thief on train

Saw Dorcas today. On the way home there was a thief on the train.  He stole christmas gifts from a womans bag on the train.  She was a sleep, but woke up and caught him. the police were called and we had to stay at Gobowen station.

Field Focus days

Field Focus days have come and gone.  They will be Gary's last as Mathew takes over on the 4th of January.  We had a farewell dinner for him and I took part in a ridiculous scetch that was performed at the 2004 Christmas party based on Cinderella.  I borrowed the Duchesses costume from the theatre to do it.

On February the 1st we will be united with lifehope. OM in the Uk will be very different.

Some letters about new contracts have gone to lifehope members.  The news will be shattering for many.

- WATCH: Attfield Theatre in Oswestry is evacuated midway through performance

- WATCH: Attfield Theatre in Oswestry is evacuated midway through performance



I was there.

alices adventures in Wonderland again

Last nights performance had a change of cast.  The March Hare had to be replaced because he is ill.  F took his place and it worked.

So far this week the first performance went without incident
the second had the fire alarm go off during the first act
the third saw a cast member being replaced

WE ARE HAVING AND ADVENTURE AREN'T WE?

wonderland in the street

Last Nights performance of, "Alices Adventures in Wonderland" was interesting. You could say that it took the the street.  During the first act the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the building.  Due to the fact that I am playing the dodo, I was out there wearing a beak, and the lovely tailed suit. there we all were the dutches the king and queen of hearts, the cards the mice the canary the griffin and the Mock turtle and I expect a host of other animals.

I told the audience that this was called meet the cast and I am not extinct.

Steam from an urn set it off

When the performance resumed the audience gave a round of applause.

I wonder what the firemen thought of those costumes when they got back to the fire station.

Global Village Facebook

A number of the people who joined us for Global Village are on facebook. I am very pleased about that as it means I still have a connection with them. They are all part of the OM family.  I am putting the e version of my book, "Gods Kaleidoscope" on social media and where help is offered, I accept it.  Next year I am really going to push the printed version when it comes out.

Friends 1st buyer beware a follow up

Concerning Friends 1st, I got a letter asking me to re join which I would never do considering I parted with money to fulfill the contract they tie you into to get out quickly.  Last year they offered a package that somehow they thought I just had to have to learn all about dating and relationships and what to do. It cost a few hundred pounds.  When they sent the letter asking me to rejoin that same package would have been available to me without any further charge.

That means, some people probably forked out hundreds of pounds for it, and now those who did not buy it, who decide to rejoin can get exactly the same thing for nothing.  If I had forked out hundreds of pounds for it, I would be furious.

more people

More people have arrived for Global Village today. Others have gone.  It has been an exciting project.

Global Village, in the street

I have done one evening, one day and one afternoon as a character in Global Village. I played a refugee twice and the shop keeper once.  It is an interesting experience.  When people are asked why they believe in Jesus, they struggle to answer. 

There were people among the visitors whom I knew, but I had do stay in character. One I had not seen for some years, Veronique.  It was good to see her and today I sent her a message on facebook

From the Global Village experience, I have to conclude that the British Church has to learn how to communicate to the people in a fashion they understand.  We use words like, "Righteousness", but people do not understand what that means.

While playing the refugee,  a real refugee from Congo came and she had a big smile. She had suffered.  She had burns on her arm and neck.  She escaped from Congo to Angola and then to Scotland where the Scottish police told her to go to London to seek asylum which she successfully did.  I was very humbled by that.

On a personal level, I find it great to work with other OMers serving in other parts of the country and who themselves come from other countries.  I feel I have a good relationship with them and more so with two in particular.  One of them works at the shelter in Amsterdam where I also worked.

Another is a man from Bulgaria who played the muslim

We also have a young lady from Moldova and I think her accent really suits the parts she is playing.

It is wonderful to work with one of my Scottish Colleques.

All in all, I have enjoyed the experience.  We are all learning from it.

I have been on the Global Village Experience

The Global Village experience will be good.  It starts with being given a conversation stacker, then we were blind folded and taken into a dark room we could not get out of until we felt round it and found things in the room.  We had to leave someone handcuffed in there, then we were in a lovely room with a banquenting table, then we were in a room with puzzles and finally we were in the street.  The whole experience is for making people think.  I trust it will.

dry run

I am going on the Global Village dry run this afternoon.  We have a meeting at 12 for those who will be performing and going on the dry run. I will be doing both.  This will be a short, but interesting experience to see what the set and performances are like.  I have never done anything unscripted before, so Friday of this week and the following two nights will be an interesting experience.

