A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

to all our friends and family

for 2023

CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE 2022

All our childlren and staff gathered after the Service,

including Esther and I, and son Steven.

A wonderful Christmas Day, full of Worship, and Joy.

Posting this on New Years Eve,

life finds us preparing for the Year Ahead.

We are taking down our Christmas Decorations,

and all that speaks of 2022.

.As we finish, we expect midnight to be upon us.

A Great Shout will go up!

In the Town motor horns and sirens will go off together,

and here in the Homes 

ALL our children and staff will as usual burst out of their houses

and seek to Greet each other/

There will be the first shared snack of the New Year.

THANK YOU, LORD JESUS

for bringing us all through the Year Ended.

We look always, and only to you Who art Faithful.

 

Go in front of us all into this New year.

Help us to BELIEVE in Your Presense with us.

Remove any doubt or apprehension for tomorrow,

and enable us to just  simply TRUST YOU,

and to Rejoice.  Amen

GOD BLESS YOU ALL

and Keep you Safe moment by moment

TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES & SCHOOLS

Eldoret - Kenya - East Africa

 

LIVING IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER

I have felt a little sorrowful for Lady Susan Hussey!  Just a year younger than she is, and one of her generation, I see how easy it is, in the  'Here and Now', for us to be found out of tune with current trends.   I was initially surprised by the whole incident involving Lady Hussey, and Mrs. Ngozi Fulani (alias Marlene Headley) the C.E.O. of Sistah Space, a Community Based initiative dealing with Violence against African heritage women and girls; an Invited  Guest to Her

Majesty the Queen Consort's, Special Reception, to discuss Gender-based Violence.    Just HOW could it happen that such a well known guest, could be put down on the 'door step' so to speak, even before she had opened her mouth.   

On the one hand Lady Susan Hussey, 83, a very experienced courtier, and long time friend of the Royal Family,  a widow, and a grandmother.   She had been asked to be at the  Reception, in Buckingham Palace to greet and welcome those invited.  

On the other hand we have Ngozi Fulani, 60, a well educated, well known activist on behalf of women; un-ashamed of her African heritage, a widow, mother of four, and grandmother.   She was not a great admirer of Royalty, but had accepted the Invitation,  and had arrived at the Reception with friends.

It sounds, as it is reported, as if she had actually entered the Room, and then was accosted by Lady Hussey, who without introductions reached out to move Ngozi's hair away from her Visitor I.D. in order to see her name.  then she asked "Where are you from?"

Fulani "Hackney

Hussey "I mean where do you really come from?"

Fulani   "Lady, I am a British National; my parents came here in the 50's''

Hussey "I knew we would get there in the end.  you're Caribbean."

Fulani   "No lady, I am of African heritage Caribbean descent, and British Nationality."

Ms. Fulani describes the enounter as an Inerrogation; unpleasant; degrading.  A racial abuse!

O couse this conversation is recorded as 'hearsay',  and copied down by others.    I have read at least three copies and each is differrent to the other in some aspects.   We may never know. perfectly what was said, or even HOW the exchange sounded.    It is impossible to actually know how the dialogue  went, and thus difficult to discover any real abuse implied.

Was it, after all, real abuse, designed to belittle or demean Ms Falani?

Or was it a miss-understanding, based on lack of awareness of normal opening gambits when meeting people for the first time?  Perhaps,  if she had been greeted with "Oh, Ms. Fulani what an interesting dress; where did you find it?,  Fulani might still have replied 'Hackney' truthfully without intending any offence, but still refraining from giving the definitive answer required.

Perhaps it WAS just a 'storm in a teacup', which modern over sensitiveness and trends have been  allowed to be a MOUNTAIN on offence, instead of a mole-hill of normality, as it realy was.

If Lady Hussey was really on duty to meet and greet on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen Consort, then it would be surprising for her to go out of her way to insult, abuse, or distress any Guest invited.    She was not on Police Duty, but instead was assisting the Queen Consort in welcoming and putting at ease the expected Guests, at a very important Reception.     

If she at first moved the hair of Ms. Fulani, it was only to forstall the necessity of asking her name and not intended to offend, but to ease introductions.  

And then she asked 'Where are you from?'

Did she ask officiously,  haughtily, without a smile, or did she ask quietly, with geuine interest as one meeting an expected and valued friend.    These details were not mentioned, and it is the WORDS alone that are said to be the cause of all the racial abuse aimed at Ms. Fulani.

I live in Kenya, and in the Township of Eldoret, the 5th largest town in Kenya.    I am constantly meeting people in my everyday work and even on the street, and am frequently greeted and asked where I am from - they know I live in Eldoret.    The want to know where I  have come from, and -  had I been a Kenya Citizen - they  would still have want to know from where I had originally come from.  They would ask because I am white, but not because of that alone.    It is a normal, harmless, curiosity.     We have more than 60 ethnic tribal groupings in Kenya.   It would be vey difficult for me always to identify from where an individual Kenyan came from, unless I had become very conversant with their individual cultural heritage,      I constantly Greet and Ask -' Oh, Hello! Nice to meet you, where do you come from?"   I am excitedly informed, with reciprocal interest, and delight. People here are GLAD to have a chance to identify with who they are, and where they identify the most.  I do not find this offensive, and neither do Kenyans.   Indeed on both sides we find it natural to give expanisive replies to such questions

Might not Lady Hussey, in meeting Ms. Ffulani, whom she not known at all previously, just have stopped, and trying to get a closer look at her Visitor Identifcation, said,  "Ms. Fulani, Welcome to this Royal Reception.   "Where are you from.?''  

