ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY DRASTICALLY OVERSTATES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ACCEPTANCE

And some people think he is evangelical. More evanjellyfish.

Nov 29, 2017

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In a speech in Moscow the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has called same-sex marriage “equal marriage” and said that it “70-90% of people in the UK see it as acceptable and unchallengeable.”

This is not true. The most recent British Social Attitudes report found that less than two thirds of the general public say that same-sex relationships are “not wrong at all” and only 55% of Anglicans.

The most recent ComRes poll for the BBC on the issue found that in 2014 one in five Britons (22%) would refuse to attend a same-sex wedding if invited.

Given the struggles and unhappiness faced by millions of children who are the main victims of the sexual revolution in Britain, this was an important opportunity to speak up for marriage as the form of adult relationship which puts the needs of others first.

It is a great shame that the Archbishop chose to over-state acceptance of same-sex marriage to such a startling degree instead.

Kidnappings, Threats of Massacre Terrorize Christians in Kano State, Nigeria Officials are complicit, security forces lax, church leaders say

By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST News Service, who was born in Nigeria. KANO STATE, NIGERIA (ANS – November 29, 2017) -- When the 50-year-old church elder and leader of Kano state’s Samaila village heard gunshots shortly before midnight, he rushed out of his house to try to find security agents. According to the Nigeria Correspondent for Morning Star News, it was a natural reaction for Mai’angwa Samaila, given recent Islamist attacks in northern Nigeria. What the elder for the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) did not know was that the armed Islamic extremists, having killed two Christians in front of their Catholic church building, were coming for him next. Not finding him at home that night (Aug. 15), they instead kidnapped his wife, Safiya Samaila, 45. They then kidnapped two other women, 20-year-old Yaha Gabriel and Hauwa Bebi, 18, both members of the St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Samaila, in Tudun Wada Local Government Area (LGA). Such kidnappings, along with threats of massacres by Islamic extremists, are continuing with the approval of some state officials in a concerted effort to eliminate Christianity, church leaders said. Mai’angwa Samaila told Morning Star News how the killing of Yohanna Audu, 45, and Audu’s son, 18-year-old Micah Yohanna Audu, and the kidnappings were carried out. The gunmen first went to St. Michael’s Catholic Church, where Yohanna Audu, a church member whose house is beside the Catholic building, went outside. “He went to find out who were the men on the premises of the church at that time of the night when they shot him, and he died instantly,” Samaila said. “His son, who heard the sound of the gunshot, ran out to find out what had happened since his dad had just gone to the church; he too was shot and killed.” The armed Muslim extremists then went through the village to kidnap the three women, starting with his wife. “As the shooting and capturing of the women was going on, some residents in our village rushed to the Catholic church and rang the church’s bell, alerting others on the attack on the village,” he said. “This forced the armed Muslim men to beat a retreat. This saved so many lives that would have perished during the attack.” As the gunmen retreated, they shot at those who had run to the church building, Samaila said. “The three women kidnapped were taken away,” he said. “I frantically called on heads of security agencies in our area, the police and army, but I was told that they were unable to come to our aid because their vehicles had no fuel or were in bad working condition.” The gunmen contacted him and others the following day, demanding 10 million naira (US$27,510) for the release of the women, he said. “We pleaded with them to release the women, but they refused,” he said. “They threatened to kill the women unless we paid the ransom. We had no other option than to tax ourselves and pay the money.” The gunmen accepted 3 million naira (US$8,253) and released the women a week later, on Aug. 22, Samaila said. He and others recovered them in the Falgore Forest. “We believe that Christian communities here are being persecuted because of our faith,” he said. “The government is aware about such invasions of Christian communities but has not done anything to put an end to the menace. The sad thing is that it is only Christians that are being killed or kidnapped in our area, as there was never any Muslim community attacked or a Muslim kidnapped.” Death Threats Morning Star News found that kidnappings of Christians in the Tudun Wada area have forced many Christians to flee, while many others continue to receive text messages and letters threatening massacres in their villages if no payments are made to kidnappers. Haruna Samaila, a Christian who has received persistent phone threats from Islamic extremists, played recorded phone conversations he had with them. “They threatened that unless I pay them 3 million naira [US$8,253], I will be killed,” he told Morning Star News. “I reported the threats to our church leaders, and they asked me to report the matter to police. When I did so, I was instead arrested by the police and detained. It took the intervention of our church leaders to get me released.” Church leaders threatened to sue police for illegally detaining him, Samaila said. “I will never allow them to kidnap me alive, they just have to kill me,” Samaila he said. “The government is insensitive to our plight. This is a conspiracy against us Christians in Kano. Those in authority and government know those armed Muslims carrying out these attacks against us, and that is the reason they are not concerned about our plight. It is a battle against