ARCHBISHOP GILBERT DEYA has been hitting headlines since 2004. A Biography has been written about him, but otherwise I have not been able to discover much about him prior to that date. TODAY he is exposed as a con artist of the first degree, and perhaps amongst the worst ever. And, very sad to say, he is a Kenyan, and a man who has pretended to be a follower of the Christian Faith. In the Press we are told that he was even in line to be appointed Kenya's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom!! Even though his name was already being polluted! How terrible is our world. A world where all our values and standards are being eroded and cast aside. But of course the Archbishop is a self made man - he founded his own Denomination, and appointed himself Archbishop. Perhaps he never had any real personal values and standards of his own - at least none that put God and a Holy life first. It is said that his wife and others have been trafficking in children - some of them no doubt then also became 'miracle babies' produced by previously infertile or otherwise barren women that Mr. Deya prayed for. But now he is discovered as a charlatan who has consistently enriched himself at the expense of 'silly women'. The amazing thing is that he has been enabled to delude so many for so long, building a fast growing denomination in a Country not his own on an apparent gimmick! In accomplishing it all he has been well used in assisting to promote the general discreditisation of the Christian Faith as a whole.

Sixty years ago - in England - the Christian Faith was respected and its preachers honoured. Today this attitude has crumbled. At every opportunity the media has exposed the duplicity of those espousing Christ, accusing them of being dishonest, money grasping, sensationalist, immoral and perverted - both relative to the Laity and the Priesthood. Hard for a sincere Christian to accept - BUT, after all the Christian knows better than any, that in the Last Days FALSE teachers and preachers will arise out of the Christian Community; vile pretenders seeking to destroy and pull down all faith in Christ. Empowered and inspired by the Devil himself, they are today multiplied and implanted everywhere - and yes EVEN more to be found within the Church.
Have you realised that some of those who have clamoured the loudest for licentious reforms that tone down the Word of God, and downgrade public morality are not only pastors and bishops, but even Archbishops? Consider this extract of dialogue from the Consecration (in the Church of England) of an Archbishop -

Question - (put to the one being Consecrated) 'Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain, sufficiently. all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?

Answer - I am so persuaded and determined by God's Grace.

Question - Will you then faithfully exercise yourself in the same Holy Scriptures and call upon God by prayer for the true understanding of them; so you may be able to teach and exhort them and to withstand and convince the gainsayers?

Answer - I will do so, by the help of God

Question - Be you ready, with all faithful diligence, to drive away and banish all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God's Word; and both privately and openly to call and encourage others to do the same?

Answer - I am ready, the Lord being my helper

BUT actions speak louder than words it seems, and for all the Vows and Promises that are made, the actual EXAMPLE that is given often proves them false.

'FOR THE TIME has come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.

INSTEAD

to suit their own desire

they will gather around them a great number of teachers

to say what their itching ears want to hear.

They will turn their ears away from the Truth and turn aside to myths.'

2. Timothy 4v3-4

It is in these very days that we might well consider the words of Peter in 2.Peter 2 where he says

'False teachers are among the people,

even as there shall be false teachers among you,

who privily shall bring in damnable heresies...

having their eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin;

beguiling unstable souls; an heart they have exercised

with covetous practices; cursed children

which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray

......servants of corruption.'

YET all this BEGAN at the very birth of the Church, and Paul on leaving the early Church at Ephesus says -

'Take heed to yourselves and all the flock,

among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,

to shepherd the church of God which He purchased

with His own blood.

For I KNOW this,

that after my departure savage wolves will come among you,

not sparing the flock.

Also from among yourselves men will ruse up,

speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.'

We should then be VERY alert and diligent to ensure that we put ourselves under the teaching of those who aspire to adhere to the Word of God alone, and to live by it. We should not run after every doctrine, every new 'revelation' or 'sighting' of Christ, but soberly measure all that is said and done by the very WORD of God.