Ms. Fulani was certainly looking like a Visitor from further away than Hackney, but it was a reasonable answer, although I rather think that as an educated person having grown up in England, she would have immediately known she was being asked to identify her Ethnic origen.    I think she did know, but I think instead of proudly announcing her history she took offence, thinking that she was being diminished or demeaned in the eyes of her questioner.

I think she jumped the gun.    I think she misjudged the 'lady' she was speaking with.

Lady Hussey was doing what any of us 'old relics' would naturally do to break the ice of a first meeting, and YES, as one of the Palace Staff has reportedly said, she has been doing it for all her life - without meaning to even create  any offence or abuse.   Good  for her! I do it too, and will continue to do so, I suppose.    I understand she has appologised to Ms. Fulani.      I also hear that she has withdrawn from sixty years of Service to the Crown.   Did this Lady give up her life, and mar a faultless reputation in social integrity, as one trusted to aid the monarch in bridging the gap between her and her People?

Esther, my Kikuyu wife of 52 years, and I,  began a Children's Home 50 years ago together and personally, for 28 of those years lived in one house with 30-35 children at a time aged from 0 to 18 from more than fifteen different tribes across Kenya.   We lived together as a totally integrated extended family, our own three children being born into it, and growing into it.     We had no serious disagrements or fights based on differences between the diverse cultures, and indeed we ended up with a real Family - not just ourselves, but the 96 others who came to eat, sleep, live and GROW with us as family.     The world seems FAR from that, still.     But it COULD happen.      I speak  as a follower of Jesus the Christ.   I have known Him as my friend and Saviour for 65 years.    I have never been ashamed to say so, and never discovered any other whose Word has proved more sure and safe to depend upon, than HIS.    

Brothers and sisters, Men and Women of Planet Earth, respect one another, and respect your own history and culture.    And remember to respect each other's nationality also, and not judge.    The Christian Faith demands that we, each one without exception, should Love our neighbour, the one next to us, whoever they are, whatever colour they are, AS WE LOVE OURSELF.     And underlining this Commandment, REMEMBER this - LOVE does no WRONG to one's neighbour (it never hurts anybody)  Love is the fulfilling of the LAW.       Romans 13v8-10 and then Romans 12v14-21

God Bless you all

John Green

THE 1920s IN ELDORET, KENYA

Betweeen 1908 and 1924 dozens of South African Boer Families

took the long voyage to Mombasa, where they equipped themselves

with ox waggons similary to the one above, and then travelled on

the eight hundred kilometer journey to what was then known

as Farm 64, later to become the Eldoret of today.

WE LIKE to think that the Family that arrived in 1920, to claim their landholding, could well have been the family in the photo above, just arriving in a totally undeveloped place to commence building a new life.    Very romantic and adventurous, but more honestly a hugely hard and demanding task in those days, a hundred or so years ago.     They, the man and his wife and whatever local untrained labour they could find to help them, immediately began to plan and build a house.  They  raised it up out of the very ground, digging up the ground and moulding it into earthen bricks, which were then baked in the SUN until dried; not something to be done quickly,   Once ready they laid these bricks one upon another using ox dung as morter..      They dug no foundation but dragged huge rough-hewn rocks to where the walls were to be, roughly levelling the top of each to form an even surface on which to lay the first course of bricks. Quite a large house it was, that they laboured to build in the dry heat of the sun.   Big enough for a family.     The Main social or sitting room encompassed a space of a hundred square feet, alone, and then NINE other rooms - seven daughters were born to them there,      And all around them was farm land as far as their eyes could see.  By the late 1950s they sold up and emmigrated yet again to Western Australia.     The farm was divided up and the house left with five acres of gardens.  

THEN in 1972 Testimony Faith Homes purchased it for John and Esther Green's extended Family calling it Testimony House.    It had then been empty, and neglected for some three years.   This photo was taken shortly after our arrival,  early 1973.    Hardly changed at all, so we have been told, since it was completed.     Apart from repainting the entire property inside and out, it remains unaltered up to the present, as may be seen in the photo taken recently.    All just as it was built.

 

It is quite a striking house, for its day.   And it has been to us, a family of some 36, over these many years, a warm and friendly home full of good memories, laughter and occassional tears.    Not the only house of its era still remaining in the area, but a lasting memorial to the past, and to the quality of building materials and methods of that past.  Esther and I enjoyed 28 years of our own lives living in it as Mum nd Dad to our own three kids, plus, over the period, more than 60 others.     Another Family live there right now.      We wonder....will it still be there in another fifty years?....or even another hundred?        ELDORET a hundred years ago saw this house being built in a wild savanna, uncultivated, and unprotected from the many wild and untamed animals roaming freely around it.    When we arrived in 1972 there were still Civit Cats, Callabus Monkeys, Gazell, Hyena, among others, AND a host of different, and very dangerous snakes!      THEY have all disappeared now, chased and frightened away as the land has been more and more developed and built upon, as the Town developed.        

In this Photo can be seen our present Town / City of Eldoret.

It was taken from the East Side, and the Nairobi / Uganda Rd.

dividing the Town south and north.

HERE we have an early photo of Eldoret, taken in 1945 - I could find nothing earlier - and I think it may be a view of what is today known as Kenyatta Street.    Very much a shanty-town even then, having begun way back in 1910 with the official opening of a Post Office.