The girl I met at the station last night is dutch and she has an advert on the back of her jacket about the 40th anniversary of the shelter in Amsterdam.  I worked there myself for a short time.

Global Village goes live tomorrow night.  All that hard work other people have put in building the set should pay off.

Global Village

Global village, the set has taken shape in the Gym and we are going live with it next week.  This will be a new experience for all of us.  I look forward to it.  I have never done an unscripted three hour performance before.  Also, I trust that those who come to see it will be deeply touched and want to enter into further service for God.

Global village

Global Village is slowly but surely coming together. It will be assembled next week and I will be doing the weekend performances.

last monday

Last Monday, I spoke to New Recruits about Acts chapter 18 and the first 17 verses. It was the same chapter I read in the Samaratins Inn in the red light district of Amsterdam that filled me with confidence.  Paul Must have been afraid, but God gave him a vision and told him to go on speaking, no one would harm him and he had many disciples in this city.

I was afraid at the time, but reading that passage gave me more confidence in God.

My book is on Amazon

My book is now available as an ebook.  the following links will take you to it

KINDLE

The following links can be used to purchase the Kindle edition of the eBook in the UK, US, Canada and Australia:

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0169AQXO6

US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0169AQXO6

Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0169AQXO6

Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0169AQXO6

In other countries, customers should go to their regional Amazon website and search for the title of your book.

 

KOBO

The following link can be used to purchase the Kobo edition of your eBook:

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/god-s-kaleidoscope

 

Please note that customers do not need a Kindle or Kobo device to read your eBooks. Both Amazon (Kindle) and Kobo provide free eBook reader apps for PCs, Macs, smartphones, tablets (including iPads) etc.

Kindle FREE apps: http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771

Kobo FREE apps: http://www.kobobooks.com/apps

 

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

It will also be possible to buy your book in ePub, Kindle and PDF editions also from our website once the paperback edition has been released:

http://www.onwardsandupwards.org/product/gods-kaleidoscope

NOTE: Customers who purchase the Kindle edition from our website will have to manually transfer it onto their Kindle reader.

 

Wigtown book festival George Falconer

Wisdom and forgiveness

In life, there are times when one needs wisdom.  I passed on information to a friend and he in turn passed it on without thinking of the conseqenses.  If I had been wise, I would never have passed it on to him even though at the time, I thought he aught to know.

Also, one has to be very big on forgiveness and that is far easier said than done.  It takes a lot of work and I am reminded of the time when Peter asked Christ how often he should forgive his brother and would seven times do.  Christ said seventy times seven. The point being that if you are counting then you are not forgiving.  We have to reflect christ.  He has forgiven us so we have to be people of forgiveness.

wigtown book festival George Falconers view.

I have just got back from the Wigtown book festival. I went for the first time last year and this year, I was there for the last two days. I love it. The little town of Wigtown is very friendly and I can understand why some people love living there.  The festival is a big event for such a small community. They get well known speakers and the event runs like clockwork.  There is a large number of different speakers, there are displays of varying attractive luxury goods and the market is an added bonus.  I always enjoy going in "The bookshop" and by that I mean the biggest second hand bookshop in Scotland.  The staff are lovely to talk to  and in terms of books there is everything from a needle to an achor.  I highly recommend the place.

I hope to do something with my own book and the churches next year. I met with the ministers and they have my card.

decievement.

It is true that people do not want to listen to sound doctrine. I am not surpised. the Pope is in America and this has started a discussion on blogs.  Many support the Pope and those of us who expose the RC church for what it is are branded Catholic haters of they quote verses of the bible with no context or do not reply to messages where the scripture is not difficult to understand that the Galatians were being deceived by those who added circumcision to the gospel.

Friends 1st can you believe it?

I got a letter from Friends 1st this morning.  I had paid them off earlier in the year to get rid of them and here they were writing to me to ask me to join again.  Their expensive dating package would be free to me if I rejoined and rewriting my profile which would cost £85 would also be free.  A few months ago it cost £75, so it has gone up in price. 

the woman whose company this is grew up in the RC church and just reading what she says about herself, she is now in the church of England, and I have to conclude that she is not converted.  She is even married to an RC and sometimes goes with him to his church, so that tells me that she has not grasped the gospel and yet she recommends other people may consider members of the RC church.