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PRAY FOR KENYA ! She needs your prayers! Prayers for political wisdom and stability. Prayers for Political LEADERS who will lead with integrity and with regard to the Law of God. Prayers for NEW leaders untarnished by the sins of the past and unaligned to the party politics and tribal affiliations that have so far been the cause of so much distress and economic collapse. Prayers for the state of our climate and weather. All the sensational predictions of an 'El Nino' has produced little in regard to a meaningful supply of RAIN. DRYNESS is setting in, and for example here in Eldoret the river is less than a stinking trickle, and the air dry and parched so that already every green thing is turning brown, and the very grass becoming as dust - and this is only December. No sign of the needed Short Rains, and with an increasingly HOT season already making itself felt - a season that could easily continue through to May next year!

RIGHT NOW the prospects do not look good for the year ahead - BUT one thing is SURE, Those who KNOW the Lord Jesus will not walk through it alone, for HE will be with each one - and THEY will do great things with Him by their side - indeed THEY will overcome.

AND NOW AT LAST a few photos of STEVEN EROT YEGO taken TODAY just for you. Hope they will be visible. Mum and son both doing very well, and looking forward to Christmas. Dad Yego is still 'tickled pink' as they say, and is a truly doting father and husband in ever way. AND all the children seem just as happy and pleased by this special and long awaited addition to the family.

Dates ahead into December =
1-3rd Children to town to purchase shoes and school uniform for the New Year. A VERY demanding exercise in every way.
4-5th Christmas shopping
10-18th JOHN will be teaching every morning from 8a.m. to 1p.m. at Discipleship College Eldoret - Subject - Administration of a Children's Home - about 4 lessons per morning.. I really am NOT looking forward to it for a number of reasons, some purely intellectual and a few physical!
18th - the Homes will be putting up Christmas Decorations. We have always done this since we began on the same date each year.
We shall also be having our Annual Christmas Dinner for all our subordinate staff including our Houseparents. We have a good meal and a lot of fellowship.
23rd - A BIG Carol Party will be visiting neighbours and local groups singing carols from about 3 to 8p.m.
24th Christmas Eve
25th Christmas Day
We hope to have accomplished all the hard work before the 15th including the Christmas Shopping (just food for the Christmas time - we cannot go to buying presents, but the children don't seem to miss them at all, and enjoy a little extra special food on the menu AND new school clothes.)
NOVEMBER is at an end. Our friend John Cooper will be ministering at the last Meeting of the month in our Sunday Fellowship. I shall be Breaking Bread at the Communion. And then we are into December. God has been SO good to us.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you all as you also make ready for the Christmas Festival. We trust He will give you all joy and happiness together even as you prepare.
Lovingly in Him

John and Esther

GRADUALLY GRADUATING!!!

WHAT A HAPPY FACE! Great Joy for us to see our little girl Graduate from her Teaching Course today. We were not able to be there with her in Nairobi, but some of our family were, and she seems to have had a happy day, and ready to face the next step - a teaching job - perhaps in the big city. It seems only yesterday she was a babe in arms. Her birth mother walked into our District Hospital twenty years ago, gave birth and immediately left - without the baby. She never came back. In fact Helen was two months early, and so tiny and lifeless, that midwife was on the way to the disposal unit to get rid of her thinking she was 'still- born' - but halfway there she suddenly moved and whimpered. She was ALIVE. She was eventually to be adopted by Esther and me. An affectionate, shy, and initially with a definite likeness to the little bird in the Tom & Jerry Cartoons - Tweety-pie - a name that has stuck too her as a nick-name. She attended Michael & Janet's Wedding in August, and thus there she is snuggling up to him.

We are VERY happy to see her now grown up, and ready to take hold of her own life, and future.

BENSON LAGUINA, one of our senior boys from Testimony House also Graduated yesterday from his University College with a BA in Christian Ministries. He has done very well, and hopes now to go into full time service for Jesus. He is brother to Beverly (now working in Tourism) Jesse (waiting to go into Nursing)

Melvis who is still seeking a career in Business Management. It was a joyful occasion.

LAST WEEK I mentioned the Primary School top class Graduating and getting ready to enter High School. THIS WEEK our top class in High School (Form IV) also Graduated, getting ready to enter College or University. There was a formal Luncheon for Students and Staff, speeches, and a lot of enjoyment . I gave a short Address was given as below -

'THIS IS THE LAST DAY for you in this School. You have learnt for a minimum of twelve years already, and NOW you are poised to continue on in C0llege or University for a further four years.