When Esther and I arrived in 1972, sixty years later, the town was still small, with a population of some 40,000 souls.  A quiet country town.  Fifty years later still, it is bursting at the seams, and crammed with business, people, and traffic.     An overcrowded, noisy, still expanding metropolis, soon to be a CITY.    SO MUCH change since we came to live here in Testimony House; a house left over from those distant, early days, when Eldoret was still in its infancy.    One cannot resist, or prevent change; it is continuous and now, in these days,  seems to be speeding up on every hand, blotting out the past and its relavance.

World society is changing;   mankind itself is changing.   The tried and proved Values and Standards learned from history are now put aside for new and 'enlightened' underdstanding.     THUS of THESE times it is written in the 5th Chapter of the Book of Isaiah, verses 20-24    - 'Woe to them that call evil good, and good, evil; that put dearkness for light, and light for darkness.......'    It is good and worthy of consideration, if we contine on and read through to the 24th verse.

                                                     

================================ 

MY DEAR ESTER,  completed her EIGHT cycles of Chemotherapy on 20th October, as planned.She came through ALL of them with only very light side effects - a only slight weight loss, and hardly noticebable nausea, vomiting and so on.    Her Appetite was a problem.   She just did not fancy anything.     But she did eat, and she ate little but often, and this seemed to be enough, and not upsetting to here stomach.    She kept busy and buzzing around as usual, and we have truly Thanked the Lord for taking such great care of her.

Today she should commence her  Radiography - just FOUR minutes per day for 15 days.    All seems well, and everyone at the Hospital very happy with her condition, and very encouraging and kind.    The Treatments will take place  from Monday to Friday, weekly, as the Radiological Dept. does not work weekends.    Esther should be able to complete on December 12th,  and in time for Christmas.    She is very Happy, and ESPECIALLY so because she is getting her HAIR back again - it is growing well, as per the photos here included. BUT she DOES feel the COLD even, when the sun is shining;  but we usually find a warm place for some coffee and fellowship once or twice in the day.

.................................................... 

TESTIMONY Homes continue on, just as we are.    We have a current family population of some 125 childlren and young people aged between 3 and 18, living in four Family homes of some 32 (inclusive of parents) in each.    Everyone at peace, and usual contentment, happy at home and at School.  However we shall not be Admitting further children, for the next year, at least.     Everyone looking forward to Christmas again, although it will be a bt scaled down due the current contraints in the Economy.

Testimony School will be closing on the 24th of this month for a two month holiday, re-opening on the 23rd January 2023.     Within this period the National Primary and Secondary Examinations will be held.    Daryl is now feeling much better, and very busy everywhere.     He is such an encouragement and strength at this time.

SO, for the moment, I will close.    I am well, and occupied, but I do find myself feeling a little  weary, and often find myself dozing off, if I have opportunity.    He will renew or strength!

God Bless and keep you all

John, Esther, and Daryl Green and all here at Testimony Homes and School.

.

    

 

The English say that thier Royal Family can trace itself back a thousand years to Alfred the Great, a Man brought up in the Christian Faith from a youngster.    Initially unable to read or write, he thirsted after knowledge, and taught himself, so that later in life he was able not only to read, but to translate what others wrote, so that others of his Nation could also know more.     He wanted England to know what he knew.    He wanted them to know Christ - the REAL King!    His was a simple Crown.   It may, at first, have only been a plain band of gold encircling his head, but later something very similar to the image above, which was itself worn by English Kings - a substantial base of gold, suporting repeated symbles of the Cross of Christ. All who looked upon it, and upon the one who wore it,  were confronted with the fact that this crown, and the one who wore it, (and the Nation with them), stood for Jesus Christ, the Only Son of the Only God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.    And, although, through human fraility and faultiness, this declaration of faith may have dimmed, or even at times miss-represented the basic, firm, and unswerving Faith of the Nation, it has HELD clearly for a thousand years - until recently.

LEFT is an imitation of the turban of the High Priest of Israel.   At the front of the turban, above the priests forehead,  facing outwardly, is attached a Gold plate on which is clearly written HOLINESS TO THE LORD.     (in this image the words are written in Hebrew)  This was in order that both the Priest, and the People before whom he stood, might be reminded what they were all meant to BE, in front of God Almighty.

I wanted to include this representation here, because I believe the representation of the CROSS on the early Crowns of our Kings was to achieve a similar, if not the same, purpose as the Golden Inscribed Plate on the Turban of the Jewish High Priests, the Leaders of the Nation.

THIS IS THE Imperial State Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain ( inclusive of England, Scotland,  Northern Ireland.    It is the Crown with which King Charles 111 will be Crowned at his Coronation.  At its appex is a diamond Cross with a Sapphire at the centre, said to have once been on a Ring worn by King Edward the Confessor.    Another Cross - center - studded with a great Ruby, joins other representations of the Cross all around the Crown.      This Crown STILL declares the State to be a Christian State, and the Wearer to be a Christian Leader of that State!    It is a far Richer Crown than the first, and the one to wear it may also be richer, but still a man none the less.  But is his Faith in Christ, and the Cross on which He died?

In the Blog for 18th September, I mentioned the 'Hollow Crown, and I referred again to the Words of King Richard 11, put into his mouth by William Shakespear 

'....Within the hollow crown that rounds the mortal temples of a king,

keeps Death his court, and there the antic (Death) sits

Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp.'