I have once again told them to remove my details and they assure me they have.

dick dowsett at forum

Dick Dowsett spoke at forum on missions last night.  The meeting started with a girl asking the students to put their hands up to the following questions

are you chinese?
do you have any chinese friends?
have you ever seen any chinese on your campus?

By the time she finished, most hands were raised. the point was that they had the chance to introduce Jesus to the chinese while they are studying in the UK

Dick basically did not tell them to go on short term mission.  He told them to witness on their campuses

He also said some foreign students do not feel welcome.  He likened it to the Flanders and Swan song,"The English the English the English are best, I wouldnt give tuppence for all of the rest".  He claimed some foreign students feel that way.  They witness to them, but they are made to feel that they are not as good.

He also said he met one young man who wanted to go into missions, but would go to a country on holiday to see if he liked it.  Dick said that he would wait a long time to see if he liked it.  What was needed was a passion for the lost.

Finally he encouraged them to get on with mission now on their campuses


I was also interested hear that in Russian and slovakia one cannot officially have religious activities on campus.  One almost got into trouble having the Alpha Course.

Alwyn and Anna

Alwyn Viljoin and Ann Maritt have been here this week.  He has been leading the finance department in training.  I estimate that it is about 18 years since he was here.  I wrote about him in  prayer letter all those years ago.  He never did get to the Logos 2 as planned.

Last night there was a knock on my kitchen window as I was preparing a snack.  Andrew Debs had a woman with him and I recognised her as Anna Houghton who was on the team in 2002.  It was lovely to see her and I have just sat through a meeting with her.

This week has been a blessing to me just to welcome old friends.

preston

I went to Preston yesterday to collect one of our vehicles.  When I was at chirk Railway station, Digby appeared.  I had a number of changes to make and was concerned that I may miss a train as  I looked for the platforms for departing.  He had a app on his phone that gave him all that information so he saved me some hassal. 

I caught all the trains, arrive in Preston on time and met my collegues mother.  The vehicle was outside her house.  My collegue is called Debs. She has a Scottish accent and lives with her husband in Glasgow. However, by talkng to her mother, I have discovered that she was born in Oxfordshire and then they moved to lancashire.  Debs did not go to Glasgow until 2002 when she met her husband.  Evidently she picks up accents.

As I drove the vehicle back, I saw the spot on the M56 where there had been a lorry crash yesterday with a fire. I am glad that I avoided that.  It must have been frightening for those involved and with fire there is a risk of an explosion.

When I passed by, I saw the layby that was cordoned off and in the middle of it was an area where it had been scorched by the fire.

past prayer letters

I was handed a file on Monday. It contains some prayer letters I wrote in my first three years in OM.  I find it very interesting.  Petra was a new thing then that I was asking prayer for.  Now Petra no longer meets all our needs and has to be upgraded. One of the creators of Petra, Alwyn, is with us this week doing finance training and I mentioned him in the prayer letters all those years ago.  He was to spend six months with us before going to Logos 2.  He never did get to the ship.  Also seeing my concerns at the time which were very real and nobody, especially someone whose Job it was to support me gave me any understanding.  I had to wait years before I got support from the home front.  However, on reflection, God overuled and I am where I am today and I am thankful to him for it.

The prayer letters also contain photos.  One of them is of the dinner we did just prior to the ICO people leaving us to move to Carlisle.  They had to go from flat to flat and in each flat they would get one course of the dinner. In this way they spent the evening with the maximum number of people saying goodbye.

stamp shirt

the stamp shirt I first saw on facebook arrived yesterday and I am wearing it today.

Fieke

Facebook threw up Fieke Langeveld to me today. OHHHHHHHH Yes oh yes oh yes.  I hope he replies. I am so grateful for what he did for me in those shelter days.

BBQ

The team BBQ took place today. It coincides with team focus days.  I love them for the social contact with our people from all around the county.  John, Eleanor and Elizabeth are retiring and we welcome William to the Northern Ireland office.

two things

Big but not unexpected announcement about field merges yesterday.

Also, our chairman stuck his head round my door, I told him about my book and he said he wanted a copy.