Christianity and Christians in Kano state.” A Christian whose adult son was killed by Islamic extremists in 2016 said he received a threatening letter from the gunmen on Nov. 21. ECWA member Aminu Sallau, 60, told Morning Star News that a gang of nine Muslim extremists rode into Katsinawa village in the Tudun Wada LGA on motorbikes on Feb. 6, 2016 and shot his son, Usman Aminu, to death. “Even yesterday [Nov. 21], the gunmen again sent a letter to me saying they were not yet done with me,” he said. “They stated in the letter that I should keep aside 3 million naira [US$8,253] for them, as they’ll be coming for the money at any time, and that failure on my part to give them the money would mean death for me.” Sallau said he had no money to give them. “I am prepared to die if that is the only price I have to pay for being a Christian,” he said. Sallau said he narrowly escaped death in the attack that killed his son. “I was listening to news on the radio when nine armed Muslim men stormed my house,” he said. “They came on three motorbikes and started shooting into the air. Three of them pointed their guns at my head and demanded I give them money.” He had 80,000 naira (US$220) in the house and gave it to them. “The gunmen were not happy that I had only a little money on me, so they tied my hands and legs and were about to take me away when one of them, who was standing guard in front of my house, rushed in to tell his colleagues that he had shot and killed my son, Usman,” he said. “On hearing this, I began to cry and shout, and in the midst of the confusion, the gunmen abandoned me and fled.” Morning Star News went on to say that Usman Aminu’s widow, 25-year-old ECWA member Hauwa Usman Aminu, said that her husband had returned from a business trip and had decided to check on his mother in their family home. “He decided to visit his mom in their family home about 200 meters from our house,” she said. “It was there that the gunmen killed him. I heard sounds of gunshots shortly after my husband had gone out and knew that something was wrong.” State Conspiracy The Rev. Ayuba Hassan of the ECWA Church, Tudun Wada Dankadai, and chairman of the Tudun Wada Local Area Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), said that armed Muslims are carrying out attacks and kidnappings on Christians in order to force them to embrace Islam. “Christians here are being persecuted for refusing to embrace Islam,” he said. “We are constantly under attack. We are not allowed to freely worship as Christians. These kidnappings are aimed at forcing us to recant or make us run away from here so that they can take over our lands and expand Islam’s frontiers.” The Rev. Murtala Marti Dangora, vice chairman of the CAN Kano State Chapter, told Morning Star News that Muslim officials in the state government are behind attacks on Christians in the state. “These attacks are being instigated and supported by the agents of the Muslim-controlled Kano state government to force indigenous Hausa Christians, who we are, to embrace Islam,” he said. “Our refusal to do their biddings is what has made them adopt this strategy of kidnappings and attacks in order to force our people to tow their line. This is a jihad against the church of Jesus Christ.” Kano state officials declined to speak with Morning Star News about attacks on Christians in the Tudun Wada LGA. The state police headquarters in Kano, a spokesman confirmed the attacks but declined to speak further, saying only that the cases are being investigated. Hassan said Christian communities and villages attacked include Samaila (Tuku), Katsinawa, Beguwa, Jarkaya, Gidan Kuzuntu and Jitta Dutse. “In Beguwa village, on July, 14, 2016, three Christians were kidnapped,” he said. “Those kidnapped are Shamaki Ali, Bature Hassan, and Magaji Salisu. A Christian woman was also raped there. The four victims are members of the ECWA Church in Beguwa village.” On the same day in Jarkaya village, another Christian community, three members of the Catholic church were kidnapped, identified only as Abdu, Jamilu and his son, he said. In Gidan Kuzuntu village, also a predominantly Christian community, Baba Yaji was kidnapped at about 1:30 a.m. on July 12, 2016, and the Rev. Julius Gospel, a Roman Catholic priest, was kidnapped on June 30, 2016, in predominantly Christian Jitta Dutse, the ECWA pastor said. Nigeria ranks 12th on Open Doors’ 2017 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution. Christians make up 51.3 percent of Nigeria’s population, while Muslims living primarily in the north and middle belt account for 45 percent. Photo captions: 1) Police arrested Haruna Samaila when he reported a death threat by Islamic extremists. (Morning Star News). 2) Muslims attacking Christians in Northern Nigeria. 3) Christians who were slaughtered by Muslims in Nigeria. 4) Aminu Sallau received death threats from Islamic extremists. (Morning Star News). 5) Dan Wooding’s parents, Alfred and Anne Wooding, on their wedding day in Kano. What would they have made of the attacks on Christians at this time? 6) Baby Dan just after his birth at Vom Christian Hospital, Nigeria. About the writer: Dan Wooding, 76, is an award-winning author, broadcaster and journalist, who was born in Nigeria, West Africa, of British missionary parents, Alfred and Anne Wooding, who then worked with the Sudan Interior Mission, now known as SIM. Dan now lives in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for some 54 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter (who was recently in Lagos, Nigeria, to report on the "Farewell" Reinhard Bonnke crusade), and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder/president of the ASSIST News Service (ANS), and is also the author of numerous books. He has a radio show and two television programs, all based in Southern California.  ** You may republish this or any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net). Please tell your friends and colleagues that they can receive a complimentary subscription to ANS by going to the above website and signing up there.