Richard 11, Act 3 scene 2

What is this 'Death' that lives within the hollow of a crown?  Could it not be Satan himself  -(In Judaism it was believed that Death was a Devil of some kind)?   But I feel it refers more to the 'Mind' - that Fallen, fleshly satisfying carnal mind.   After all a Crown encircles the temples of a king, the dome of his head, where evil thoughts are conceived; surrounded like a perimeter fence.     Within this 'dome is enclosed, brooding on matters (temptations) leading to DEATH: - and Death MOCKS all that the Crown speaks of -  The Nation and it's Majesty, as it is meant to be seen and empowered by the Christian Faith.  Whence cometh this Death; this Mindset?  from the wearer's lack of committment to his Faith in Christ, and his ready willingness to compromise with the World, befriending its values and 'faiths' in opposition to God's Word as given in the BIBLE: and to the Truth taught and demonstrated in and through God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  AND this Death comes to Kings, as well as Presidents, and indeed all of us commoners - there are no partialities with Death - he welcomes ALL.    As it is written -

'It is appointed to men once to die,

but after that the Judgment.'

Hebrews 9v27 - The Bible

The Believing Christians  should then take care not to embrace all that he finds attractive in this world society, that he is born into, wheather rich or poor.  Friendship with, and to the World, which can lead us into enmity with GOD.    And this can hurry on our real death physically, and spiritually.

But of course, the King, together with each one of us, lives IN the world, and and cannot but mix and come into contact with people and things oppposed to God and godliness.     What are we to do as followers of Christ, who also lived in this world, yet kept himself from whatever did not please God, His father in Heaven.     In Jude, v21, in the Bible it is written -

'Guard and keep yourselves in the Love of God'

 (Amplified)

And in the following two verses we are told to deal with each other, in that Love, and to be wise in our choice of where, and how to fellowship with our diverse fellow human beings.    On some (who may hold different customs, traditions, and opinions), have compassion, making a difference; (give space, patiently) and thus show them God's Love.

And others, more entrenched in their own ways, and philosophy of life, take care;   lest they should overwehelm you, and lead you away from the Truth of the Gospel; whose moral lives are polluted by all uncleaness of thought and life-style  -  keep clear of any close attachment or fellowship with them - even with the very best of motives.

The United Kingdom is still, after more than a thousand years, by LAW, and Constitution, a CHRISTIAN  NATION.   It's purpose to be a light and illumination to all around them, through its Faith in God, demonstrated by King and Government, to the least of its citizens.

In this Year of 2022 half of the population of the U.K. are without ANY Faith in anythng at, all religiously or phlophically.     We see a GREAT falling away.    Our late Sovereign Lady, Queen Elisabeth 11 held the Christian Faith, and for seventy years constantly reminded the Nation of it's need of God, individually.    Yet she was not always able to give a true and faithful LEAD in how to evaluate the changing moral values and respect for God handed down though our history.    She had to tread carefully, and refrain from saying anything not in line with her very secular Parlaiment, the representative of the 'people'.   She had to compromise or Abdicate from the Throne.      The Crown is not only subject to the Mind of it's wearer, but also to the common MIND of the People.'    And the People's mind and heart is being  stolen away from GOD, who are for the  most part unbelieving in these Latter Days.    One might say that to be King in the U.K. one has to walk a tight rope between God and Parlaiment.    Hard, at least, for one who has not put serving, and pleasing God FIRST.

KING CHARLES has often been quoted as saying that he Will not accept, as those before him had, to be called Defender of the Faith (the Christian Faith),  but of ..'the Faiths'.      To do this he must be spiritually unfaithful  and adulterous to Christ and the Church.   In the photo opposite, His Majesty is conversing with those of another Religion, seemingly very fraternally.    He is right to reach out, as long as he does not seem to join with them in their religious beliefs - as a Christian - for he will then be seen to be of no faith at all - It is NOT true that 'ALL roads lead to God'     The Christian has been clearly shown from The Bible, and from the life and teachig of our Lord Jesus Christ, that there is only ONE way to God, our Father in Heaven, and that it is in following Jesus, and in accepting His Salvation from Judgment through His Death and Resurrection on the Cross.    'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and in His resdurrecton, and you shall be saved'  (Romans 10v9-13 - The Bible).

TODAY

In the United Kingdom

we seem to have entered truly perulous times.

We are now a progressive Mixed Multitude, constantly increasing, and with an increasing pressure not to offend or discomfort any of a different cultural, religious, or politial background.   Our own Culture, Hstory, and Faith, is being contiuously attacked, suppressed, misrepresented, yea, and even pulled down before our eyes.     From the 1950's a small percentage of immigrants have brought their own politics, religion and cultural heritate more and more to the fore, imposing their own individual national identity upon that of the host Country,  whilst at the same time gladly receiving that Country's hospitality, goodwill, and protection.   It may only be a small number, but it is growingin fact, and finding little resistance to their effort to discredit, condemn, and do they can to challenge our own Christian standing, and heritage.

I do not greatly find fault with them for there are few who stand up against their aspirations.       No indeed, they have found a 'Chrstian' Country, which rarely shows a determinaton to adhere to Christ's Example. in living according to the Ten Commandments, from the Crown, downwards.     Churches suppressing the REAL Truth of the Gospel with a diluted morality,  and licenteous life style.     And a Government itself, also in disarray, and willing for almost anything.    We do nothing to protect our heritage- Is it that we do  not value it?        We NEED Leadership; Christian Leadership;  a Christian KING to wear the Crown in front of the People,    boldly wearing the Cross, and upholding all it stands for in our LAWS.           Yes EVERYONE needs to be loved and CARED about.  But we need to make it clear to ALL, our Nationals, and Immigrants together, that the United Kingdom is a Christian Kigdom,  with the Head of State, bearing a Christian Crown, with Christian Responsability and Identity readily and unswervingly demonstrated in front of Parlaiment and the People.

