A day to remember

Christ with His bride the church, William with his bride Catherine, brought together in a service of simple splendour. Pomp with taste treating the nation to beautiful imagery, music and prayer restoring Christ's church to how it should be, God centred and inspiring. Every blessing be upon them.

Pray for the Church in Wales

In his opening address to the Governing Body of the Church in Wales yesterday, their Archbishop, Dr Barry Morgan, warned of difficult times ahead. "Fundamental questions about the role and structure of the Church in Wales as it approaches its centenary will be addressed in a wide-ranging review led by a group of outside experts, the Archbishop of Wales announced today (April 27)."

Dr Morgan says, "the Church needed to be open to the possibility of major change in order to continue serving Wales effectively in the future (my emphasis). In Wales as elsewhere in the Anglican Communion, serving God has been minimised and those attempting to keep the faith have been marginalised. The 'fundamental role' of the Church in Wales has become politicised and business orientated with faith pushed into the background. 

The Press Notice stated that "the Archbishop highlighted three challenges facing the church: leadership because of a decline in clergy numbers; resources, because of the impact of the "recession on investments; and structure because of falling congregations. So much for making the church 'relevant to society' and innovations such as the ordination of women which were supposed to reinvigorate the church. Gone is the mystery,  the awe, the wonder and the 'otherness' of the church. Those things that made church-going different from the mundane. 

The review panel is to be made up of "three experts in church management". Based on the current state of 'management' of the Church of England and in Wales that should lead to even further decline unless they get back to basics serving God and His Universal church. But it appears that the outcome has already been decided when one reads "We believe [ie ++Barry] as a Bench and Standing Committee, that a combination of our own insights, those of GB Members and those from this Group, will help us become the kind of Church God  [ie ++Barry] wants us to become." - 'Relevant to society', minuscule and ignored?

Puzzle:

What links these four men?

  
- Islam!


The prime Minister and his Deputy are considering a plan to replace existing peers including Anglican bishops with a multi-faith chamber that would include Muslim imams.


The two asylum seekers taking advantage of the British welfare system are Muslin imams who have been plotting our downfall.


Bizzare isn't it!

Khristós Anésti!

Have you wondered what Easter means to most people today?

If you 'Google' "Easter" [images] the result will be displayed as above. Chocolate eggs and bunnies with a very small percentage of Christian imagery. Not unlike the 'bright' idea of the Bishop of Oxford who wants headteachers of Church of England schools to allocate no more than 10% of places in their schools to practising Anglicans. - That should help the CofE's apparent drive to reduce the numbers attending church, or perhaps bishops do not realise how many people simply use the Church of England as an end for educating their children.

I am not the greatest fan of faith schools (witness Northern Ireland) but what is the matter with Christian leaders today when they do more to succour the faith of others than protect their own? From previous reports the main beneficiary of the bishop's open door policy would be Islam. The Times Online reported in 2009 that in some CofE schools 100% of the pupils were Muslim and that in many church primary schools in English cities more than half of the pupils were Muslim. In at least a dozen such schools more than 80 per cent were from Islamic homes. Back in 2008 Catholic church leaders suggested that Muslim prayer rooms should be opened in every Roman Catholic school. To facilitate prayer, schools would need to install bidets, foot spas and hoses to permit extensive cleansing rituals. I do not recall reading of any reciprocal arrangements but perhaps that is just as well.


The Islamisation of cities continues with ever more mosques being built and cultural jihad used to normalise Islamic dress and force halal products on unsuspecting non-Muslims. The last time I queried whether meat in a supermarket was halal, the butcher replied that 'halal' was only a blessing! I do not know if he made up his response or if it was company policy to deflect criticism and protect their profits but it helps to hide the fact that Islam is a supremacist ideology totally alien to Christianity.


I understand Bishop Pritchard's motives when he says that the church's mission should not be about "collecting nice Christians into safe places" but we don't need to go from  New Anglicanism's 'anything goes' to 'everything goes'. If we must have faith schools, the very least we should do is protect our own faith. Please read this link. 


True we are commanded to 'love one another' and 'turn the other cheek' but giving credence to a faith that denies the Incarnation and opposes Christianity can only hasten its demise. Bishops above all must not be ashamed to "confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under His banner against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end."


Religious and political leaders must stop doing everything possible to accommodate a politico-religious system that would see the end of Christianity. Christ died to set us free, not so that His servants can return us to bondage. 

 Khristós Anésti!

Happy Easter!

Holy Saturday

Holy Saturday

Good Friday

Then

and now

 and there was a darkness over all the earth....

The Last Supper

Maundy Thursday

Suits you Sir!

The latest twist in the 'Royal Wedding' saga suggests that the Prime Minister will after all wear morning dress as protocol demands rather than a lounge suit when Prince William marries Kate Middleton. Forest sell-off, NHS reform and dress sense problems; the prime Minister appears to be more than a little accident prone. 


That must put his judgement into question over his reported mean snub to Gordon Brown's candidature for Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. Commentators vary in their opinions but for a former 'communications' man, how do Dave's U-turns suit you Sir - or Madam?

Bystanders

In Great Britain, media stories of religious persecution are usually confined to cases of petty discrimination and to false propaganda. Few have the courage of Shabbaz Bhatti who refused to be a bystander.

