place on Earth.   I believe that everyone should PRAY for Jerusalem and for Israel.    But not blindly through 'rose-tinted-spectacles' but with the sure knowledge that GOD has a real interest and purpose in both.    He cares about them

Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech recently on 4th March.   It was given at the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington DC, soon after President Obamba insulted him.    I have read it all through. I was impressed.     I do not usually pay attention to this kind of oratory, but I AM glad to have read this, and I commend it to you if you have time or inclination to read it for yourself.     And by the way, Natenyahu is not perfect either.   He is a sinner like us all, and he makes mistakes, BUT he respects God and he respects Israel.    He is a man who sees clearly where our world is going, and he dose not want to go there    He sees clearly that there ARE two ways for us to follow - the Way to Death and the Way to Life.   It is truly a moral dividing line.   Which way will you and I choose?   He wants LIFE.
I hope he lives and FINDS the LIFE his soul seeks after.  I hope he discovers Christ, recognises the nail prints in His hands.   Yes please also spare a prayer for Benjamin.

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THIS TREE is very similar to a REAL tree that grows between Green Cottage where Esther and I live, and Testimony House on the small lawn that separates us. It is an Indian Mahogany tree and about 100 years old.    It is supposed to have a life of 80 years so is quite elderly in its own right.

It is alive with birds, and its gnarled branches and copious foliage is often alive with birdsong, and the whispering of its leaves as the breeze moves among them.    It is somehow symbolic of what we have here in Testimony Faith Homes; we often use it as such.    SO many have come to us for refuge and for shelter.    

BUT JUST TWO WEEKS AGO we found ourselves considering closure, and of shutting down all four of our Homes.      Funds had dried up like Elijah's brook, and although some 'ravens' still flew to bring us a morsel or two,  it was obvious we were about to go under.     At these times we have no action to take other than to say 'Don't you care that we perish?'        And of course we have for all these years known and believed that God does care, and indeed we have SEEN and FELT His care.   But this time the storm, the wind and the rain, had not ceased, and our bills were mounting high enough to sink us all indeed.     Funds usually are channelled to us by a small Trust in the UK known as The AENON Trust run by Allan Nicholls in Bexleheath, Kenya.      Usually the Trust will send once in a month.

February's gift arrived early in the month, but in fact was only able to pay off January's bills and Salaries.      Nothing more.    Income had in fact been decreasing over the previous year, month by month.     No explanation from the Lord in any way, and so we sailed on.     Thus by the end of February we seemed to have no way forward.       THEN OUR BANK notified us of two gifts that had arrived in the Homes A/c.    One from here in Kenya from a friend we knew, and another from Kansas City in the USA from a Hardware firm that we had no idea of whatsoever!    THAT gift completely wrote off our immediate debt.       Surely we had been through this before?   Of course, but THIS time it seemed worse - the winds of adversity stronger, the waves of oppression higher.......and Jesus just seemed unable to be roused from His 'sleep' to save us.      HOW WONDERFUL to see His Arm provide, and His Presence once more convince and confirm us.        For Daryl, feeling the Challenge for the first time as Director, it was also more than a miracle, and a  kind of seal upon his appointment and leadership.       We still do not know WHO sent these funds to us. We no Hardware Store in Kansas, and have no address.    We may never know!    But we know GOD our Father in Heaven was behind it, just as He is behind all things.       SO the 'Tree' is standing still, and the many who find shelter remain upon its many 'branches'.     I am listening as I type to the many happy voices that are out there in the sun this beautiful day enjoying being ALIVE.

YESTERDAY Ian and Diana Hogley arrived for a few days stay with us - they hope to return to Nakuru probably next Wednesday.   Lovely to see them again, and we delighted each other by saying now young we looked.     Praise the Lord - hope we were not flattering each other too much.

TODAY our Staff are attending Prayer and Bible Meeting in the School Hall.    They meet once a quarter for what is a termed 'SPIRITUAL EMPHASIS' which lasts a whole Saturday morning. Everyone usually attends - teachers, houseparents, office, ground, and domestic staff.   There is singing, testimonies, prayer and a Message from the Bible.

AND ITS STILL HOT - up in the 80f again.

An up to date photo of a family of four that came to us in June last year.   All very happy and settled in School.    It is good to see them taking such good advantage of all that is here for them.   Their Mum is still alive, and had been helped to overcome her flawed life.    She still has five other children living with her in rather dire circumstances, but they are a bit too old for us to admit here.   They are being helped to attend School however, and now we hear that they are also now attending Church.   God surely answers prayer.      This is a single parent family where we have stepped in, together with others, to assist - and Praise God we can see success in it all.

Keep praying for us all.    God has lifted us UP.   Our hearts are full of praise.

Lovingly in Him

John and Esther - and also Daryl and Carol - all with Jesus

WHO IS WEARING THE TROUSERS TODAY?

I GUESS THIS IS MY STYLE!    I was a teenager and a job seeker in the '60s of the last Century.    Adults in business looked like this generally, give or take a little.     It is a style that has stayed with me, and some will no doubt think it is time for change.     But then I am a traditionalist, and one who is not inclined to change - especially if it is radical.

Girls & Boys / Men and Women - who are they?