GOD SAVE THE KING

and The United Kingdom
 of Great Britain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

  NEWS FROM US

Here is a photo of JOHN, lizzy,  and ESTHER

taken Early July, just after Esther's 3rd Chemo

She has done very well, and will go for her LAST and 8th Chemo this coming Friday.   She has coped well, and apart from not wanting to eat anything, she has not suffered from nausia or vomiting; just a bad taste in her mouth which nothing seems to relieve.     This week she is eating well, and we feel that she is regaining her old strength and energy.     However her memory has been a problem more and more, and although we thought it was caused partly by the Chemotherapy sessions it may not be so.     But it has not affected her ability to converse, but her ability to 'remember' what was said or what happened five minutes earlier.      So we get over this by just repeating and recounting events and important messages etc.,    She is  VERY happy that her hair has begun to grow back altogether.     In about two weeks time she will commence fifteen sessions of ten minutes Radiotherapy in a near by hospital   This will done over fifteen days, one session each day.      We are praying this will not again sap her energy too  much.  Thereafter another Mamiogram, and if all is clear, as the doctors are sure it will be, she will jut have to make periodic checks.    It has been an arduous time for us both, but we Rejoice in the Lord who who walked with us and blessed day by day, all the way.  

The HOMES - all four of them and thee 125 chldren and young people that live in them are well and happy.     Daryl has continued to visit Government Meetings to work out how their plans to CLOSE all Homes by the end of TEN Years can be achieved.    There are many problems.   However it seems that they will now allow US to contnue with the children we have as here laid our  -

•  1st - ALL over 18s must be removed finally from the Homes and be put in Hostels in town at OUR expense until they finalise their School or College/University courses. 

• 2nd - ALL 40 of our under 18s who have ANY relative must - if possible - be re-patriated to their care.    WE have to visit the relative's home and arrange everything, at our expense.                                   

• 3rd -  The remaing children will be allowed to remain where they are in our care, but we are to be ready for any one of them, at any time, to be adopted or fostered, and removed from our care.

All this is difficult, but we arre confident that the Lord is with us.     IF at the end of the 10 years, and IF the Government does finally close down every Children's Home we will consider expanding the School and of using it to offer more FREE places to the poorest children in our area.      Daryl  and I will be Meeting with our Board of Management on this coming Thursday to discuss this  in more detail.    

Some twenty of our College University have not been able to returns to their studies this month.   The hikes in the cost of living, and drop in volume in our incoming gifts have made things more than tight this month, and we just could ot feed everyone AND put these College fees on the table.   It has happened before, and somehow our kids always managed to go on and complete their studies,   We know HE watches over each one us us.   We will value your prayers.

This has been longer than I planned - my rambles once again!   

Love you all in Jesus

John, Esther, and Daryl Green

and all with us here in Testimony Faith Homes

 

 

                                             

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                           .

 

 

IS THIS THE  END OF CHRISTENDOM ?

This Headline appeared in Kenya's Daily Nation a few days ago, based on the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elisabeth 11.     It set me thinking.    The actual word 'Christendom', in my own mind, somehow had already become obsolete by the time the Second World War -1940-4 - ended.   This was probably because of gradual secular, social and moral values replacing the Bible - especially in Education, and even in LAW,     The Twentieth Century already seemed far removed from the Idea of a Universal Christian Faith ruling so  much of the civilized world.     A rather narrow and uneducated view, but then I was not highly educated then, or even now.     As I grew up, after the war, in England, I realised that great changes were afoot; changes that affected what I had been taught, at home and in school, relative to the Country's moral code, way of life, and Religion.     These trends continued to make inroads into societys historical and national pride of place, God consciousness, and traditional ethics regarding good manners, and human respectable behaviour.     By the end of the 1950's into the  1960's this was more than visible to a teenager growing up.    And it had the effect of making it very difficult to discern the Truth.    As the decades continued to pass, I have seen  these initially quiet and unnoticed, liberal, permissive, and even appeasing trends gather momentum, until our identity as a Christian Country has almost disappeard; but not quite - there are still pockets of resistance.   But more and more publically, we see a State without a Christian Identity.  

This was evident in England, for example, in 2011, when Mr. Justice Jack Beatson stated that

                                     "There is no place in British Law,  for Christian Beliefs"

AND 

"This, (the United Kingdom)

is a secular state."

I did mention this, in particular in our Blog for 5th March 2011 which is recallable on the Net.

Queen Elisabeth, as Head of the Church of England, addressing the Synod

Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth was, in her time, Head of the Church of England, and Defender of the Faith (the Christian Faith as presented by the Anglican Church of England.)      And in a way she was a constant reminder to the Nation that GOD was her Strength, and the Strength of the Nation also.  If you like she was a National Consciounce.       Now she has gone on to give account to God in Heaven.  What will happen now.      What of the King, Charles 111 ?     He has tentatively said that rather than be the Defender of The Faith (Christianity), he would prefer to be Defender of Faith - generally - wherever it is found, in whatever belief or philosophy.      I do sincerely understand where he is coming from, but it won't really do.        'Thou Shalt Have no other God before me',  is the criterior of the Bible.    There IS only ONE God, and I, as a Believer in Jesus Christ, and the Bible, cannot be seen to accept 'other gods'  OR encourage them to be established and acceptable in my life as a Believer in the one true God. .  This is the bottom line.      It is very outdated, today, and it may be impossible to actually see it enacted 'statewise' in this present age.     The whole idea and principal has been, and is being compromised. 