Fear

I addressed the Getting into Gear conference this morning using Genesis 20 and talked about fear.  As a I was leaving the room, one of the participants whom I prayed with last night thanked me for it. Evidently I hit the right button.

Friends 1st yet again

Friends 1st sent me more literature.   I emailed them and told them that the whole point of paying them was to bring my membership to a speedy end and would they please stop sending me things.  I did not think they deliberately sought to annoy, but they seemed to have an internal issue and to back this up, I returned their literature to them.  I then recieved and email from them stating that this has been corrected and I should receive no more from them.

Just about everything about them did not impress me.  I cannot think of a single thing that I admire and it is evident that the founder has never had a conversion experience. She has passed effortlessly from the Roman Catholic so called church to the Church of England, which in my view is highly unlikely to challenge her by asking for a testimony as all one has to do is be on the electoral roll and turn up as the church and you are a member.  That does not make anyone a member of the real church which is Gods people.  Gods people have all been converted and welcomed into the family.

Genesis 20

Genesis 20

Abraham lies

Abraham lied.  Sarah was a very beautiful woman and Abraham feared that he would be killed for others to have her

SHE WENT A LONG WITH THIS.

In a dream God warned Abimilech about this  and prevented him from sinning.

Abraham was called of God

He was called out of his own land and promised that through him all the world would be blessed.

We are the result of that promise

However even Father Abraham who love the lord, and believed the promise and acted upon the promise had his faults.

He was afraid, and sometimes when we are afraid, we take things into our own hands and do not look to the lord. 

Abram decided to say that Sarah was his sister. 

All the men admired her beauty. She was one stunning looking woman.

When confronted with the lie Abraham said that he feared for his life for there was  NO FEAR OF GOD  there. 

I expect that as he looked around the land, that was largely true, but sometimes even unbelievers such as Abimilech want to do the right thing.

As OM ers, many of us go to places where there is no fear of God. God has told us to go to unbelieving world and preach the gospel to all, and from them, those whom god is calling to himself will as he promised come and some of them will be people whom to our eyes are people who have no fear of God, and yet God still commands us to go.

Abraham even added to the lie by telling a bit of truth

He said that she was his sister

V12, he stated that she was his sister, the daughter of his father, but not his mother.

You can almost hear it now, “Abimilech/ God, I did not actually lie.  I just did not tell the whole truth, and besides this is an ungodly place, I was just making sure I would not be killed”.  So it is not really a lie.

In the dream, Abraham did not lose his place in Gods purposes.  Even in his sin, God said of Abraham, HE IS A PROPHET and HE WILL PRAY FOR YOU. With the understanding that even though Abraham was in the wrong, God would honour Abrahams prayers because God had close the wombs of all the women in Abimilechs household because of Abrahams sin

When we get to our fields, we are full of excitement and enthusiasm and that is good, it is nessessary, it gets us going

However it will not keep us going in the long term

What will we do when it gets tough or we are afraid?

Will that drive us to God, or will we try to solve things our way as Abraham did?

In life and in mission, we are not promised an easy time, in fact we can expect there will be difficulties.

We need to cling to the lord all the more in the difficulties like a child clings to his parents when he is afraid.

If we do something wrong, even when it is for what seems like good reasons, will we try to justify ourselves as Abraham did when he said she was his sister for they had the same father. Or will we own up before God, confess our sin and then let God restore us and use us as he used Abraham?

Next to Love, FEAR  is probably the strongest emotion we humans have. 

However, when we fear and note I said, when not if, because sooner or later we all fear, let us be overcome with the LOVE AND CARE OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER and trust him all the more, because in doing so, we get to know him and his love for us all the more.

Amen

Friends 1st has the gall to call me.

I hope that I have at long last got rid of "FRIENDS 1ST". I wonder if they communicate with each other as I made me thoughts on them crystal clear, yet a man phoned me and left a message saying the cheque had a arrived and how was my membership coming along. If I had any questions I could phone. 

I emailed them about this saying I had made my thoughts about them clear in my letter and

1) Never call me again
2) Do not send me any more literature
3) Take my contact details off their data base.

I think the whole thing is set up to do nothing but make money, and when you make it clear that you want out and then take steps to force the issue, then they drop the mask and you see them for who they really are.  Their target is your money.  Members are not people they are contracts.