You have been confronted with countless choices and decisions that needed to be made, and you have had to make them - good or bad.

As life continues on, slowly, we inevitably reap the effects of those choices and decisions. We grow up from infancy to childhood, from childhood to teenage, and from teenage to adulthood.

WHEN YOU commenced Form 1 of High School you were already teenagers, and most of you still are. What kind of teenager are you today? How would you describe yourself.

As you now launch out into man and womanhood in front of your peers in a place of higher learning will you be known as a person of integrity? Will you be the kind of person that will be known as Honest and ever Truthful? Will you be known for your sense of Fair Play, and Responsibility? Will you be RESPECTED? It is a sure thing that not all you peers will be

demonstrating these qualities - perhaps even your teachers and lecturers may not demonstrate them! Will you go along with the crowd, career along with the herd?

IN THE BIBLE a man called JOB was suddenly plunged into material ruin and physical illness. He lost everything on earth dear to him, and was racked with pain from head to foot. In the midst of all this suffering he said -

'As long as my breath is in me,

And the Holy Spirit of God is in my nostrils,

my lips will not speak wickedness, nor by tongue utter deceit.

Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me!

My righteousness I will hold fast, and will not let it go!

My heart will not reproach me as long as I live.'

Job 27v3-4

Job's priority in life was to do, and to be right in his life - whether it was seen or not.

His three oldest, closest friends, told him that his suffering was due to his personal sin, but he would have none of it. He admitted that he was suffering, but he would not agree it was due to his own wrongdoing; he insisted he always did what God wanted. Even in the very midst of his pain and anguish of body and spirit, he HELD ON to the living out of a blameless and upright life. And he did it without bitterness or in speaking against God. His wife could see no sense in it at all. She mocked him and said, in the midst of his personal pain -

"Do you STILL hold on to your INTEGRITY?

Why not curse God and die?"

YOUR PEERS in the world around you, and in the Colleges and Universities you will be joining, may not be so concerned about their integrity - may have never even heard of integrity! Indeed it may well be that you will find that the majority will have no interest in such matters having flung all moral values out of their lives whilst they embrace every unrighteous and dishonest way of life. Can there be INTEGRITY in using the hard found money of parents and others in order to party and drink the days and nights away instead of putting it to the use it was given for - to complete your education, and prepare you for the life ahead? Can there be integrity in forming relationships and making promises to others with no intention of keeping them when someone more attractive or influential passes by?

When your parents have struggled to earn the money to feed, clothe, and educate you, and your teachers have dedicated their lives to passing on knowledge they themselves have sacrificed to learn for YOUR profit - IS IT RIGHT, can there be integrity in wasting it all with drugs and riotous living, and dishonest practices?

EACH ONE OF US IS RESPONSIBLE for his brother/sister in the world around us. We, Ourselves, are to be Leaders and Guides in the society around us. How shall we guide and lead without INTEGRITY, and remain blameless for the chaos that will follow? NOW is the time to be determined and to make up our minds to BE RIGHT in what we do no matter what the pressure to do the wrong may be.

ONE who studied in this very School, and who continued on to University, found plenty of friends to welcome him, and to show him the delights of alcohol and sex. He graduated poorly and found no employment. He had begun with a brilliant mind, good looks, attractive personality, but now must take casual labour - to support a drinking habit. Instead of honour and integrity he has become a bum without a future. A WASTED life.

BUT we pray this will not be the future end of any of YOU! We hope that you have wiser hearts, appreciating all the hard work, faith and sacrifice that has brought you to this hour. DO NOT demonstrate the lowest, least commendable, and most demeaning aspects of a fallen human nature. That instead you will lift up your dear heads and hearts to God, and take your cue from Him, willing to stand in front of Him, and all Mankind, tall, strong, and determined to demonstrate what is RIGHT .....

Finally young ladies and gentlemen -

Whatsoever things are TRUE,

Whatsoever things are HONEST,

Whatsoever things are JUST,

Whatsoever things are PURE,

Whatsoever things are LOVELY.