His Majesty, as a Christian Prince, may love all men and women, and be willing to protect them, but not necessarily propogate or encourage 

them to pursue another Way, not Christ's.    Nor encourage any of 

the individual Christian believers, if they in any way divert from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Bible.     So however good our motives may be, or sound, we have to take care they do not weaken the faith of ourselves as Believers in Jesus, and God'sWord, OR lead others astray into error.       Her Majesty, Queen Elisabeth, was always clear as to what she Believed in, and never departed from her Witness to, and for, Christ, in her life and work.    It did not seperate her from reaching out to others of different faith, in love and under-standing.       But did she, I wonder, compromise just a little, and keep from Witnessing to them of The Way, The Truth and the Life found in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God?     Contantly encroached  upon, as the United Kingdom is, by so many seeking refuge or prosperity within its shores, the presssure to  'live and let live' is ever greater.      Without doubting the genuine kindness and merciful mind of King Charle, we should pray seriously for him to do nothing without Jesus Christ in mind and heart.   And we know that current opinions and ideas will do their best to divert him from this action.     It will not be an easy road for him, and it is not an easy road for ANY of us in this present world, no longer a Christian World in any real sense.      To stand for Jesus will more and more be a risk.     As world society becomes,  progressively more godless, and concerned with deceitful and false pleasures, and any who proclaim the true Gospel, and New Life in Jesus Christ, will become enemies of the State; even the World.    For the World is at odds with God and always has been, and is His Enemy.

BUT the end of Christendom is NOT the end of Christianity, nor the Kingdom of God.   Christendom may, in fact, have been a 'myth'!     Christendom may yet to be!   We who are alive today, and who have a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, (our coming King, the Saviour of our soul), will be called upon to SHINE in the coming darkness of utter unbelief around us, and to stand up and be SEEN and HEARD.  This is not the time to HIDE the 'Treasure'  that resides within our fragile Tents, but REVEAL it, and He Who IS our LORD will BE revealed in and through us.

++++++++++++++++++

The Innauguration of Kenya's 5th President, William Ruto

taken on Tuesday 13th September at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, Nairobi.

Left to Right:- Chief Justice Matha Koome, President Ruto, Mrs.Rachel Ruto.

We waited a long time for the Election.    We were happy and glad that it took place amid peace and quietness, and generally was accomplished in a good and orderly matter.    There were one or two stressful moments as we waited for the final Results to be read out, but although this resulted in an attempt to nullify the Results, the Supreme Court of Justice, on Appeal, found no justifiable case to answer, and Result was therefore confirmed.    And so the Swearing In of the President, took place and it seemed everyone was content.     The actual Innauguration saw more than 60,0000 fill the Stadium, and God provided fairly good weather, until near the conclusion the late afternoon.     God was there.    Many stood and prayed for the President, and for his Deputy, as they were both sworn in,     There was such a general sense of rejoicing, and good will.     We have Thanked God, and we ask you all to pray for our new President,  his Excellency William Ruto as he comes into office to face very pressing and serious problems with our Economy.        Food and Fuel prices here are rising, as they are elsewhere in the world, - mainly, we are told, due to the Ukranian War with Russia.     This is certainly putting huge pressure on the majority of our people, who are living below the breadline, being unemployed, or poorly paid.   It has also seemingly reflected upon those living in other countries who support our charitable missions here, as we see income generally dropping month by month to meet the RISE in costs.    We thank God for continuing to keep our own heads above water, but the Enemy is also busy to do all he can to cast us down.     

We are all WELL.  The School has just closed for 10 days on the 16th, the and will  re-open on 26th September for the last Term of the year.    All thing are still a bit topsy turve due to the chaos caused by Covid 19, and the Election, and the change-over from what was known as 8-4-4 School Education Plan ( 8 years in Primary, 4 in Secondary, and 4 in University.     Our school, Testimony School, was chosen as one to Pilot the new incoming system, known as the Competency Based Curriculum  (CBC).and we have slowly been upgrading for  6 years now.    In January 2023 Our Primary Graduating Class will move up to the new Junior High Class 1.     BUT our new President is not happy with this system and is considering reverting to 8-4-4 !!!      This will be a real set  back,  and renewed costs to all Schools.     Addionally our new President is determined to implement a gradual annual closure of Children's Homes over the next 10 years, at the end of which period he hopes all such Homes will be shut.      A lot going on, and a lot that threathens Testimony Faith Homes.     We would, once again, ask  you all to pray for  us, and for the children God has put in our care.      All in all a very challenging time.    But GOD is with us, and He does not change.   He is able to DELIVER us, and WILL deliver us from all our distresses, and TAKE US ON!!     Amen.       Please also continue to lift Daryl up in your prayers, since he is of course right in the middle of all this, and carrying the burden of it all.     He is coping, but feeling a little pressed right now.

Sorry for this log GAP.     I personally have felt a bit  uninspired, and also afflicted with a persistant cough.    We wondered if it might be Covid, since I have also been quite tired, but tested negative.  Just a mild case of 'flu.     I feel a bit more on top currently.     ESTHER has just TWO more Chemo sessions to endure.    One on the 29th of this month and the last on 20th October.   She is doing just fine, and we Praise the Lord, and Thank you all for your prayers.     Another Blog next week .    God Bless you all, and sustain you all and every one.

Lovingly in Jesus Name

John, Esther, and Daryl Green

 

TESTIMONY FAITH HOMES HAS UNTIL MAY 2024

just about 2 years, before having to re-apply for Registration

as a Charitable Children's Institution for a futher 3 years.

Will the Government agree to let us continue? We have no idea.