Copyright © 2017 ASSIST News Service, All rights reserved.  You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website.  Our mailing address is:  ASSIST News Service PO Box 609 Lake Forest, Ca  92609

The changing world (22) Aug - Dec 1971

Internment without trial in Northern Ireland. 300 arrested. 14 killed in widespread violence there. Jeremy Hinds of CMS took us to see old and new mosques and the emir's palace. We also visited Mr Sanderson. This was therefore a day with the two greatest expatriate Hausa experts. Jeremy would try out his Hausa on blind beggars to see how long before they spotted he was not a native speaker. The Sandersons had produces a revised New Testament which was rejected by the churches. They had used Muslim informants because they were the first language speakers. Nearly all Christians are second language using Hausa as trade language. When the Sandersons changed the word for Holy Spirit it was too much. The Nigerian Christians said the Sandersons were accusing them of not understanding hausa and the Sandersons agreed. That this couple were South Africans did not help. Nigeria had already expelled all Dutch Reformed missionaries from Apartheid South Africa. Their 1966 New Testament was published but never accepted.Te Hausa Bible of 1932 was not revised until 1979.
   Later, a Hausa Christian told me one reason so few Hausas converted was they had never heard the gospel for the Christians murdered their language. It was as if an Oxford don was listening to a hillbilly. A practical and humorous example was when I head in morning prayers the speaker say that Abraham sought a city with foundations. Well that is what he meant to say, birni mai tussa. But he said tusa which is a fart. No-one else saw the joke of bad hausa.
   Visited an Indian Christian zoologist starting a zoo. Photographed with two pythons round my neck but definitely not the cobra.
   A their stole from our room the radio, car blanket and some change. Police no help.  September 22 was the last rain. It stops earlier in Kano than the plateau. Met Pam Spendlove our new pharmacist. She was later to marry another colleague Eric Middleton. They had a severely handicapped son who dies a toddler and Pam died of cancer soon after. Spend quite some time over a period visiting Christopher and Ibo RC in the eye hospital for surgery. Our July allowances paid at the end of September. Visited the old city and saw the dye pits with traditional indigo tie dyeing. Also saw the SIM leprosarium at Yadakunya. The name means throw off shame. Some of the patients were heavily disfigured. I bought a hat embroidered by one of them. After colonisation the colonial administration's policy of indirect rule through the Muslim emirs kept missions out of the north until the government realised they had a leprosy problem. The only people to treat leprosy were missionaries. So missionaries were allowed to set up leprosariums but no evangelism bu missionaries. Of course Nigeria Christians could not be so restricted.
   Our friends Dick and Mavis Bulmer arrived by air in mid October. Ramadan started so some bad tempered locals. The abiding memory is the scent of oranges freshly peeled before dusk in time to break the fast. Mid November was the end of fast holiday with thousands of people to see the emir's parade of horsemen, a truly royal splendid sight. Settlement of the Rhodesia UDI problem. Visited and photographed the groundnut pyramids. There were oil mills near the mission and one saw men carting huge loads of drums of oil on the street. Early December end of course exams.By this time I was starting to get over the hump of learning to speak without mentally translating first. By the end of the course I could write out a sermon.
   December 7 left Kano for Zaria at 7:30 driving 10am, surfaced road all the way. There we saw General Gowon's head of parade. I took my best ever photo over the crowd who were being violently he'd back by the police. We lunched at CMS Wusasa and were in Jos by 6pm over a rough unsurfaced road.
   At Vom a different house on the Faith and Farm compound next to Pater and Elizabeth Clark. . Settling back we enjoyed meals with Daintys, Balfours, Maureen Hartford, Nancy Friend, Coral Citrine, Triggs, Joan Crockford (lab technician) and the Whites. Asked to supervise the three evangelists employed by the hospital. John and Naomi Nash were local Beroms, a fine couple with one daughter. Later they lost their jobs when John took a second wife. Naomi could not give him a son. Family pressure lead him astray. I was angry the church never supported Naomi. She should have been offered support in divorce not having to tolerate a new wife. But the church had a no divorce policy due IMO to a more sacramental view of marriage than a covenantal one. For them the only real marriage was a Christian one.
   Started teaching pharmacology to nursing students. Found the language spoken in the pharmacy was not Hausa but Berom. My staff were either berm or such long term residents that they understood it. So I banned berm except to patients in order to hear and learn Hausa.
 
