TEARING DOWN MORE THAN WE BUILD; FORGETTING MORE THAN WE REMEMBER..

Horatio Nelson

NOW THERE IS TALK OF TOPPLING NELSON FROM HIS COLUMN!   Suddenly we seem to live in a world manifesting a  'DOG EAT DOG' mentality.     The Day of Degradation!    Human degradation, without any regard for any of Man's admirable moments.       Surely, the Bible says ALL men (and women) are sinners.   Romans 3v10-12 ' There is none righteous, not one.......'    There is no need to seek for the fault or the dirt in a person's life - we are ALL faulty and dirty because of sin working in us.       BUT when some moral good, or selfless act that the nation can admire and be proud of appears, why should it not be commemorated and remembered?  
These people want to knock the man who gave his life in saving his country from invasion, and the loss of its freedom. from off of his pedestal in Trafalgar Square.      It was all done 200 years ago.  He was the National Hero of the that day.       No one remembered his faults, they remembered his courage and love for his Country.      He had already lost an arm, and an eye fighting England's battles, confined to an uncomfortable and confined existence for months at sea away from home.     Here was a dedicated servant of his Country, regardless of his own safety, comfort, and well being.
When I was a child my mother took me to London, to Trafalgar Square    (Trafalgar was the name of the great sea battle that Nelson and the British Navy had won)  and I remember standing looking up at the tall column,  Nelson's Column, on which, at the very top, the great Admiral's statue stood.   I was about nine years old, and I already knew all about him.      He was one of my boyhood heroes. I knew nothing of his attitude to the slave trade, nor his unfaithfulness to his wife, and if I had it still would not have dimmed or tarnished the Honour in which I held him, and still hold him today.      At nine I knew it was his genius at sea, and as a leader of men, that motivated the Victory of Trafalgar, and I knew, two hundred years later, that I was not living in an occupied Country, robbed of my freedom.
Nelson bought all our national freedom with his own death..........sinner though he certainly was.       I am sure it is right for him to be remembered and regarded as a man.   To throw him down would be to forget a glimpse of the Glory that even a flawed human being can reveal.
Many Statues have been pulled down, removed and even angrily destroyed; statues of those who had manifested ONLY evil in their lifetimes, bringing pain and suffering and enslavement to their will during their time in the world.     In the United States of America today statues have been, and continue to be, pulled down, of statesmen and leaders who upheld the Confederacy during the American Civil War.     The argument is that those they represented stood for white supremacy against the black man.      The Confederacy stood for Slavery, and so those who fought against the Northern 'Yankees' are said to have fought FOR slavery.     Slavery being a great Evil, why should images of its approval be allowed to remain rallying points for those of a similar mind?  After 200 years, has Man become wiser - or is he less able to admit the 'good' that can be seen in others, even in those that may be against us.       Did General Jackson and Robert E. Lee fight for slavery?    Perhaps, but more basically they fought for their freedom, and did so gallantly and bravely.    Their Countrymen should still have reason to be proud of them - even though they fought, in part, for a mistaken ethic.    
Why should an image of Lord Nelson be allowed to remain atop his Column in Trafalgar Square, when he was himself stood for slavery, and spoke for its retention even in Parliament?    This is the Question being asked.  BUT he was not fighting the French at Trafalgar because of slavery.    He fought to defend his King and Country from the the domination of a megalomaniac dictator who dreamed of subjugating the world to himself.
God used him, sinner though he was; imperfect though he was, to maintain our Freedom and Democracy.       He should be remembered for that.   His Courage, and his national identity are a constant memorial to all the rest of us.     His faults and failings are not displayed in Trafalgar Square; they are not hidden; just not brought to mind in order to obscure or obliterate his honourable devotion to serving the Nation.

WHY is it our world is now so busy trying to eradicate, devalue, and even destroy the righteous values, and actions of mankind, together with the proof of his genius and creative ability.       ISIS has sought to pull down, blow up, and deface all trace of the historical past of Syria and Iraq, and indeed wherever else it found opportunity.       And now we see a similar spirit at work in the new wave of Statue Toppelers who, without proper thought or understanding seek to remove Memorials that remind the world of true unselfishness, courage, bravery, and other testimony of the Humanities.
In Proverbs 22v28 we find these words  -

'Remove not the ancient landmarks which your fathers have set.'

