EFCW statement in response to the recent statement by the Bishop of St Asaph at Governing Body

 

The bishop of St Asaph addressing Governing Body         Source: CT/CinW

Statement from the Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales:

At the recent Governing Body meeting the Bishop of St Asaph made reference to EFCW and previous communications with the Bench of Bishop’s in his answer to a question on Conversion Therapy. His answer can be found here or in the Church Times here. Our response is printed below.

The original 2021 letter to the Bench of Bishops (with their original statement appended) and subsequent correspondence which were referenced are linked underneath.

We regret the interpretation put upon the EFCW letter of June 2021 to the Bench of Bishops in the Bishop of St Asaph’s response to Question 1 at the recent September meeting of the Church in Wales Governing Body. This letter was written to the Bench in good faith, as part of an ongoing dialogue, and we are saddened that reference was made to it in a situation that did not allow a right of reply or clarification before the Governing Body, and in its subsequent publication and distribution. We wish to rebut the implication that EFCW (wittingly or unwittingly) endorses conversion therapy.

EFCW does not, and never has, promoted coercive or abusive practices. Nor do we promote or encourage “practices in which pressure is brought upon vulnerable LGBTQIA persons to submit to efforts aimed at the conversion of their sexuality including attempted exorcisms and worse”, which we also agree are abhorrent.

As evangelical Anglicans we uphold the authority of Scripture over every aspect of our lives, as detailed in Articles 6, 7, 19 and 20.  We are concerned that reducing the role of the Church to one simply of “welcome, acceptance and friendship” as the Bishop of St Asaph indicates, without the freedom to discuss the whole Canon of Scripture, or its application to daily life, would undermine the holistic pastoral care and discipleship journeys of those in our congregations. 

We would also wish to have protections allowing prayer to take place with people, at their request, in the way the Bishop of St. Asaph suggests, namely “that God’s grace can be operative in the situation, and that a person would know God’s guidance and blessing, without a defined outcome”.

Full details here.

GB question and Bishop Gregory's answer in 'Highlights' (Session Two).

The sinking ship

As 'Jolly June' Osborne prepares to sail off into the sunset on retirement she leaves behind a trail of discontent. There will be few tears spilt over her departure but many on the wreckage she leaves behind.

Thumbing her nose to scripture and tradition she has already set the scene for her successor by hastily installing a dean of her choice rather than letting the new bishop make the appointment. The new dean is a priest living openly in a same-sex partnership who was involved in some discontent over his involvement in the Percy affair during his time at Oxford.

He should fit in well, not only in the diocese but in the province which is foundering on the rocks of secularism following a string of political appointments.

In her long running battle with the former dean the bishop was forced to face allegations of bullying after it was decided that she had a case to answer. The allegations were subsequently withdrawn. 

Meanwhile the Revd Vicki Burrows, the Garth Ministry Area Leader, wrote of a "culture of fear" in the diocese in the Church Times (Letters, 17/24 December) and called for the suspension of the Rt Rev June Osborne, after the bishop was accused of "bullying and harassment".

The vicar resigned saying that she “can no longer minister with any sense of integrity in Llandaff”.

Bishop Osborne's response was to appoint the Rev'd Ian Yemm, "who is married to Bernhard, an NHS doctor", in what appears to be another attempt to pre-empt a decision by the Church in Wales.

No doubt the bishop of Llandaff with the again absent bishop of St Davids were influential in the appointment of the first lesbian bishop, the bishop of Monmouth, who also lives with her same sex partner giving the impression that their ministries have more to do with the promotion of homosexuality than the sanctity of Christian marriage.

What of the bishop of St Davids? The original announcement in August of Joanna Penberthy's latest sick leave  promised updates as they became available. I can no longer find that notice, perhaps because there have been no updates which is typical of the mushroom method of management in the Church in Wales.

This is what happens when sociology replaces theology.

Former giants of the Church in Wales before bishops were replaced by 'prefects'.
Five held Oxford Firsts in Theology.     Source: Anglican Misfit

But whatever the cause, the latest Church Growth Modelling is bad news for the Church in Wales as well as other denominations as wokeness replaces holiness:

"The Church in Wales contains a mixture of churchmanships, and for many years all were on the conservative side. However, in the last 25 years, it has become increasingly liberal. In common with most historic UK Christian denominations, it has steadily declined since 1960. This analysis investigates the likelihood of decline leading to denominational extinction.