 

My complaint to the ASA

Dear Reverend Weeks,

Thank you for contacting the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) with your complaint about Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd’s advertising.

Your complaint

I understand from your complaint that you found the ad to be offensive as it featured the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ in a commercial context. We have assessed the ad, carefully considering the issues you raised, and we will not be taking further action.  

Our rules

Advertising should contain nothing that is likely to cause serious or widespread offence. We base our decisions on the content of the ad, when and where it appears, the audience and the type of product or service. When assessing complaints under our rules, we make judgments in areas which are subjective but we do not act if an ad is simply criticised for being in poor taste. Apart from freedom of speech considerations, even well-intentioned and thoughtful people will have different and sometimes contradictory opinions about what constitutes ‘bad taste’ or should be prohibited. We can only act if the ad, in our judgement, offends against widely accepted moral, social or cultural standards.

Our decision

We previously received a similar complaint that raised similar issues to your complaint, in that the ad featured the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ which the complainants found to be offensive given the nature of the product advertised. In that instance, we asked the independent ASA Council (the independent jury who decides whether advertisements have breached the Advertising Codes) to consider the issues raised. While Council appreciated that the use of this music to advertise the particular product was likely to be distasteful to a portion of its audience, they considered the relevance of the music was likely to be interpreted in relation to its use of ‘Hallelujah’ more broadly, as an expression of happiness. Council considered given the lack of any religious context in the ad otherwise, the ad would be unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

We consider that the concerns you raise are similar to those that Council have previously considered. Whilst we appreciate your concerns, and acknowledge that some listeners may find the use of the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ to be distasteful in relation to the selling of flights, we consider listeners are likely to understand the song has been part of popular culture for many years. We note the religious significance of the song was not referenced in the ad, and so we consider its use would be unlikely to be broadly interpreted as mocking Christian beliefs. We consider the ad would be unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence, and for these reasons, the ad doesn’t break the rules on the basis that you suggest. 

For more information about our work, please visit our website, www.asa.org.uk. 

Your complaint will be kept on file and will be used for future consideration. Thank you for contacting us with your concerns. 

Yours sincerely,

Laura Brewster

Complaints Executive

Direct line 020 7492 2245

Advertising Standards Authority

Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn

London WC1V 6QT

Telephone 020 7492 2222

www.asa.org.uk

November 28: The Battle of Rullion Green

The Time Was Not Ripe

by Rev. David T. Myers

This mysterious phrase is found on a stone memorial on the grounds of the Battle of Rullion Green which is located eight miles south of Edinburgh, Scotland. It tells the tragic story of defeat in the first battle of the Scot Covenanters—Presbyterians all—against the English government of Charles II.

This battle was part of the Killing Times era of Scottish Covenanters. In essence, the Anglican government had declared war against the Presbyterians of Scotland, asking for unconditional surrender on their part. Their pastors—some 400 of them—had been ejected from their pulpits, their manses, and their parishes. When some of them began to preach to their people in the fields and moors, that whole scene became a dangerous practice, with fines leveled against the attenders, and imprisonment and death as well. All that was needed was a spark to ignite the smoldering indignation of the Scottish people of God.

That spark occurred on November 13, 1666 when an old man by the name of John Grier was accosted by the soldiers of the English government. Unable to pay a fine for his absence from his church with its Anglican curate in the pulpit, he was beaten severely that day. Four local Covenanters  happened upon the scene, and tried first to reason with the soldiers. When that failed, words turned to actions, and one of the soldiers was shot. Other villagers joined in the fray and took the solders prisoners. At this point, the Covenanters numbered ninety people.