They are highly manipulative in the language they use in their emails.  I utterly despise that.

To anyone reading this, if you ever see their adverts, I am warning you, throw it away and stick to reputable web sites even if you do not feel like it. 

A web site usually does not lock you into a contract and is therefore cheaper and what you see is what you get.

Friends 1st. I am out I hope.

having paid a heafty price, I should now be free of Friends 1st.  My bitter experience of this so called christian dating company has reminded me that not all is as it seems.

The founder came from a Roman Catholic background, is now a member of the Church of Enland, but is married to a Roman Catholic and in one of her videos suggested in a positive way when considering dating profiles that a Roman Catholic may not be what we expect.  I beg to differ.  I Roman Catholic would be exactly what I expect. Someone who adds doctrines to the gospel and so believes a falsehood.  I do not see one spark of testimony in what she says so I have to conclude that she has fooled herself into thinking that she is a christian

I found that when, I made it clear that I was leaving and would not discuss the matter that the true face of Friends 1st emerged.  She held me to the contract. I wanted to see if she would.  For all their public face efforts to serve members, the reality was that I was no more than just a contract.  Someone she wanted to bleed as much money out of as she could.

As their lunch events sell out to women, I think that the company probably suffers from a lack of men  It seems to me that they get as many men to attend the lunch as they can to balance numbers. It you think about it, then it is a massive blind date.  I did not got the lunch I said I would because by then I had decided that the sort of women in it were not the sort of people I was looking for and as the company is headed by a Roman Catholic ( which in reality she still is even though she is in the church of England), I could not continue in fellowship with this company.

All their services are about one thing, making money. They do not really care about people.  If they did they would realise that people make sacrifices to be in membership, and they are profiteering out of other peoples private grief

I am too long in the tooth to be fooled by some of the things they say in their magazine called, "Cloud Nine".  There was a short article about one of their staff who left to go and work for her cousin in a cafe.  She had decided that administration was not for her, but she would miss the members.  Somehow I do not think that she would miss the members.  She evidently hated the job and left at the first opportunity.  Then someone else came along who was given the job, but then decided that she did not want it.  One has to wonder why.  What sort of atmosphere makes a new start decide that she is not going to go on.  I did that once myself in my 20s, so I know what I am talking about.  Something struck that woman about the office that made her realise that working there for her would be a bad idea.

A lot of the articles in the web site go like this.

Friends 1st is wonderful, I met someone and we have been going out for two months

OR

Friends 1st is wonderful because they gave me so many profiles to keep me busy contacting people

OR

I paid £75 for a blind date and it was wonderful because we had so much to talk about.


None of the above are success stories. they are just common experiences in life. None of the above guarantees a life partner.

Evidently they have had people who met and married, but they never give details as to how many.  They also claim to be the largest off line christian dating agency but that does not tell me how many off line ones there are, nor does it tell me the true size of Friends 1st.

My suspicion is that it is much smaller than they imply.  Most of the population of the UK do not go to church, so straight away the pond for fishing in is small.  Also there are so many web sites that I think most people would go to first as they are either free, or paid for by monthly subscription and one can stop when one wants, unlike Friends 1st where one is locked into a contract for a year and at the end of that year, they do not notify the member of their upcoming departure but go on taking money from then and I wonder how many members found to their cost that they stayed over by a month or two and it is their responsibility to give Friends 1st 3O days notice.

For me, it has been a bitter experience.

I say to anyone, do not get involved in this company and do not trust them.

they will keep making you offers to persuade you to give them more and more money and that is in my view the sole object of Friends 1st.  All thoughts of being a ministry to help people meet their needs are a by and by.  Money talks.

I also thought that some of the advice they give was appallingly bad.  They encourage people to travel all over country as they would do to see family at Christmas.  That is not comparing like with like.  Christmas only comes once a year.  it is far better to be sensible and stick to a managable area and budget for it than run all over the country.

The only thing that I found exciting about Friends 1st was leaving it

HOORRRRRAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!

Bank Holiday

On Saturday, I went to the Cosford RAF museum. It was a spectacle to behold.  Free Entry and I strongly recommend it

On Bank Holiday Monday I went to the Blists Hill Victorian Town Museum by Iron Bridge. I had not been there for a number of years.  I see that they had a couple of new attractions such as a lift that goes up a hill and a train that takes you into a clay mining simulator.