Will they come and repatriate our children?  We cannot be sure. 

GOD INSPIRED US

just a very few of us,

to make a Family for those Needing one.

We never were an Institution

just a Family in the making.

God opened the doors of our hearts.

We WAIT on, and for, Him, as we have done,

day by day since it all began.

Many of the children that joined us here

grew up, and left us to start their own family, but never far

from our thought and memories.

The Family

grows, Marriage by Marriage.

And it has been such Blessing to us all -

 -to see so many of our little girls grow into Womanhood, and Marry;  and to be able to Give them away on behalf of their parents,  to start their own new family, with a Man of their choice.     And how equally proud, to stand with so many sons,  and to see them begin a family of their own,in front of God, and witnessed by such a Family Gathering.     (opposite a photo of our 'son' Molem Piera with his wife on their Wedding Day.)   A GREAT  PRIVILEGE, AND A GREAT BLESSING,  and HAPPINESS TOO.   Families stick together, and we have enjoyed being glued together into this one.    And we have seen it come together as one entity, yet still maintaining, individually, its individual history and roots.  When those who come, reach the time to leave home, they do not leave each other behind, but keep track of each other - and even of us.    They drop in for a chat, a cup of tea, even a meal.    They gather at reach other's Weddings, support each other in sorrow and in joy.

                                                                                                       

And Yes, they attend each other's Funerals too, joining together even more poignantly to grieve, and shed a tear.    All those who have spent time with us at Testimony Homes, whether in Testimony House, Jacaranda, Drakeley or Tyndale Cottages, remember each other, both the good, and not so good.   In a Family, each member counts, and has value.     This took time to develope and to achieve.  But it has happened, and one day it may happen to Kenya as whole...........

And this sense of belonging has spilt over, and into the lives, of those who, as employed adults, give their strength and lives to helping to keep everything going, so to speak.   The Mums and Dads, the clerks and other staff, that do all the nitty gritty things that have to be done for so many, living together, and adjacent to each other, including the upkeep  and care of the buildings.    I put this photo up recently, but I will include it here, for they need to be remembered, seen, and appreciated as part and parcel of Testimony.     We are ALL TOGETHER a very real FELLOWSHIP.

Esther and I, together with 4 Married Couples, (the mums and dads) are here,

all resident, plus clerks, administrators, thirty other men and women

who come in daily from across the town.

They all make it possible for us all to live here safely, cleanly,

and cared for - five of them that came to us as children,

and have finally stayed on to give back what they found here, for others.

What we have here is valuable to society at large.

But we are not individually, or collectively, by any means perfect.

We are all, young and old, human, and flawed.

What we have, and who and what we are, is by God' Grace.

In the End

HE is the Owner, the Governor.

He alone can close us down.

BUT

We are all 'pilgims' in this world; just passing through

This World is not our home.

And it is a Shrinking Ecomomy that besets us now,

just as much as a shrinking freedom in putting

our Faith in God, first.

This last year has been more challenging to us all, with Covid 19 restricting so many things, and putting extra pressure on our own economy, inside Testimony Homes.   We were all penned up inside our compounds for so many months.    Then we underwent a series of utility supply breakdowns;  our water supply was cut off, and then electricity, NOT because we had not paid our bills, but because the Rains had held off, and water seriously rationed.     Electricity cuts, sometimes for days at a time due to faulty Transformers in the locality, and to falling trees bringing down power cables.    Suddenly in the  midst of Summer  the skies became overcast, and unseasonable COLD temperatures made for dull days.   A year full of of anomalies, and unepected jolts along the way, like Esther discovering she had Cancer, and even more, up to day, with one of our boys, home visiting us from America with a coveted Phd.,  died in his  sleep, in our house. on the second night of his visit to us.    And our general well-being, at the same time, continuing to dwindle, month my month, and slowly we have had to pare down our daily expenditure.  It has been, all in all, a rather harrowing time for us all.    BUT we have stood firm in our prayers, and  in our trust in God, and in His Word.      We have been here before.    

 I heard this week that it costs $1,100 to keep  a child in residential care in BENIN for 1 year. 

The article did not describe the kind of Care that is given.   We spend approximately Ksh.46,600/- per annum per child.  This, again approximately, is Ksh.127-200 per day!     In the UK the internet tells me it costs upwards of Sterling Pounds 3,000 per WEEK  or approx. Ksh.67,550 per day.    We all seem to be doing well here by comparison,  BUT it is harder and harder to find what WE need, week by week.

OF COURSE Kenya's economy is suffering the same as the rest of the world, and our cost of living has trebled since the Ukranian War began. ( NB no one believes this is entirely the fault of either the Ukrain or Russia).      BUT definately life is deteriorating.    Can the man in the street survive.  Not easily; not without great restraints.   ARE WE AFFECTED.    Yes, of course we are.  and we wonder how we will survive.     We have often been in this situation.    We have always  come through it.  Is is always different.

We have not sought a way of escape, but - like the 'boy on the burning deck' we have waited for the Command to move from above.     We are not our own.    Father has put us where we are, and told us to WAIT upon Him for what we need.    And this we will do, quietly, and obediently, together, praying and trusting, and REJOICING for every day He brings us through.

IN GOD WE TRUST

ESTHER  and I are both fine.    She is due to go for her 2nd dose of Chemo on Thursday this week.     She has done well this past month, and regained her appetite, but this week she noticed her hair is falling out.   She is in good spirits, and we together have been much comforted and encouraged, even in the midst of losing one very dear to us.     God has Blessed us together  as ONE, and we are GLAD to be together in His Hands.