Aware of the danger posed by their actions, they marched to Dunfries, Scotland, where they attacked other soldiers, killing one in the process. By this time, their numbers had reached two hundred and fifty. On the way, they captured Sir James Turner, the overall military commander in the area. Continuing further, they encountered a soldier friend by the name of James Wallace, who had experience in warfare. He and his military subordinates joined the Covenanter crowd. They then headed to Edinburgh, the capital city, to find more support for their actions to stop “the killing times,” though to their surprise, the weapons of the citizens were turned against them. The time was not ripe for a rebellion against English rule, evidently, despite their numbers having reached some three thousand or more by this time.

The English government dispatched General Thomas Daiziel against them, who with an army of 3000 (some sources say 5000 soldiers), marched after them. The Covenanter force, with their inadequate weapons and supplies, began to fail, with many deserting the force, leaving some 900 left to do battle. On the afternoon of Wednesday, November 28, 1666, on a long slope in the country side south of Edinburgh, three thrusts by the government forces eventually brought a crushing of the valiant forces of the Covenanters. Some fifty were killed, including two Presbyterian ministers from Ulster. But that was only the beginning of the killing done that day. A bloody retribution was exacted upon the prisoners, including starvation, death by handing, and sending many on prison ships to the American colonies and the West Indies.

Words to Life By:
On the monument which marks the battlefield, there is carved a biblical text from Revelation 12:11, which reads, “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”  Another inscription reads,

“A cloud of witnesses lyes here,
who for Christ’s interest did not appear,
For to restore true Liberty
Overturned then by Tyrany
and by Proud Prelates who did rage
Against the Lord’s own heritage.
Their sacrifices were for the Laws
of Christ their king,  his noble cause,
These heroes fought with great renown,
By falling got the Martyr’ Crown.”

The changing world (21) July 1971

Packed for language school. Colleagues hoped us with meals. Left for Kano u m arriving 6 m with Brian Boddy in a packed landrover. Braithwaites gave us a memorable breakfast en route, bacon and eggs, a real treat. One stretch of about 100 miles was rough and unsurfaced. Kano hot and humid.  The SIM woman in charge of the accommodation is large and not endearing. Her husband is in charge of Kano SIM work, name of render. Her one memorable story was of squatting down in the bush to pee when she was confronted by a lion. Nothing to do but stay still. Introduced to Hausa school routine and tapes. Us, Brian, Anna, Don and Donna Jones of SIM and Ruth Veltkamp of CRC. Ruth was later to have a significant ministry among Muslims but some in the mission questioned the genuine of some of the converts and IIRC she left CRC.

   Visited the SIM eye hospital which attracts patients from all Nigeria. Te Hausa proverb says patience is the only remedy for eye disease. What cannot be cured must be endured. But here are cures like cataract removal. 8:45 am Hausa, 7 pm English service on Sunday. Dele Onamusi came to visit. We met him as a bakery student in Hatfield. He was to become my best Nigerian friend. He had imported ovens from England to replace the traditional new in his family business. He was a fearless witness in this Muslim city. He was to put a side on his house , IIRC at a time of cholera, saying, 'This is the finger of God'. The anthropomorphism was unacceptable to Muslims. He was eventually to start a Christian bookshop, Amazing Grace. Grace was his wife. She cooked the best Nigerian chop ever. Mt y favourite remains Nile perch with fried plantains, real luxury food. I did not realise at first but his bookshop was in the red light district of Sabon Gari, the new town. Old Kano was a walled Muslim only city. Outside are many non-Muslims and the streets are on the grid system like USA cities. Kano has been a trading centre for centuries. Victorian explorers found Birmingham manufactures goods there. In Sabon Gari there were traffic lights which did not work. Nigeria electricity, NEPA. We reclined the initials were for No Electricity Perhaps Anytime. Traffic congestion was such that at junctions with gridlock, if you saw a space you moved into it like the old hand held game of a sure with say 24 pierced and your move one into the vacant space and repeated this to make the pattern.

   We had lessons every morning from an SIM lady, miss Forshey than practise with our Nigerian informant lady, Dije, later. A sneak thief stole Katy's watch. Left her ring. Later we were to lose our radio but these were our only losses in 12 years. Went to our own denomination's service in Sabon Gari the second Sunday. In the evening English service only one tenth of the morning Hausa congregation. Walking there we passed properties like an abandoned cinema owned by Ibos who had fled from the riots five years before. 

   Dele had trouble with the powers that be because he will not bribe. He is Yoruba Christian, they Hausa Muslim. Met a security guard who left the police over corruption in the force. Some years later I was teaching an extension course attended by a policeman who would come after his shaift. he was never in uniform. I asked why not. He said he only wore the uniform of thieves and robbers when in duty. He told the story of a new police commander in Kaduna whoa visited home in the West on leave returning with a large fish in his taxi. He was not in uniform. The taxi was stopped at a place roadblock and everyone ordered out. The police were stealing goods. The policeman in civvies reused to give up his fish. They said they were taking it. He said No and produced his warrant card. The robbing officers prostrated themselves before him begging forgiveness. Corrupt police in a corrupt nation. 