The final assignment

The final assignment for "An Introduction to the New Testament" is finished.  It is also in on schedule.  Hooooooray.

canal at the Mailbox.

tardis at the mailbox

At the mailbox.

PASTOR CHRIS OYAKHILOME IS A LIAR WITH HIS GANG OF FAKE PASTORS

The mailbox

I am going to the mailbox tomorrow.  I was due to meet people from Friends 1st for lunch, but I just could not bring myself to pretend that everything is ok and that I love their service.  I had intended to see the TV studio and then meet them at 1.15, but I have to be honest and tell them that the founder if she thinks she can be a christian and be married to a Roman Catholic and encourage others to do likewise then she is sincere, but sincerely deceived and I can have no fellowship with them. I have also in a small way started doing what I told them I would do. I am when the opportunity arises doing my best to deter other people joining them. 

I intend to enjoy my tour of the mailbox and not be watching the time to leave the studio as I would have to have done if I had been meeting fellow victims, opps sorry members of Friends 1st.

friends 1st

2012 WINNER of the 8th Annual Business Award
for Running a business that positively impacts the community
Awarded by Wisdom for Women International and Keep the Faith magazine
("A woman who fears the Lord shall be praised" Proverbs 30:31)

The above seems wonderful and it was awarded to an off line so called Christian dating agency which I joined and bitterly regret.  I discovered too late that the founder comes from a Roman Catholic background, is a member of the Church of England and is married to a Roman Catholic.  My contention is that there are many dear and deceived people in that church.  However it is not a church, it is an organisation that purports to be a church.  A church has people in it who have had a conversion experience and they depend on Christ alone to get to heaven and nothing and no one else. The Roman Catholic church do not accept this and the add their own doctrines and traditions so that people trust in the church, not Christ.

I therefore strongly recommend to anyone that they have nothing to do with friends first.  There is no account of any convertion experience among their staff which no longer surprises me.  The following is a letter I wrote to them

To Friends 1^st

I joined Friends 1^st, because I was having an episode where I was tired of the web sites.  I realised that joining Friends 1^st was a risk because it means handing over control of selecting profiles to someone else, who is likely to make assumptions about what one is looking for that may be wrong.  I also specified that I would travel up to two hours. 

When the first batch of profiles came, I was very disappointed.  It contained a large number of people well outside two hours and with one exception, clearly not the sort of people I am looking for.  I attempted contact with a few, most of whom turned me down on seeing my profile.  This does not surprise me as I wrote one that is a clear statement of where I stand in matters of faith and I wrote it the way I did so that I would not be pestered by unsuitable people, so to that extent it had the desired effect.  However two of them did make contact.  One of them was charming, had already found a man, but gave me some advice that included joining Christian Connection and accepting what providence God brings.  This I knew immediately was sound.

The other did not have a high opinion of Friends 1^st as she also had the distance problem.

When I emailed about how many of the profiles were outside of the distance I specified, I did not get a response even though I emailed two or three times. Indeed in one video Katherine advises to treat it like Christmas.  One may travel a long distance at Christmas and at the time I emailed yet again to say one only travels once at Christmas and that is to see family and so she was not comparing like with like and it really comes down to bread and butter issues such as spend a lot of money on petrol traveling to meet people for whom a relationship may or may not occur at the sacrifice of life essentials.  I think that is foolish and I will not do it.  However being ignored on the issue was very annoying and when the second batch of profiles arrived, once again I found that I had been ignored and when I got it down to about half a dozen possibilities, on distance alone I decided not to contact any of them as I could not see anything in the remaining ones that grabbed my attention.  On the contrary I saw things to put me off. 

I am not the sort be drawn to church as an institution with coffee and cakes and the anorak brigade.  I believe in vision and passion for it in reaching the lost and not just locally. 

When I phoned the office upon joining, some of the things I put in the profile were repeated including what I said about the sort of person I am looking for. Being in missions is demanding and it is no good just tolerating it as that attitude will put a strain on any relationship and I also said that I knew couple who are very pastoral in their gifting and the man once said to me that he had met couples where the wife told him that missions was her husband’s thing, not hers.  In the course of the phone call I was told that I was over thinking it.  Upon hearing that, I knew that I was being ignored. There is no such thing as overthinking it.  One has to enter into missions eyes wide open to the consequences that will follow.  I assure you that anyone who marries a vicar knows that as the vicar’s wife there will be consequences.