It is a little COLD at present, still.    We are headed for our 'winter season'.

Steven is coming over to visit us again on the 24th of this month, and will hopefully bring our grand-daughter, Tonia with him.   We are so happy.

I have writen often,  I have wanted to restate why we are here, and what we are here for.   And I have wanted to make sure you can share with us, and pray effectively for us at this time.    We are SAFE in the arms of our God, whose arms you all are.      God Bless you and carry YOU all through the alarms and excursions of life.    We are thinking of so many in the U.K. and in America at this time,  and all of our friends in Denmark, India, and Australia especially.     We know the Shadow of our Time is upon all the World.     BUT He has Promised to Keep all those who are His.      May He Bless and KEEP YOU also in the Name of JESUS the King.

Lovingly,

John, Esther and Daryl Green, 

and ALL with us in the Testimony Family Worldwide.

                         

 

                                    

 

I CAME ACROSS THS PICTURE TODAY.    It took me back to a little town in north Yorkshire, England, during World War 11.    I was six years old.    I too had looked out of my bedroom window into the darkening night sky.   And I was wondering what tomorrow would bring.   My Mum was out at the 'flicks', and I was alone in the 'one up, one down' little house in Starbeck;  alone except for my Dad's mother, sipping tea by candlelight, near the fireplace.   And my Dad was out at the Pub getting drunk, as happened every night.    It was a momentous moment for me; a moment between heaven and hell, between an almost nightly terror, and a sudden shaft of Light, that began in me a slow but sure realisation that Someone outside of myself, and those I lived with, had me in mind.     I 'tingled' all over with that revelation.

My Mum ( I later found she was not be birth mother) was often out with a boyfriend, and my 'Dad' as stated, often drunk at the Pub, down the road.     Money was short in the house, and most evenings rang with rowdy, and violent domestic fights.    Not the most peaceful, or stable home to grow up in.     It got worse before it got better.....much later.

But, I did manage to get to School - sometimes - and was introduced to God by my Mum;    Every night before I slept she would pray with me a very simple prayer.     I was never removed from this family by the Authorities.    God took care of me.    And, as  I look back I can see that if I had not gone through what I had to, I may never had been prepared for what God had for me to do here twenty or so years later.

WHY am I remembering this now, in front of you all?    I am not sure.    But it has to be connected to the Governments Ten Year Plan to close Children's Homes in the pursuit of finding a 'Family Home and Life for every orphan in Kenya.     Hundreds of children have passed through Testimony Faith Homes since it first opened in Augusut 1969.   Babies, little kids of all ages, and teenagers; boys and girls.

SO many have had their moment looking out from here, to the future, wondering what it held for them.  And also remembering from where they came.     Its a very good thing to do, if you can.   It can clear your hindsight so that you can better see and understand where you have come to NOW.   Every step you took was a planned step, to bring you to His Purpose.        

But along the way our hearts and minds can bring us both joy and sorrow - and a sense of 'aloneness' can, most of all, lead us astray into despair.  And it will manifest in many different ways, from 'pits of gloom', to overwehlming anger and self pity.     I know of no way to combat this, unless it be for one's understanding to be illuminated to the reality of GOD; the One who made us, and is able to enable us to overcome every situation life may bring us to.   Christ is the Answer.      WHY?    Because He will never, in our life time, turn His back upon us, or refuse to answer our call, whatever the cause.      Because He revealed Himself to my little life,  and I no longer feared what Man could do to me.     God was, and IS still today, WITH ME.    Nothing sensationally noticeable, just inner assurance.

CHILDREN NEED this Anchor, as they sail their life upon the choppy waves, and storms of life, in this very uncertain world.      And they need it from the onset; from their Conception in the Womb, to their Birth into this chaotic world.    They need to find it in the Love and Care of a happily married loving couple to teach them God's LOVING KINDNESS, as they interact in a home that provides a steadfast backdrop to that LOVE no matter what happens.

WE IN TESTMONY FAITH HOMES & SCHOOLS

BELIEVE IN

Marriage, NOT Fornication or Adultery

We believe in 

'FOR BETTER, OR FOR WORSE'

And Till Death Serparates us.

WE BELIEVE IN

'FORGIVENESS & RESTORATION'

that will SAVE Marriage

HEAL broken homes and lives.

WE ALL NEED to WORK AT THIS

FOR THE SAKE OF OURSELVES, OUR CHILDLREN,

AND THE NATION WE ARE PART OF.

save your children

SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE

WE GAVE OURSELVES 

(as a Man and a Woman

joined in Holy Matrimony, together with our own offspring

that God gave to us)

TO OPEN OURSELVES, AND OUR HOME

to, and for, children who may, for any reason, 

have lost their own family home.

We patterned ourselves on the idea of 

a Kenyan Extended Family

One Family extending itself to those

having suffered loss, temporaray or permenant of the same.

TO DAY WE ARE ALSO KNOWN LOCALLY AS

the Testimony Family

NOT

that we seek to replace or negate our children's birth families,

BUT that we might strengthen ties that bind,

and 'stand in' for Mums and Dads,

who were unable to provide for their childrens need of

Love, Home, and Family Support

I believe that many children have found what they may have initially lost.

I believe many have found the Love of God, and been able to forgive,

and to turn bitterness and anger into compassion and understanding.

And in the process the majority

found themselves becoming 'family' in a much wider sense

to strangers, and foreigners, breaking common barriers,

and becoming one with all mankind.

As a Residential Children's Home

we have served a purpose.

John and Esther Green

Testimony Faith Homes & Schools

1969-2022