"The Church in Wales is forecast to be extinct by 2038."

The author writes, "Churches do not grow by becoming like society and attracting people, but by becoming like Jesus and converting people."

Exactly.

A slave for her faith

 

Farah Shaheen (©Aid to the Church in Need).

I have regularly looked at the photo of this poor girl gazing through the camera because, stunned into inaction, the email from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has remained in my in-tray. 

What are her thoughts? What if she were my daughter, or yours?

Farah's story is appalling, best explained by this extract from the ACN email:

"The father of a 12-year-old Christian girl – kidnapped, raped, shackled hand and foot, and forced to work from dusk till dawn – has at last spoken out about her ordeal.

"When police rescued Farah Shaheen from the Faisalabad house of 45-year-old Khizar Ahmed Ali (Hayat) in December 2020, she was too traumatised to speak but, bit by bit, has revealed her harrowing five-month ordeal to her father, Asif Masih.

"In a statement to Aid to the Church in Need, Mr Masih said his daughter was attached to a chain and forced to work all day “as a slave” damaging her shackled hands and feet in the process.

"Mr Masih said: 'Farah has told me she was treated like a slave. She was forced to work all day, cleaning filth in a cattle yard. 24-7 she was attached to a chain.'

"Condemning Mr Ahmed for forcing Farah to marry him and convert to Islam, he said: “She was sexually assaulted by her abductor and raped multiple times by [his] landlords”."

Sadly this is not an isolated case. The email continues:

"Describing the mistreatment of girls from minority faith backgrounds as 'a cancer in our society', he said: “I beg you to demand that the Government stops this evil in its tracks and brings the culprits to justice.”

"Pakistan’s Movement for Solidarity and Peace estimates that up to 1,000 young Christian and Hindu females between 12 and 25 are abducted each year."

Another tragic report describes how 14-year-old Maira Shahbaz was bundled into a car at gunpoint by three men on 28th April 2020, in Medina Town, Pakistan.  She was filmed and photographed being raped, and was then forced to convert to Islam and marry one of her abductors, Mohamad Nakash Tariq, 30 years her senior.

A petition has been presented to Fiona Bruce, MP, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Religious Freedom or Belief asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to grant asylum for Maira Shahbaz and her family. In that regard Maira is luckier than most.

In 2019 the BBC reported Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'. In 2021 little has changed.

Persecution of Christians Exacerbated by a Year of Covid-19 According to World Watch List 2021:

• Christians in numerous African and Asian nations have been refused coronavirus aid
  
  
• Islamic militants have exploited Covid-19 restrictions, increasing violence against Christians in sub-Saharan Africa by 30 per cent.
  
  
• Covid-19 has legitimised repression through increased surveillance by authoritarian governments such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
  
  
• Women have been especially vulnerable in Covid-imposed lockdowns, with psychological violence as well as kidnapping and forced conversions.

In another email ACN gives details of slaughter in Africa. Another highlights  Religious bias faced by Christians in Pakistan. In Myanmar displaced Christians have formed a village called 'Bethel' outside Yangon.

There are regular reports of attacks on Christians but not on action to curb them. 

In my entry The naivety of Christian leaders I wrote: Christian leaders would do well to heed the warning of bishop Michael Nazir-Ali who explained back in 2011 how Christianity has become almost extinct in the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity, and Islam, the 'religion of peace', has became dominant in the Arab world.

Christianity is on the decline while Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group.

It doesn't take much imagination to realise the fate of Christians when looking at counties in which they are already a minority. 

Christian leaders endorse Islam

Religious and civic leaders, interfaith Itfa, St John's Wood Synagogue, 2018    Source: Church Times 

Acting LibDem Leader Sir Ed Davey appeared on Twitter a few days ago announcing that he was preparing for his first ever fast in the holy month of Ramadan prompting Adrian Hilton (AKA Archbishop Cranmer) to respond:

"Forgive me, I'm curious. Did you fast during #Lent? I'll understand if you did but didn't signal it. But did you tweet about fasting or #HolyWeek? Did you express empathy with Christians in isolation over Easter, the holiest time in the liturgical year?