THIS WEEK in the Daily Nation, fifty years further on, a Girls High School in Kisii, here in Kenya has issued a Dress Code for ex-students.   The School has announced that Old Girls visiting the School will be expected to wear SKIRTS, or anything EXCEPT trousers.     A notice at the Gates states that 'Former students will not be allowed into the institution in trousers.'
Girl's uniforms in school here do not allow for trousers, as all students uniform for girls makes provision only for skirts (or dresses in Primary)     BUT more and more, if not almost every girl, like to put on jeans, slacks or trousers in one form or another.    From childhood they clamour for them until now even the female adults strut and stride about in trousers.    It began with slacks, jeans, and now trouser suites, more and more cut to replicate the male counterpart.     Indeed the average girl in office employment today would look and act more like a man..    Even acceptable  office wear for both sexes has changed.     Much more relaxed and much more casual. nothing like the one above.     In fact dress style and fashion for women has changed.     Jackets and ties for men and skirts and blouses for women a rarity.   WE in Testimony have a dress code.      Very much unchanged since the one portrayed above - as far as adults are concerned.      We discourage slacks, jeans and trousers for girls in the Homes, and forbid them for adults working for us.     Jackets and ties for all our teachers and office staff.    Our houseparents are allowed greater freedom, though we expect the men to wear a tie and the women a dress or skirt unless they are involved in some activity needing more freedom or protection.   I suppose it generally is a 'code' that preserves an appearance that still preserves the distinction between the sexes without in any way drawing improper attention to the them.       A bit straight and old fashioned?  Yes and no apologies.    The whole idea of 'gender' is replacing the idea of a man and a woman.   We would like Men and Women to be seen and appreciated without the word GENDER conjuring up some new species ......... A species which makes it hard to discern what is a MAN and what is a Woman.    We do not accept UNISEX thinking in any way.

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We have received two more children this week - Peter aged 12 and his little sister Kessia aged 6.

Their Father passed on seven months ago, and their Mother, though still living, is HIV positive and unemployed.   Her condition is very weak and she is currently hospitalised.    Due to her spasmodic illness she had not been able to work, and recently was evicted from her dilapidated room for non payment of rent. the eldest daughter, Eunice aged 14 ran to the streets and was arrested as a vagrant, and is now on Remand.    Another daughter Naomi aged 7 is suffering from Hiv and TB.

Initially we have not been able to admit Naomi into the Homes as we are awaiting advice from our Doctor as to how much risk this would be for those she would live with. Peter and Kessia are free of HIV and although under-nourished seem bright children.     We are praying that during the coming week we might find encouragement to take on the third member of the Family, Naomi.    Surely Jesus will help her, and answer our Prayers.

THIS WEEK WE HAVE JUST BEEN INFORMED THAT OUR LOCAL 'AMPATH' Clinic for HIV/AIDS patients has lost funding from US AID, and is now withdrawing its financial aid to local cases.    From now on every patient attending for monthly check ups will have to pay Ksh.1000/= (7 pounds sterling or $11 approximately)  eight cases altogether now so we will have to find 8,000/- per month.    AMPATH will also be withdrawing free drugs.    In future we shall have to BUY them.       We are appealing against this action, but it does not look hopeful.       MOST of those, children and adults alike, will not have means pay for any of this, and it seems many will be left to die much earlier than expected.     WHEN WE come to know of so many who are victims of HIV,  those who have inherited the disease from their parents or from contaminated blood, we find it hard to condone current trends that encourage the Disease through elicit sex of whatever type.      As a Christian my heart seeks for LIFE for all men and women; for all children.    BUT there are definitely killers at large who are determined to go on killing.      Should we encourage them with misplaced compassion and watered down laws?   How can we condone the homosexual for making life easy for him?    How can we not draw attention to the anti social and generally harmful result of lifestyles that threaten us all.       We in Kenya find growing sympathy for Uganda's President Musaveni's attitude.    Growing numbers in this Continent agree with him. Why IS Europe and the United States willing to be so blind?     Could be a sign of the time we live in.   Could be a sign of the decadence displayed throughout history by empires in decline.    Definitely a 'sign' and definitely NOT a good one.     Keep AWAKE, be Vigilant, Seek for PROOF of where we all are in History.

HERE IN KENYA we have SUN!    And it is HOT - for us.     I know some in other parts of the world have to cope with life even HOTTER.     Sorry for you.      Sorry too for those who contend with snow and ice and RAIN and FROST.       Well these days it seems there is no perfect place to be. Things are on the move upon this Earth.     Maybe things are breaking up as well.     It is quite alarming to read of all these ' SINK-HOLES' opening up and swallowing land, houses, cars and even people.

Definitely the world ecology is in a state of chaos.     And civil strife also continuing to increase and even threaten out and out WAR.      Hard to find peace or feel peaceful without faith in a very personally interested God who at once promises to SAVE, deliver and protect us from all our anxieties.

What a Saviour He is, this JESUS.

OUR Secondary School students have been competing in District /County Competition in the Arts (drama and poetry) and in Sports (in Rugby).    They finalised last night and brought home FIRSTS in everything. - much rejoicing.      They will continue on through the year until, hopefully, they reach the Finals.     This is our first year to really make our mark in activities other than Academic.

AND TODAY is the first day of the third month of the year.    No water in the river and that means there will be less in our taps - perhaps none at all soon unless the weather changes - and usually rain holds off till April or even May.    Keep us mind please.

We shall have you all in mind over the week-end and trust the predicted SNOW and ICE will not prevent you from staying warm and well, and able to go about necessary life.   May His Special Blessing be upon each of you - He loves you, and we, in Him, love you too.

John and Esther - and Daryl.

NB  --  seems I may have hurt some sensibilities .....WE do not encourage our girls to wear jeans - but we do at time compromise and let them do so.    We are NOT martinets.  However we have agreed between us as adults living in front of our children both in School and the Homes NOT to give an example we do not believe in - therefore trousers are not warn by ladies here.    We feel the pressure of the world, all around us and remember Paul's admonition in Romans 12v2

'Do not be conformed to this world (this Age),

(fashioned after and adapted to it's external, superficial customs).