Whatsoever things are of GOOD REPORT,

If there be any VIRTUE, and if there be any PRAISE,

THINK ON THESE THINGS!

Philippians 4v8

CATHERINE SENGE'S baby - Steven Erot YEGO has now completely recovered and both Mum and baby are back home in Tyndale Cottage. Both doing well. Many thanks for all those who joined us in prayer for them both. School is not closed for the Holiday. The children all at home, and plans for Christmas beginning to be considered.\

John and Gwynneth COOPER have worked hard to become a welcome part of each of our four Homes - Gwynneth occupying all the little ones, and John playing chess and being used in conversation and counselling. We have benefited greatly from their input - and still some weeks to go before they return to UK.

VERY HOT today, clear skies, no sign of RAIN. Things will now dry up the more.

God Bless you all, and every day convince you of His Presence with you.

John and Esther

FAREWELL TO A HEADMISTRESS!

IN SERIOUS MODE, Esther as Headmistress judiciously views the proceedings at a Meeting of the student body in Testimony Primary School this year. Once Head Teacher in the Nursery Section of the School, she was promoted to Head of Primary in 2004. She found the School wavering a little in public popularity, but with prayer and determination she took over with firmness of conviction that she could build it up. And this she has done, so that the Primary School today is filled to capacity and high in the esteem of aspiring parents.

She has done this with discipline in administration, and with wisdom from God. She is an excellent counsellor and skilled in PR. In this photo there is little sign of -compromise! But behind that no-nonsense face has always been a heart of deep compassion and understanding. She has, over the six years of her unpaid labour, earned the respect and affection of both students and parents alike, as well as the admiration of her Staff of more than 20 teachers. The Official Announcement of her Retirement was given yesterday on the last School Assembly of the year. But a previous statement was given on the 12th November at the Farewell Party of the Graduating Standard V111 Class of 2009. She will be greatly missed,, but on the other hand time moves on and none of us can go on for ever in these finite bodies of ours. She will of course still be on the compound living in Green Cottage as before. She will not be idle, and will still be very much available for many new calls upon her life both in respect of the School AND the Homes. WE, as husband and wife, might also find ourselves able to do a few more things TOGETHER!! I am already 'retired' in one sense - at least from being a Houseparent - but still have quite a load of odds and ends to take care of most days. BUT I have had more spare time than Esther these past years, and it will now hopefully be a joy to be able to share more good times with each other. Well we are both SAYING this, but knowing Esther I am waiting for the New Year to see how it actually works out. Retirement is not something either of us are really cut out for !! But she WILL relax and be less stressed.

NOW a long serving member of her staff has been Appointed Headmaster; an excellent man of faith in God, and an excellent teacher. The School will continue well! Primary School has closed for the Top Class whose students now await the Result of the National Examinations - The Kenya Primary Certificate of Education which should be out in the New Year. The SEVEN lower Classes will continue to attend school for a further week or two whilst the internal Termly exams are given and marked.
NEXT week, on Thursday the Graduating 4th Form of the High will have own their Leaving Party, having themselves completed the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education. Their Headmaster, Mr. Zacaria Mbatia will also retire this year and his replacement Mrs. Angela Omobe will be Appointed. She also has served the School for many years. SO changes all round.
HUNDREDS of children have gone through the School since it opened in 1981. Almost 200 are still in touch with us, and we hope next year to form a Testimony School Old Student's Association and arrange to have periodic Reunions. We hope the first of these will take place in December 2010. Altogether we have a total School Population of 800 - Nursery through to Form 1V.

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AS REPORTED LAST WEEK, Catherine Senge and Micah YEGO received their first born son named Steven Erot Yego amidst great rejoicing all round, especially in their own Family at Tyndale Cottage. Regretfully complications followed on, and by Sunday little Steven was having a fever, and Catherine was feeling anxious and afraid. Her condition was not helped by the fact that THREE other babies with her in the same Ward all passed away at that time.