Along with other religious leaders the Archbishop of Canterbury has made a habit of identifying with Ramadan, eg, here and here. In this year's excruciating contribution here Archbishop Justin Welby implies that all religions are the same with some differences in theology but the god of Islam who demands submission could not be more different to the Christian God who sent His Son into the world for our salvation.

For years the BBC have been squeezing Christianity. This year they have been broadcasting the Islamic call to prayer, the adhan, prayed in Arabic:

Allah is greater (Allahu akbar); intoned four times.
I testify that there is no God but Allah (Ashhadu anna la ila ill Allah); intoned twice.
I testify that Mohammed is Allah’s Prophet (Ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasul Allah); intoned twice.
Come to prayer (Hayya alas salah); intoned twice.
Come to security/salvation (Hayya alal falah); intoned twice.
Allah is greater (Allahu akbar); intoned twice.
There is no God but Allah (La ilah ill Allah); intoned once.

Dr. Gavin Ashenden, a former Chaplain to the HM the Queen, resigned his position in protest against a Qur’an reading in a Scottish church. In response to the BBC's decision he observed in Frontpage Mag, “the Muslim call to prayer is a dramatic piece of Islamic triumphalism. It proclaims Islam’s superiority over all other religions, and in so doing casts Jesus in the role of a charlatan and a liar. The Muslim god, Allah, is unknowable and has no son. Jesus was, therefore, a fraud in claiming He and the Father are one.

"Is the BBC, the government-funded broadcasting agency of an ostensibly Christian land, really wise to broadcast a declaration of the superiority of another faith, one that directs its adherents to make war against Christians and subjugate them as inferiors under the hegemony of believers (cf. Qur’an 9:29)? Is the BBC wise to broadcast the cry “Allahu akbar,” beloved of jihad terrorists the world over?"

Nobody is suggesting that all Muslims are evil but people quickly forget the victims of a political ideology that seeks to subjugate others.

In Germany the trial has begun of a 27-year-old Iraqi national, charged with membership in a foreign terrorist organization, crimes against humanity, human trafficking, and war crimes, including the murder of a five-year-old Yazidi girl.

According to the indictment, in the summer of 2015, Taha A. J. “purchased” and enslaved a five-year-old Yazidi girl and her mother, and he and his wife held them captive at their residence in Fallujah, Iraq, where they forcibly converted them to Islam. Taha A. J. beat the captives and one day chained the child outdoors, leaving her to die of thirst in scorching temperatures."

There is hope. In another story of "God at work around the world", this time from a man who grew up Muslim having memorized the majority of the Qur’an. He was warned by his grandmother to “Watch out for the infidels, and don’t befriend or associate with them; they are a disease on society.”

He started reading the New Testament and fell in love with the character of Jesus. Within months he had read the Bible in its entirety. When his Muslim family found out that he had become a Christian his uncle called him with a warning: “Gather your family, pack your bags, and move out of the house because your grandfather is going to terrorist groups, and if they find you, they will kill every single person in the house.”

Today, he works for a ministry that "shares God’s love with Muslims, presenting Christ in a way that connects with their cultural background and speaks to their interest in themes of shame and honor."

Our Christian leaders would do well to remember that "No-one comes to the Father except through me". (John 14:6)

Postscripts

[03.05.2020]

VATICAN URGES CATHOLICS TO SHARE RAMADAN

Throwing in the towel!

[06.05.202]

Food aid in exchange for converting to Islam: violence against the poor, in times of pandemic

Waters of life and death

Today is World Water Day. For Christians water will continue to be much in evidence this week in the Paschal Triduum liturgy of the foot washing and renewal of our baptismal vows.

Water is important in many faiths, be it plunging into the Ganges to wash away sins or Wudhu, the ritual washing performed by Muslims before prayer among them.

The images above compare the tranquility of the River Jordan, where John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Messiah while  baptizing, with the horror of seeing the blood of martyrs carried on the waves in the aftermath of the brutal beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by Muslims because they would not convert to Islam, staying faithful to Christ unto life's end.