I think that Friends 1^st put such heavy emphasis on reassuring people that they have no idea how to do anything else and they just go into reassuring mode and do not really listen to people.

Then there was the video where Katherine stated that that a Roman Catholic may not be what we would expect.    She meant this in a positive way and that alarmed me more than anything else. It caused me to do what I should have done and failed to do which is look at Friends 1^st more closely.  I typed in Katherine’s name and found what I was looking for about her coming from a Roman Catholic background; being married to a Roman Catholic and sometimes she goes to his church.  I bitterly regret not doing my research first. It I had seen that, I would never have joined Friends 1^st. It proved to me that Friends 1^st have no real grasp of the gospel.  I should never have joined.

Christ died and rose from the grave to pay for our sins to honour his heavenly father.  In a christening there is no exorcism of original sin as the Roman church teaches. Christ is not in the bread and wine again and again as Rome teaches.  Mary is not a go between for us between the son and the father and there is no purgatory for it is appointed man once to die and thereafter the judgement. Anyone who is in any way involved in Rome needs to seriously ask if they are truly saved, for we are warned that not all who say lord lord will be saved but only those who do his will which is to believe in the son of God.  That means to trust in him and to trust in him alone. The Galatians were adding circumcision to this and that was a damnable doctrine which the apostle Paul spoke out against at great length and so now the Church of Rome also adds to the gospel so that it is no longer the gospel and if one trusts them, then one is in great danger of finding out too late on the day of Judgement before the lord that one has been deceived.  Paul warned that if anyone preach any other gospel, let him be accused and I take that very seriously indeed.  I have known people from a Roman Catholic background who are fully aware of the errors of Rome and have renounced them when they were saved.

There was also the hard sell of the “Finding someone Special tool kit”. From the letter you sent and the video, it became self-evident to me that Friends 1^st is manipulative.  Such a kit trades on peoples insecurities, expecting them to part with hundreds of pounds to turn themselves into something they can never be.  It one does want to make some improvements there are many blogs or inexpensive books that will give very helpful advice without the massive expense of the tool kit.  I also was very offended when I got an email about my profile that stated that my uniqueness did not come across and that a discerning person like me knows that making a good first impression is so important and that for £75 I could have a phone call and an enhanced profile.  I am very good word smith. I could easily have written a more pleasing profile. Again the use of the words, “Uniqueness and discerning” I found manipulative. 

I therefore very gladly cut my time short with your company. I am terminating my relationship with you immediately. I will never trust anyone to make my choices again and I will never recommend you to anyone, and it asked I will warn people off.

                                                                                                                                                Yours Faithfully

                                                                                                                                                George Falconer

Bottom of Form

polling day

Today, is polling day. The United Kingdom elects a new government.  If the polls so far are proved to be correct, then no party will have an overall majority.  If that happens then there will be haggling to get a group together capable of commanding the support of the commons.  I did what I always do on days like this. I got up, got washed shaved and dressed and went to the polling booth before breakfast to cast my vote.

The Publisher has come back to me.

The publisher has now come back to me with a lot of questions and the edited draft of my book. I have told them that I will get back to them in detail after the 20th of May.  Right now I need to put time into study of the New Testament.  I did however tell them what title I would be willing to go with.  They suggested three titles and I selected, "Gods Kaleidoscope", with the sub title, "Mission in the red light district and beyond".

Things are moving now.  I am excited.

Wheeler and Driver

Three young ladies have been with us all week. They are auditors. As usual they were all very well dressed pretty and charming, but I wonder if two of them have realised that their surnames make them sound like a double act.  WHEELER and DRIVER?

REVELATOIN

Revelation chapter 1

Revelation 3: 14-22

It was written to the seven churches which were real churches in Johns day.

It was written for their encouragement in the midst of persecution.

John says in verse three that the things he was about to reveal would happen soon

I think this book presents us with difficulties.  People see things in revelation and relate them to things they see today.  However when John wrote this, he intended it to be things that the churches of the time would see in their lifetimes for their encouragement and warning.

It would be absurd if I were sore pressed in persecution and someone said, never mind George, take heart, about the things that will happen 2000 years from now.