   We saw there were three classes of expats.First class were government, second class, business than we missionaries, third class. But the one privilege we had was that we could not be expected to pay bribes. Other whites and all Nigerians did. Dele was exceptional.
   Among the SIM dates was a Miss Warfield, related to Wallis Simpson who also was a Warfield,  Born Bessie Wallis Warfield.
   
   

The changing world (20) May- June 1971

Cholera vaccination attempted for the local community but abandoned due to general crowd disorder. We regularly has medical students form UK on electives. One was surprised the team prayed with patients before operating dying back home it would be interpreted as lack of confidence. He was told that here, not invoking God's help was presumptuous.
   Newspapers sent by surface mail from home concealed packets of soup. The termites flew and were eaten by the locals. Our allowance delayed by a strike - but I do not recall what kind of a strike. Heard Pam Spendlove willing to come to Christian Central Pharmacy. Negotiated with Seventh Day Adventists to buy a piano.
Holiday at Gindiri in a new Cortina. Meals with Farrens, John Dean and Lawes. John is a good expositor and travels in student work all over Africa. A romance was rumoured and later led to marriage. At first he believed he was better able to serve the Lord as a single man. The lady concerned was thought not wish to restrict his work. That could continue with him married. Half a loaf being better than no bread.
On to Mangu, the leprosarium and lunch with the Thomases. They were the only SUM family to exceed the four children family limit. The mission increased your allowance with every child up to four. Beyond four you would have to pay fares, schooling, and presumably medical bills. So when the Thomases family grew they left the mission having rejected family planning advice AFAIK.
Next to SIM Mango. As well as the rest home there there was Kent Academy, school for SIM missionary children up to high school grades. SIM highschoolers went to Hillcrest in Jos. Our children would gather from age six. IIRC the child had to be six by the start of the academic year but there was some leeway for the British who would have started at five in UK. IIRC Jonathan started aged five and nine months.
Enjoyed table tennis and volleyball. Brought Brian Boddy from Vom. We had hoped he would make a go of it with Anna Mueler our Swiss nurse but it was not to be. She on returning home made an unhappy match and died young. Brian died soon after his retirement having spent over 0 years in Nigeria.
SIM dentist in Jos gave me a filling. Bought the Ballamy's piano. He was a great evangelist and saw many conversions with New Life for All. Sadly, after becoming a pastor in USA he ran off with his organist and divorced his wife. Missionaries seemed more tempted by the flash than mammon. Visited Jos zoo. Our friend Yakubu Yako used to tell folk in England who asked about wildlife that he heard the lions roar every day. He lived next to the zoo. It boasted a leopard born in Dublin. Leopards were hunted to extinction by 1970. When a skin fetched more than a year's wages this was not surprising. Lions were extinct before that. There were still elephants in the north east and jackals and hyenas when we were there too. Te late would dig up bodies buried in the dry season.They also too our neighbours dogs off our veranda at nigh. Between them and us sleeping was only mosquito screening. We heard nothing. We never saw the elephants nut did see where they had passed through the bush. It looked like a herd of elephants has been through. This was 1974 when we covered the Bulmers' leave from Limankara.
 The Hausa proverb says that if the elephants visit your farm you do not worry about the monkeys. The herd numbered over a hundred. They were protected and a government hunter had to be called to scare them off.Our friend Daniel Gula has bothered his corn in a heap when the cry went up that the elephants were coming. Everyone else ran but Daniel stayed on top of his pile of corn and prayed. The prayer of this man of faith was answered. The elephants left Daniel and his corn alone.
   At Mango enjoyed fellowship with Rob and Esther Koops of CRC. He was a Bible translator, she a musician. Not impressed by SIM preaching. Not expository.
   Visitors from South Africa, England, Nigeria and Northern Ireland.


 
 

Diary w/e 2 Dec 17

Sun 26 Nov

To Immaneul Brentford  where I prayed at the ordination of the first two elders from the congregation. Gethin preached in the evening at Dean hall. Confirmed we will host the men's Christmas party since the Baptist church will not allow us beer. Set traps at night. Caught small mouse.

Mon 27 Nov

Awoke to misery from down under. 
Great  
Aussie
Bowling
Advances 
Ashes campaign

Legs bandaged by the best nurse so far, an Ivorian.

I have found I can have my facebook in Hausa but will it auto correct? Ina da shakka.