Writing for The Independent Aaqil Ahmed the BBC's head of religion has warned that Britain needs to address its “chronic lack of religious literacy” if it is to accommodate the rise through new immigration of “more assertive” forms of Christianity with “conflicting views” on same-sex marriage and other human rights issues. His comments were made in advance of  a BBC1 documentary, The Battle for Christianity, to be broadcast late this evening (22 March) in which significant changes in the Christian Church in Britain are examined.

The threat to Christianity from within is clearly identified in the documentary. Quoting discredited statistics the Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Rev Alan Wilson, claims that the Church’s resistance to same-sex marriage is "unacceptable to most young Anglican worshipers". Perhaps a little instruction would not come amiss, starting with trendy bishops.

The Independent article continues: "Linda Woodhead, a professor in politics, philosophy and religion at Lancaster University, claimed there was a "struggle now for the heart and soul of Christianity". She said: "For lots of young people, Christianity is now morally objectionable. They don’t want anything to do with churches that don’t believe in human rights and the equality of all human beings."

When it comes to human rights we would be better served if Ahmed concentrated more on the threat to Christianity posed by his religion, Islam. Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) remains the single most significant statement of the international community’s commitment to freedom of religion or belief, something that Christians in Great Britain take for granted. But not so in many Islamic states.

From "Article 18: an orphaned right - A report of the All Party Parliamentary Group on International Religious Freedom" (page 13):

 " Within some states the continued application of classical punishments for apostasy, including the death penalty, and the imposition of draconian criminal sanctions for blasphemy, makes the free exercise of the right to renounce Islam or to convert to another religion virtually impossible. While acknowledging the deep-rooted colonial legacies of many of the current blasphemy laws, it unfortunately remains the case that the threat posed by the presence of such draconian laws does not permit a rational religious or ideological debate that would allow for free informed choices to be made on converting to another religion."

Any problems within Christianity pale into insignificance compared with the threat posed by Islam. The Christian/Islamic Struggle has been endured for 1,400 years. While ISIS has been committing genocide abroad, little if anything was being reported in the media about mainly Pakistani heritage men in this country raping and abusing white children for years while hiding behind a screen of political correctness or silencing critics with absurd charges of Islamophobia.

Anyone who doubts the wisdom of accepting thousands of Muslim immigrants with open arms having previously repelled Islamic invasions is characterised by morally superior do-gooders as lacking Christian charity. Again little is reported in the media but reports of appalling immigrant behaviour in Germany and Sweden are truly frightening if people take the trouble to read them.

Death for apostasy, honour killings, child marriage, FGM, sexual abuse, etc, etc, await Muslims found to be in error as well as non-Muslims, the Kafir, a derogatory term used by Muslims to describe those who reject Islam

Water is used for purification but no matter how many times Islamists cleanse themselves, they cannot wash away their sins. Ablution is not conversion. That requires making disciples of all the nations (bishops please note), baptizing them with water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The difference between Christian service of free will and Islamic servitude. This is the challenge Christians are charged with in the Gospel.

That is the "chronic lack of religious literacy" the BBC's head of religion needs to address before it is too late for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Diluting the faith

"British citizens are right to fear mass migration"             Source: Express/Getty

Over the past week the media was full of the Archbishop of Canterbury's claim that "British citizens have a right to 'fear' the migrant crisis". The Telegraph put it more bluntly: "For the many millions of Britons who have seen their country changed irrevocably in recent years, his words are too little, too late".

Archbishop Justin Welby said that many Britons had a genuine and justified fear of mass immigration. In fragile communities particularly there was a genuine fear about housing, jobs and access to health services.

Important as these matters are there is a more fundamental concern, that of social cohesion which requires co-operation but for Muslim communities this is only on their terms. As they increase in strength they demand increasing privileges for themselves on religious grounds regardless of the impact on others. Immigrant Muslims do not leave the perils of their ideology behind them, they bring them with them, adding to the demands for special treatment.

Coverage of Archbishop Welby's intervention by the BBC included video clips of schools in which there were no indigenous white children in sight, confirming earlier reports that in more than 200 schools nine in ten pupils do not speak English as their mother tongue and that 14 different languages including Pahari, Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi, Somali, Polish, Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish and Pashto, are spoken in some schools, increasing the pressure on scarce resources.