Little Steven Erot had an infection of his umbilical cord - careless and neglectful nurses in the Delivery room! This has progressed to a problem with his blood, and there is talk today of a Blood-transfusion. This has alarmed Catherine the more, though of course she has many with her praying for them both, and seeking to give strength and counsel. A first pregnancy is always full of possible alarms and excursions - for Catherine they seem to have all come at once; aggravated by the fact that she gave birth in a NEW hospital that is very well equipped and clean, but not quite 'run in' as it were, with untried nursing staff, and more patients than had been expected. Anyway baby is eating well, and we feel the Lord has it all well in hand for them all. But I know your prayers will be welcome at this time.

On the 9th we received John and Gwynneth COOPER from Whitby in Yorkshire, England. But they did not actually arrive from Whitby direct. They had come from Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic Ocean, perhaps the most far away place on earth from other humankind - a little dot of an island, with a community of about 200 souls. Previous to their visit there they were both working in Thailand......Both have a professional history in education.........HOW did WE come to know of them? Well their daughter Anna, then about 16, came to spend some time with us here in Testimony House in 1991. She had won a competition with TEAR FUND - UK which took her visiting some of their Projects world wide. She was so attracted by us that she asked to come back to spend more time with us. Ever since her parents, John and Gwynneth have kept in touch and prayed for us. It is just wonderful to have the both with us after all these years. We are of similar age, and get on really well. They will be with us for a month, and have already toured the School, visited and become 'family' with each of the four Homes, and John will also be speaking at our Fellowship this coming Sunday.

Tomorrow we shall be visiting Joshua and Miriam. Joshua had his expected operation a week or more ago; they found nothing. He has continued to suffer with his back, and right leg, and many more exploratory tests have been done in the intervening days. Today we hear that all tests are negative and that no 'cause' for his distress can be found so far - many telling him to his face that it is all in his 'mind'!! But he and Miriam are holding on to the LORD in all of this, and are trusting Him to justify AND to heal in the days ahead. This is now a 'trial' of more than a year's duration. We do commend them both to you all, and ask you to remember them also in your prayers.

We have not seen any rain now for some three weeks. Things are drying out again as the temperature slowly rises. Other areas are reeling from torrential rain storms and flooding. No one can predict what will happen now. But the prospect of further food and water shortages loom large. Nevertheless we live for the Day, and our Thanksgiving is day by day as He walks with us.

God be with you all as days go by.

John and Esther

LITTLE GIRLS ALSO GROW BIGGER EVERY DAY!

OUR DAUGHTER ELISABETH, aged about 6 years, with two close friends from the Testimony House Family. Sarah to the left and Catherine Senge on the right - both a little younger. This was taken in the year 1982, twenty seven years ago. Time goes by, and children GROW up. Elisabeth now with two children of her own, Sarah also a mother of (twins) working in Mombasa in Banking, and Catherine working with TFH as the Mother of Tyndale Cottage. Catherine is married to Mika Yego, and they have worked together in Tyndale Cottage as Mum and Dad to 30 children since they married in 2003. TODAY Catherine has given birth to their own FIRSTBORN SON. SUCH joy ! Such very real HAPPINESS. ALL their thirty children already shouting and laughing with sheer delight at having a NEW baby brother in the family!

SARAH with her twins, to the left is working with the Co-op Bank Ltd. She is in fact heading up a new Branch in Mombasa, but home is still in Eldoret. So, at least for the moment her twins are still in Nursery School here in Testimony. And LIZ is back in the UK with HER family, all still living and working in Rochdale, Lancashire. All remain friends and 'sisters'. GREAT to see all three grown into motherhood, and into such wonderful people. It is the LORD our God that has enabled them to GROW. We feel SO proud of them all. Esther and I are blessed to have so many of our 'babies' grown up around us, but we DO also feel the miss of our very own who are so far away. And for me, I guess I miss my Lizzy the most - hope all my sons will forgive that little bias on my part. I guess daughters ARE special, and perhaps they are (from a father's point of view) a bit more doting or affectionate than our manly sons.......? But we love and appreciate each and every one. AND even those who remained in our Family Homes after they became 18 did not seem to have caused those growing up behind them in the family any undue suffering or imposition. Nor have any of them seemed to be any the worse for staying on until they felt strong enough and equipped enough to leave. For the most part most seem to be very normal, well balanced, responsible adults. This is what we expected would be the case; it is the result of a normal upbringing under as near normal circumstances as possible. It has worked. SOCIOLOGISTS please take note - Child Welfare Services TAKE NOTE.