At last all the packing boxes have been removed by our removers and our hallway is clear. 

Two tickets booked for the first day of The Oval India test in September. Lord's ballet awaited.

Joiners at work. Found them on Checkatrade. Not used it before but have been asked to recommend on it by our plumber. 

Since we moved I have learnt a new skill; how to load a dishwasher. 

The Sikh joiners did the work on time. Later Elissa came for dinner as Rachel was with Ethan in Northwick Park casualty. Three hours to examine a bleeding head wound suffered after a playground altercation. A MacDonald's cheered him up when they came round. 

Tues 28 Nov


ELT Chris Roberts Ecc 5 - folly of wealth. Pastoral visit to Hosiers. Dinner in East Finchley with a retired South African GP. Good Jewish fare. Chicken soup with dumplings to start.

Wed 29 Nov 

Led house group 1 Sam 4 - Ichabod.

Thur 30 Nov

Bus to Ealing. Tube to marble Arch. Coach to Victoria and another to York. Spent to journey to Less with a Yoruba Pentecostal pastor who gave me three of his books. Half an hour late into York due to snow. £17 return but £8 taxi to my York hosts

Fri 1 Dec

Walk in the bush to two buses to the railway museum.There two hours with Geoffrey. Then presbytery in St Andrew's Hall, 15th century and very cold indeed.Warmed up after dinner with wine at Matthew Roberts' home.

Sat 2 Dec

Walk to presbytery. After lunch to the station to wait for my coach. Over six hours to London via Leeds. M1 blocked. Diverted to M40. Tube back to Greenford then bus.

Born this day 1628

John Bunyan (1628-1688)
He who runs from God in the morning will scarcely find him the rest of the day. John Bunyan
If you have sinned, do not lie down without repentance; for the want of repentance after one has sinned makes the heart yet harder and harder.-- John Bunyan

In times of affliction we commonly meet with the sweetest experiences of the love of God. John Bunyan

Let us learn like Christians to kiss the rod, and love it.-John Bunyan

Prayer opens the heart to God, and it is the means by which the soul, though empty, is filled by God.-- John Bunyan

Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.-- John Bunyan

Pray often; for prayer is a shield to the soul, a sacrifice to God, and a scourge for Satan. -- John Bunyan

Remember also that this fear of the Lord is His treasure, a choice jewel, given only to favourites, and to those who are greatly beloved.-- John Bunyan

No child of God sins to that degree as to make himself incapable of forgiveness.-- John Bunyan

You can do more than pray, after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.-- John Bunyan

What is God's majesty to a sinful man, but a consuming fire? And what is sinful man in himself, or in his approach to God, but as stubble fully dry. Since the name of God is that by which his nature is expressed, and since He naturally is so glorious and incomprehensible, His name must needs be the object of our fear;and we ought always to have a reverent awe of God upon our hearts at what time soever we think of or hear his name; but most of all when we ourselves do take his Holy and fearful name into our mouths, especially in a religious manner; that is, in preaching, praying, or Holy conference. Make mention then of the name of the Lord at all times with great dread of His majesty on your hearts,and in great soberness and truth. To do otherwise is to profane the name of the Lord, and to take his name in vain.-- John Bunyan

When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words be without heart.- John Bunyan

After this it was noised abroad that Mr. Valiant-for-truth was taken with a summons by the same post as the other, and had this for a token that the summons was true, "That his pitcher was broken at the fountain." Eccl. 12:6. When he understood it, he called for his friends, and told them of it. Then said he, I am going to my Father's; and though with great difficulty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My marks and scars I carry with me, to be a witness for me that I have fought His battles who will now be my rewarder. When the day that he must go hence was come, many accompanied him to the river-side, into which as he went, he said, "Death, where is thy sting?" And as he went down deeper, he said, "Grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15:55. So he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side. -- John Bunyan, Pilgrims Progress

Now I saw in my dream, that the highway up which Christian was to go, was fenced on either side with a wall, and that wall was called Salvation. Up this way, therefore did burdened Christian run, but withoug great difficulty, because of the load on his back.
He ran thus till he came at a pace somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream that just as Christian caem up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more. Pilgrim's Progress

It is easier going out of the way when we are in, than going in when we are out.
John Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, Bypath Meadow

Thus say the common people that know him: "A saint abroad, and a devil at home." --John Bunyan (1628-1688) _The Pilgrim's Progress_ [1678], Part I

How very C of E!