In another BBC video in which descendants of immigrant families featured, the problem of integration rather than immigration was identified without mentioning the biggest problem, the formation of Islamic enclaves where Muslims live according to their own imported laws. In January 2013, Manchester University statistician Ludi Simpson analyzed official data from the 2011 census and found that native white Britons are already a minority in Leicester (45%), Luton (45%) and Slough (35%). He also forecast that they would be a minority in Birmingham by 2019, nearly a decade earlier than the previous estimate.

Despite the glaring problem of integration, Church and State tend to regard Islam as just another religion which has been hijacked by a few fundamentalists. These 'terrorists', (Islamists) plan terror attacks around the world including attacks on those they regard as bad Muslims. Ironically the attackers are 'good' Muslims in their ideology because they are following their prophet's example, believing that slaughter of the innocent to be God's will. As they maim and kill their defenceless victims they cry 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greater).

Ignoring the facts that Christians and Jews are being specifically targeted, misguided clerics encourage the spread of Islam in this country. The evidence for the Muslim invasion is broadcast daily. Archbishop Welby says proclaiming the Gospel is “integral to being a Christian” so why the softly, softly approach to Islam when the only answer to the world's problem is to expose the ideology for what it is, one of supremacy regardless of the consequences.

"Western policies of multiculturalism are founded on the principle that immigration should not discriminate on the basis of nationality, creed, race or any other distinguishing feature among people. Yet such refusal to take account of the differences and oppositions that are essential to human nature mean that well-intentioned Western immigration programs are setting up the rivalries and conflicts of the future."

There are fundamental differences between Christians and Muslims which cannot be dismissed. Why, after the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, would the Angel Gabriel confide in Muhammad that it was all a load of baloney and that God's real purpose was to crush everyone who did not conform to a warlord's modus operandi?

Diluting the faith is not the answer, it is a matter of conversion. Doubting clerics should read 'Christ has revolutionised my life' here.

Postscript [16.03.2016]
THE GENOCIDE OF CHRISTIANS. Petition to recognise the genocide of Christians and other minorities. Please read and sign here.

Spitting in the wind

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth  in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".   John 3:16

What links Barak Obama, Tony Blair and David Cameron?
Answer: Their claim that "Islam is a religion of peace" here. They should have checked the ideology (here and here).

The latest Islamic atrocity in Turkey bears witness to a corrupt ideology which puts Allah above everyone and everything while his holy warriors happily slaughter anyone to gain their supposed place in paradise with 72 virgins:

“Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to paradise, which can be opened only for holy warriors!

There are hundreds of other [Koranic] psalms and hadiths urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.”

“Islam grew with blood . . . . The great prophet of Islam in one hand carried the Koran and in the other a sword . . . . Islam is a religion of blood for the infidels but a religion of guidance for other people.”

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

"In summary, there is no other conclusion except to admit that the overwhelming evidence shouts that killing is the big difference between Islam and all other religions". From 'Is It a Religion of Peace? Original Islam'.

Muslims base their faith on the Koran while Christians base theirs on the Bible which forms the basis of Britain's Christian values. Unlike the Bible which describes how Jesus shed his blood for all, the Koran dictates how believers must shed the blood of disbelievers and apostates to appease their god and ensure for themselves a life in paradise on the blood of innocents. Despite this glaring difference, equal weight is given to a religious ideology which condemns Christians and other disbelievers, regarded in Islam as "the worst possible crime", while ignoring the clear biblical warning about false prophets.

It is against this background that yesterday, Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech which outlined plans for a new Extremism Bill to prevent radicalisation. He was spitting in the wind. British values are anathema to Islam and British democracy is used as a tool for Islam's advancement. Our policy of equal opportunities for all encourages its growth while misplaced political correctness and false charges of Islamophobia allow Islamic influence to spread unabated, the worst excesses having been highlighted in Birmingham and in Birmingham's schools, in Rotherham where the most vile abuse of children has taken place and in Tower Hamlets where people were fearful of speaking the truth resulting in corrupt elections. Much of this was allowed to take place because the British people have been conditioned not to speak up for fear of being classed as racist, prejudiced and Islamophobic while Islamists 'run riot'.