The History, Tradition, and Custom of a Nation established it, and give it a distinctive character and flavour.  It is called National Heritage here in Kenya.    When a Nation turns its back on the past it tends to forget what it believes in, and will eventually slide into meritocracy and even obscurity. - This is to make the past of no effect, and to make the future to be founded on the present.

Sir Winston Churchill  (whose own character, life and faith are now being questioned by those who would like to 'debunk' him from any place of respect or honour) said that 'Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'     If we continue to remove icons of history, then the world will not remember how it came to be,, or why it is what it is.     There will cease to be Reminders of what is regarded as Good and Worthy, and there will cease to be Reminders of where we went wrong.         Our brothers and sisters trying to bring one of our National (British) fighters for freedom fighters into disrepute, may well be in danger of   'throwing the baby out with the bathwater.'     If they succeed, and if they are permitted to go ahead in their ideas then I will know England has indeed given up its freedom and its democracy.      Probably the government will build a block of flats on 'Human Rights' Square, and we shall forget Trafalgar and why the English won a great Victory there.

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Malcom  X

In April 1964  a certain black American and member of the Islamic Nation,  MALCOLM  X  originally Malcolm Little, embarked on a speech entitled ' The Ballot or the Bullet?'

This week a member of Kenya's Opposition Party (NASA) Dr. David Ndii said on NTV ' If change will not come through the ballot, then it will through the Bullet.'   The Result of our August Election is still in question and is under review of our Supreme Court, who may hand down some statement on this coming Monday.    The country is balanced almost 50/50 and the Opposition is accusing Government of foul play.        The actual Election itself went quietly, and International Observers felt satisfied that there were no untoward happenings; that the Election was well managed and fair.     - Nevertheless the words of Dr. Ndii though delivered laughingly, carried the threat of further civil action if the Result of the Election is not overturned in their favour.     The Government has remained undisturbed.
Nevertheless it is not a good beginning for the 3rd School Term, and the last quarter of the year.
TODAY our School is opening, and there has been a PRAYER MORNING today for students and parents of children attempting National Exams over the next two or three months.   It has been well attended.     Plenty of RAIN still, but not so much sunshine.     Cloudy for the mot part, and cooler.

Here is a photo taken this week of some of the 40 or so Primary & Secondary Teachers
staffing our School, and who were attending a 4 Day Seminar focusing on 
How to Present the Word of God in the Syllabus.

The Seminar has been led by Mark and Kathy Lessig who recently joined us as part of the Testimony Family and Team.      The week has gone on very well as about 45 our of 54 teachers have attended, and this during their usual vacation time     The presentation has really been a blessing and it is quite thrilling to see an awakening to an area of teaching that for the most part is not given much thought or priority - even among Christian Teachers.     Our sincere thanks and appreciation to Mark and Kathy for the huge effort made to provide the content and present it through the four days from 8a.m. to 4p.m. daily.     

MANU is still with us here, at home.     Next Friday he should be attending Clinic to have the 3rd set of eye injections.      So far it seems the treatment is helping, but he is still discomforted by soreness in the eyes, and this is especially worse nearer to the time of the injection.      After next week there will still be two more sets of injections over the next two months.      Generally his spirits have lifted though his eyes are not his only problem.     Nevertheless there does seem a 'change' and we do thank all of you who have prayed for him, and will perhaps also continue to do so......

STILL NO further news about possible surgery for DAN NDUNGU.     He continues to appear well and strong, and is happy and looking forward to the new School Term.     He is still on quite potent drugs as he awaits for a chance for surgery - IF it will still be necessary by then!     We do thank God again for all your prayers on his behalf, and believe those prayers are indeed working.

God Bless you all, and keep you all at peace, and IN peace, in the Name of Jesus.

John, Esther and Daryl Green  

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