"JOHN JEWEL is notable for writing an “apology” for the Church of England against the church of Rome. It came from a challenge he issued from his pulpit during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Born in 1522, Jewel lived through the tumultuous changes brought about by the Reformation. A graduate of Merton College, he became a fellow at Corpus Christi College in Oxford. Around 1547 he adopted the Reformation ideas of Peter Martyr Vermigli. However, when Mary came to the throne, he composed his university’s congratulatory epistle to the Catholic queen. But soon he drew unfavorable attention to himself and endangered his own life by assisting Protestant Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and Bishop Nicholas Ridley in their defenses after they were arrested for heresy. Mary ultimately burned the pair. Although Jewel signed Catholic articles, he remained under suspicion and fled from England in 1555.
Safely on the continent, he apologized publicly for signing articles which he did not believe. After Mary’s death in 1559, he returned to England. Elizabeth was now head of the Church of England. Jewel urged her to adopt more extensive church reforms than she was willing. When he could not win her to this course, he accommodated his views to hers, accepting an appointment at St. Paul’s Cross. There, on this day, 26 November 1559, he issued his famous challenge. In it he listed twenty-seven disputed points and said he would become a Catholic if anyone could prove that the Bible or the early church taught the Roman position on any of these before the sixth century.
When he repeated the challenge the following year, several Catholics took him up on it. A bitter controversy followed. I that context, Jewel wrote An Apology in Defense of the Church of England, a methodical statement of the Anglican position. This was so fundamental a defense of Anglicanism and so sharp a critique of Roman practice that, during the reign of James I, Archbishop Bancroft ordered copies placed in all Anglican churches. Jewel argued that it was injurious and cruel for the Roman Catholics to label Protestants as heretics when it could produce nothing substantial from the Bible against them, “who have not revolted from Christ, nor from the Apostles, nor from the Prophets. ...”
Although Jewel had once promoted Puritan interests, he later opposed them, finding them troublesome. He did not live to see his fiftieth year, dying in 1571. Richard Hooker, whom Jewel had helped as a boy, wrote of him that he was the “worthiest divine that Christendom hath bred for some hundreds of years.”

Christian History Institute

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Diary w/e 25 Nov 17

Sun 19 Nov

Elissa and than overnight and to breakfast. At church in the morning a treat with Chad van Dixhorn on confessions at Sunday School. He is the world expert on the Westminster Assembly. He also preached from John 3:30 ff 'He must increase."
Jonathan and family here for his 47th birthday celebrated with roast beef and Yorkshires. Tea at Rachel's with cake. Evening service Paul Levy on Him 3-4. I blogged notes only to find this Mac had lost them.
   Found our men's Christmas party cannot use the baptist church as they are a dry premises. So I have invited the party tone here in our house. Meat, beer and games is the slogan. This year I have a Christian drinking song for us to learn.

Mon 20 Nov

Pharmacy say they will not deliver this far so I will contact a more locale. Cooked meat balls. Found the TV White Princess disappointing.

Tues 21 Nov

Excellent Ealing Lunchtime Talk, Chris Roberts on Ecc.3. Better together in church.
Enjoyed Ealing Tweet Up at Pho Vietnamese restaurant. Free food and drink and good conversation. Reckon I was the oldest there and the only one without a smart phone.

Wed Nov 22

In think today's wind will blow off all the remaining leaves. Front door handrail fitted. Piano tuned. Piano tuner says it is seriously out of tune, a semitone sharp as if it has been very cold and he will have to return after Katy plays it in more. It can only be the removal process. IPC half yearly meeting with me as chairman. Done in forty minutes including prayer time. A record from a well behaved membership.

Thur Nov 23

Greenford Lunchtime Talks , Chris Roberts on John 4. 15 there including some from the Methodists next door.

Fri Nov 24

Enjoyed a great production of She Stops to Conquer. A brilliantly wittily written drama. Questors Theatre in the small Studio we were front row coming in to late seats just in time.

Sat Nov 25

First time up early to watch the Ashes and England let me down with openers out quickly. A load to the dump and on our return to my surprise we found a recycling bin had arrived, only about six weeks after I ordered and four and a half months after our vendor reported it stolen.
Moorfield's Eye Clinic at Ealing Hospital. Very kind Iraqi doctor angry my treatment delayed four months. Could not inject the eye but did laser treatment.
Tube to Turnham Green, St. Michael's for West London Symphnia Reformation Concert. Loved the Bach, Mendelsohn fine but did not rate the Wagner, Parsifal. Large orchestra. David Leroy on first violins kindly gave us a lift home where we started watching the Crown. Vulgar at times and the children far too old n 1951. Amazing how long before the king learnt of his cancer and the family not told.