Meanwhile Christianity is ridiculed in a manner that would not be tolerated if there were any hint of criticism of a Muslim's faith. Note how Liberal Leader Tim Farron was sneered at for his Christian faith on the BBC's Today programme and on Sky News driven to declare that his personal faith "will not affect his political decisions and that he supports equality".

Not content with having a Muslim heading the BBC's Religion and Ethics department, Mr Cameron's solution is to promote more Muslims to positions of power and influence in Great Britain, apparently ignorant of the fact that as Islam increases in strength, the danger to non-Muslims increases simply for being disbelievers. According to the Pew Research Center, Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group so they hardly need any help from the British Prime Minister.

Muslims can only accept Christian values if they become Christians. Islam recognises Jesus as a prophet along with Abraham and Moses but against all the evidence Muslims deny that Jesus died on the Cross. This is not only false teaching, it is clear deception resulting in millions of Muslims being condemned by their own religion. There is no virtue in pretending Islam is a religion of peace when all the evidence is to the contrary. That the majority of Muslims do not take up arms does not mean that Islam is a religion of peace. This notion was nicely shot down by Alexander Boot in his blog entry 'Pardon me, boy, who is the Chattanooga shooter?'

Muslims are constantly trying to convert non-believers to Islam but there is a reluctance to refute erroneous Islamic teaching explaining that one of their own prophets, Jesus, showed the way to eternal life before Muhammad was born. That is what Muslims need to know, not how they should integrate their mistaken beliefs into Western culture. Until leaders grasp that, they will continue spitting in the wind.

Postscript [24.07.2015]

More "Easy Meat":
http://www.itv.com/news/2015-07-24/you-get-passed-around-victims-of-horrifying-aylesbury-child-sex-ring-speak-out/

"...the word “Asian” was used in
order to stop people from realising that the vast majority of the
criminals were Muslims, and that the vast majority of the victims
were non-Muslim girls..." Full report here.

Postscript [25.07.2015]

Read also ‘Ee bah gum–there’s Sharia up ‘ere! by The Rev Dr Peter Mullen in his Blog 'All Things Considered'.

Postscript [27.07.2015]

Islamist “Justice”: Slow Painful Death for Christian Mother in Pakistan by Raymond Ibrahim in Muslim Persecution of Christians. Petition for Asia Bibi's release here.

Easter reflections

"One supermarket chain buyer apparently asked the company
 that supplies the eggs what Easter had to do with the Church"

The caption under the cross is a quote from an article by Caroline Wyatt, the BBC's new religious affairs correspondent in which she poses the question: "Is Easter still about religion for most?" She writes: "A large, feathery Easter egg stands in the middle of a small street in a shopping area in north London.
Beneath it is an Easter message: 'This egg is to remind people to shop at independent retailers'.
I had thought that it might be to remind people of the other message of Easter - the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, for example, which churches across the country will be marking on Sunday.

... For many years now, leading church figures have bemoaned the fact that in a country that is still officially Christian, with almost 60% of people identifying themselves as such in the 2011 census (although far fewer actually attend church services, or believe in God), the religious message of Easter has been drowned out by the secular festival of chocolate and shopping being celebrated at supermarkets across the country." To which I might add relevance to society.

I was more encouraged by the BBC's headline coverage of Caroline Wyatt's news report: "Easter services to denounce killing of Christians" or, as The Australian put it: Holy Thursday massacre prompts Easter reflections.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's Easter message paid tribute to persecuted Christians while the Pope prayed for "killed Kenyan students [and] decries persecution". All credit then to Metropolitan Hilarion who said it as it is: "There is the genocide of Christians in the Middle East".

Muslims are not exempt if they don't toe the line. Just two of the latest examples here and here. Despite all the carnage and misery it has been reported that "Islam is set to rival Christianity for global adherence by 2050". This is not a time to cast doubt on the Resurrection. We are an Easter people "and if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith".