THIS WEEK a woman living in northern Italy obtained Judgement and damages from the E.U. Court in which 7 judges agreed she was right to object to her child having to sit in school classrooms adorned with a crucifix. She is an atheist, felt it was unjust for her son to have to learn under a religious symbol to which he did not subscribe. It was an abuse of his human rights, and a risk to his psychological and sociological development. General outcry from the Catholic populace, but it seems the Judgment might carry even - after an Appeal........ IS CHRISTIANITY UNDER ATTACK? Certainly it might seem that it is not a popular religion or even philosophy. And now the European Union is poised to RULE on its practice and presentation within the confines of a constitutionally Christian Nation. Going that way in the UK as well. We may not wear jewelery such as a gold cross, or in any way draw attention to Christ or even our personal faith if it 'might' offend another viewpoint. Christianity could seem to be being put to death, rather like the Jewish People who went to the Gas Chambers, sheepishly without a protest or a visible concern. Yet RELIGION generally seems still to be tolerated.......... And of course when Antichrist finally becomes identifiable on our world scene HE will want to be worshipped.......there will still be religion - NOT Christian or Jewish, perhaps not even Islamic or any other either - but a form of religion for all that. WHERE is the world going? Where is Europe going - and the United Kingdom, and the United States ? Christianity is slowly being diluted, dismantled, and even obliterated worldwide. And I am not going to get started on any kind of religious or nationally divisive argument. I do not need to do so, since what is happening is bringing upon us all such complexity of DIVISION that together with the general collapse of the natural world in which we exist, will also come social degeneration and conflict on an increasing scale. What we have now called Human Rights is now more than all LAW and Order.

The dwindling Christian Presence in the world, even in the WEST has lost its way and its VOICE. In Islamic Countries all other religious pronouncements are suppressed, even disallowed. Not so in Christian Countries, where it seems it is fashionable to be religiously self effacing and accommodating, even to the extent of permitting one's own national identity to be in question. But then perhaps Christianity has actually lost ground, and individual significance ignored nationally in those Countries nominally known to be 'Christian'. Unlike Islam for example, our children in the UK and North America are not brought up in the Faith of their fathers - are not taught the Word of God and are increasingly unable to celebrate Christian Festivals or to even observe them. The fault of our Governments, or ourselves?

BUT, I AM for GOD! I want to Honour God, and to see Him sought after by ALL. One does not need to observe religion for that to happen. Should one lift up the Cross in the face of those who do not believe in what it speaks to the Christian about, even though it 'might' to offend them or their 'feelings'? YES - I cannot reason otherwise, because the CROSS is central to the Salvation of ALL men - all men that ARE sinners! All men, women and children NEED to be saved from their sin, whether they know it or not. To HIDE the cross is to hide the TRUTH, and to diminish it, and perhaps even to silence it. The Apostle Paul once wrote these words -

'I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing

to make a display of the knowledge of nothing,

and to be conscious of nothing) among you

except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.'

1. Corinthians 2v2 - The Bible.

It is the CROSS on which Christ paid the price for ALL our SIN which, when it is lifted up and drawn attention to, draws all Men (all Men that seek GOD, and are conscious of their sinfulness). It is not a church, a mosque, a synagogue or temple; it is not a set of religious rules and traditions that can achieve this. It is through the Cross we all come to the knowledge of sins forgiven as we look, appreciate, and own what was done there for each and every human being in and for the Love of God. There we LEARN of God's Love, Mercy and Justice. There we learn that God has no favourites, and that His mercy is for all men everywhere. Nothing barrs Him from loving any one of us from any tribe, nation or faith. He died to ransom me, and you, and all mankind past, present and future. All we need to do is to believe, and then we can embrace each other as brothers and sisters equally before God. We need to humble ourselves and say Thank you God for loving me, NOW give me a life and heart to love everyone else.

WE love you all too!

John & Esther