I think that once we know it was written to the churches of the time, more things fall into place.

It does indeed show us things that will happen in the future. It shows us that Jesus Christ will return.  It does not tell us how or when.

The original hearers of this book would have understood it much better than us for they would have the context, and for the jews, and apocryphal book like this was not unusual.

Because of the difficulties it presents, it has been largely ignored by teachers and much of what people now believe about it comes from popular books that may or may not be helpful.

I suggest that we need to read revelation and lay aside any pre conceived ideas that we may already have.  I myself have found that by doing so, I have changed my mind about things.

I have said several times, that when we look at prophecy, we should not be too prescriptive about how and when things will happen as the scribes and Pharasees knew all the scriptures about the coming messiah but when he came their pre conceived ideas blinded them to who he was.

Likewise when the disciples asked jesus, why do the scribes and pharasees say that Elijah must return first, Jesus made it clear to them that was true, but the Elijah in the prophecy was not literally Elijah, but a type of Elijah, and he was John the Baptist and once again the scribes and pharasees did not recognise him. Indeed many of them hated him.

We need to be open to God fulfilling his word in his way and in his time.

John says that the events he is about to describe will happen soon and he literally meant soon, not in 2000 years time.

This is a revelation of Christ

He uses one of his titles in v8 I am the Alpha and the Omega

By using this title, he is identifying himself as the lord

He is saying the same thing twice. I am the begging and the end.  I am now and I am to come.

V9 John himself has suffered as the people he is writing to suffered. He can identify with them. He has suffered in that he has been exiled to Patmos and he says to them that he is a fellow partaker

IN THE TRIBULATION.   For him the tribulation according to this was not something thousands of years in the future that would happen before Christ returned. He was saying that it was happening in what for him was the present day.

There he is in exile, presumably alone, and he hears a voice behind him that he says was LIKE A TRUMPET.

He is commanded to WRITE IN A BOOK WHAT YOU SEE. AND SEND IT TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES.

John turns to see where the voice is coming from and he sees a terrible sight

He sees seven golden lampstands and the figure

Read verses 13 to 16,#

John when he sees this person falls down as though he is dead.

Once again the man says, “Do not be afraid.  I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST” which is another title of the lord and echoes what he said in previous verses.

Now bear in mind, John had previously spent three years with jesus.

He had listened to his teaching, he has seen him die and he had seen him risen from the dead, but even he was terrified of the sight of him in this glorified form for John had previously seen him every day looking like any other man.

He is then instructed to write to each church.  I will not look at all of them, but lets look at the church of Laodicea

Revelation 3: 14 to 22

We see here that not all the churches were poor or persecuted. This one considered themselver rich and it seems in terms of doctrine were upright. But Christ says they are LUKEWARM.

He says that he will spit them out of his mouth

However in mercy they still have the chance to change to be warm.  To recognise once again their need of jesus to supply their need.

One needs to know that one has a need.

He advises them to buy from him gold as refined by fire. And to buy garments so that the shame of their nakedness may not be revealed and that they are in fact blind

They thought they were rich, IN FACT THEY WERE NAKED AND BLIND.

He says to them in verse 20, bear in mind he is not saying this to unbelievers. He was saying it to the church.  “BEHOLD, I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK. IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR, I WILL COME IN TO HIM AND HE WITH ME.  HE WHO OVERCOMES, I WILL GRANT TO HIM TO SIT DOWN WITH ME ON MY THRONE AS I ALSO OVERCAME AND SAT DOWN WITH MY FATHER ON HIS THRONE”.

We tend to lose the context of that verse and we think of Holeman Hunts painting of Christ at the door and we quote this verse as though it is pleading the unbelievers to turn and trust in him, (As indeed they must)

However the correct context, is that jesus Christ when he said that was pleading with his church. He was pleading with them to not be luke warm.  To trust him, to let him in to forsake their sin to stop being blind and to whoever did, then just as Christ had overcome and sat upon the throne so those who do as he says will somehow also sit upon the throne as he did.

It comes as great shock to know that it is the church that Christ was pleading with.

I recently read something that suggested that the western church of today can be like this.  We are content, we do not know much persection.  We are happy with things the way they are while our brothers and sisters suffer. 

Surely we are in the business of seeing to it that the church is not blind, that it is mobilised. That it does care and in NOT LUKEWARM

AMEN