Anglicans in particular have paid a heavy price for being more 'relevant to society' than to the faith of the Church, few more so than in the Church in Wales where their Archbishop parodied Je suis Charlie when when he claimed "Nous sommes Jesus" in his Chrism Mass sermon. He then delivered his Easter message claiming: "while we may not be able to prove the existence of God or that Christ rose from the dead, Resurrection moments are part of daily life." Given his record that is taken to mean softening up his flock to accept same-sex marriage in the same way that he manipulated the Governing Body to accept women bishops before reneging on promises made to members of his flock who remain faithful to the Apostolic faith. His priorities are wrong.

Humanity is facing a grave crisis in the face of creeping Islamisation but there is a choice. Murder, rape and servitude under Islam or Christian faith, hope and charity. This is not a time to cast doubt on the Resurrection. It is a time for conversion

The not so quick and the dead

The Archbishop of Canterbury The Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby pays a visit to St Alban's
  Academy in Highgate                                                                        Photo credit: Birmingham Mail

In my previous entry I referred to a report that the Archbishop of Canterbury was to visit a school in Birmingham where 80 per cent of its pupils are Muslim and just eight per cent of its pupils are Christian. He has. A report on his visit to St Alban’s Academy can be read here.

The reports I have seen so far concentrate on gays and gay marriage. Referring to Church of England’s laws the Archbishop said, "Marriage is between one man and one woman for life and sexual activity should be confined to marriage" before adding that he [like many of us -Ed.] has many gay friends who do "incredible" work. He  admitted that he "struggled" with his views on homosexuality adding: "I’m listening very, very closely to try to discern what the spirit of God is trying to tell us." That sounds like sandy ground to me, just as in Wales where 'consultations' are taking place to to be ignored, as before, if they don't meet their Archbishop's expectations set out here.

Important though the sanctity of marriage is it was this quote which worried me more:

"Answering a pupil who asked whether he would encourage him to convert from Islam to Christianity, the Archbishop said: 'I am not going to put pressure on you, and I wouldn’t expect you to put pressure on me'."

'Pressure' is reserved for Muslims who have no scruples about gaining converts for Allah. Examples here and here; ideology here. From another report today on the Facing Islam Blog:

"ISIS has abducted dozens of Assyrian men, women and children, including 12 from Tel Hurmiz, 15 from Tel Goran. They have been brought to Jabal Abdul Aziz. The residents of the villages of Tel Shamiran (approximately 50) and Tel Jazira (about 40) are being held captive in their own villages by ISIS.

 A number of churches have been destroyed, including the church in Tel Hurmiz, one of the oldest churches in Syria, the Mar Bisho church in Tel Shamiran, the church in Qabr Shamiy and the church in Tel Baloua.

Three weeks ago ISIS ordered Assyrians in the region of Hassaka to remove the crosses from their churches and to pay jizya (Christian poll tax), warning residents that if they failed to pay they would have to leave or else be killed."

The Principal of St Alban’s Academy told reporters: "Our collective Christian, Muslim, Sikh and Hindu parents and those of other faiths or none send their children to St Alban’s because of its high expectations and good discipline founded on strong moral and religious principles and because they recognise the value of children being encouraged and supported in their faiths. Despite the fact that the school has a Church of England ethos, its multi-faith intake means it has strong partnerships with various establishments including Birmingham Central Mosque. [My emphasis - Ed.]

The Principal talks about a Church of England 'ethos' but I see little evidence in the reports. Perhaps he is unaware that it is the duty of all Muslims to convert infidels to Islam believing that "Islam is the one true faith that leads to salvation". Archbishop Welby may have been caught on the hop but I was disappointed that he didn't grasp the opportunity presented to him when asked about conversion.

Muslims need to know Christ. How else are we to conquer the evil that is being allowed to spread around the world on the absurd pretext that Islamic extremists have nothing to do with Islam? They are emulating their prophet while non-violent Muslims are spreading their religion surreptitiously. Turning the other cheek is one thing, turning away from Christ is quite another. According to research by the Pew Research Center, "in 34 of the 38 countries where the question was asked, at least half of Muslims believe that Islam is the one true religion that can lead to eternal life in heaven". We need more Christianity and less political talk so that people know the truth.

If I may Archbishop, some recommend reading from 2 Timothy 4:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.