Some organisations are crying in the wilderness hoping their voices will be heard while according to WikiIslam, more than 29 people are killed in religiously motivated attacks every single day at the hands of Muslims. While hypocrites protest, the Barnabasfund provides hope and aid for the persecuted church.

Don't be a bystander.

Beggars belief...

Hot on the heels of Cranmer's post, "Tis Pity She's a Whore - the Virgin Mary", I watched a video report in the Independent which gives details of  "a controversial book to be published on Good Friday [which] has caused outrage for its portrayal of Jesus as a bisexual drug addict." Christians are expected to tolerate such religious 'stone-throwing', turning the other cheek rather than going on the rampage killing innocent people in fits of righteous indignation with no regard for the rights of individuals in their own land.

On Monday (11 April) the BBC's 'Panorama' broadcast "Living with the Ayatollah" highlighted human rights abuses in Iran. Ironically Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini has been urging European countries to avoid encouraging 'Islamophobia'. The Guardian has taken up a similar cry with "Islamophobia on the rise as austerity bites". 

What utter tosh. The maxim 'attack is the best method of defence' cannot hide the fact that claims of "Islamophobia" are used simply as devices to deflect well earned concern and criticism of double standards.

Postscript
The University of Exeter's European Muslim Research Centre was forced to issue an apology for serious errors of fact in their academic report Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Hate Crime: UK Case Studies referred to here which "may lead a reader to misconstrue the conduct, actions and the intentions of Councillors". Conservative MP Robert Halfon  has demanded an explanation from Exeter University over a donation from the Middle East broadcaster Al-Jazeera. I know universities are short of funds but what next?

'Michael Gove's "other reason" for opposing a mosque'

One of yesterday' blog entries on Political Scrapbook posed the question, "What are your other reasons [for opposing a mosque] Mr Gove? In this long running battle over building a mosque in Camberly there have been claims that the mosque would pose a security threat because it overlooks the parade ground used by every new officer in the British Army. Even if that were not the case, the idea is as tactless as the notion of building a Muslim Centre in the shadow of Ground Zero. How could anyone possibly countenance the idea of building a mosque with minarets overlooking the parade ground blasting out "Allahu Akbar!" after Muslim protests against British troops? 


For centuries Christian churches and other sites have been converted by Islamic invaders into mosques. Today there are many stories of churches being destroyed in Muslim countries, often with worshippers still inside them yet the dhimmis in our midst aid cultural jihad by supporting every Muslim request and complaint, endorsing the building of ever more mosques in this country. 


If anyone wants reasons for resisting the Islamisation of Britain look here, here, here, here, here, here and here, read from the front line here or closer to home here. 

The NHS

As the Telegraph correctly predicted, yesterday the Health Secretary admitted at the dispatch box that his personal crusade to change the Health Service was having the brakes applied by the Prime Minister. While most questioners on the government benches did their valiant best to support Mr Lansley, the most interesting intervention came from Stephen Dorrell, tory Chairman of the all-party Health Select Committee with counter proposals reported here. 


The Government came badly unstuck when a BMA survey showed that doctors are "uncertain whether the benefits of the government's plans to reform the NHS in England outweigh the risks". When Liberal Democrats rebelled big changes were indicated. Others have now taken-up the fight including the campaigning group 38 Degrees encouraged by their success in the forestry sell-off campaign. 


Why Mr Lansley thinks that GPs are best placed to spend £80 billion of tax payers money because 'they know their patients' is a mystery after many have spent years getting as remote from patients as possible with nurse-led clinics and 'out-of-hours' care handed to God knows who.  As for patient choice, if Mr Lansley wants to base the case for change on his personal experience, his is unlikely to be mirrored by others. How many patients have sufficient independent advice to be able to make a judgement and if they do, would they want to upset their GP by claiming to know better? Personal experience suggests not.


There are problems in the NHS but there is no mandate from the electorate for the major changes being proposed. For most people the NHS, despite its failings, is amongst the best of what is left of Great Britain. If not signalled in party manifestos major changes should be made only with all party agreement not driven through as part of a personal crusade.
  

Scam bags: legitimate or not?

Today we had yet another plastic bag delivery. As previously reported we regularly receive two or three requests a week to donate unwanted clothes; sometimes bric-a-brac. Most of these requests are scams which trade on people's charity for profit. 

My general guideline is to look at the detail to see if all proceeds are given to charity not, eg, just £50 per tonne. An excellent web site is available to check further details if in doubt. Some charities use collectors. The National Blind Children's Society is one of these and is listed as legitimate but it is understandable that people are confused when one of the guidelines to watch for is: 

'"We give £50 per tonne to the charity" - This sounds good, but beware, this is only 5 pence per kilogram!  By contrast, if you take your clothes to a charity shop, they'll raise 5 to 100 times as much for charity.'

Mothering Sunday to Mother's Day

The MailOnline is carrying a story about 'advances' in research enabling eggs to be stored so that women can have babies in their 50's. Mother-centred rather than child-centred sums up the commercial notion of Mother's Day which is not to be confused with Mothering Sunday when we give thanks for the selfless devotion of mothers to their children.