Two wrongs!

 A 'non-white' Jesus in a boat with 'refugees'. St Mary Redcliffe church, Bristol                                Source: Wales Online

A Bristol church has taken the Colston statue toppling a step further by replacing a stained glass window depicting slave trader Edward Colston with a window showing a "multi-racial Jesus in boat with refugees" as our "neighbours".

The message appears to be that Jesus Christ identifies primarily with the illegal traffic of refugees/asylum seekers/economic migrants who choose to leave one safe country for another.

Neighbourliness did not extend to Christians when Muslim migrants allegedly 'threw Christians overboard during row on a boat sailing from Libya to Italy'. Police said that fifteen people had been arrested on suspicion of multiple homicide aggravated by religious hatred.

That is not to say that all boat people are Muslims. The mistake is to regard other faiths as the same as Christianity. 

In Pakistan Christians and other religious minorities are struggling to survive barbaric persecution as they face 'abductions, indentured servitude and state-sanctioned execution'.

Today, 14 Nigerians will be killed for being Christians. 

There is much more. See 2022 Persecutor of the Year Report

The pre-woke message was much easier to understand:

The Good Samaritan helping the beaten man and paying for his stay at the inn.

Postscripts 

[17.06.2023]

More from the 'religion of peace': Uganda school attack: 25 killed by militants linked to Islamic State group

[22.06.2023]

Another 15 Christians Killed in Nigeria Despite Curfew

Intersociety Petitions 29 World Leaders To Intervene On Behalf Of ‘Persecuted Christians In Nigeria’, End Imo Killings

...“This is to the extent over 2,300 defenseless Christians have been hacked to death by the Jihadists under the first six months of 2023 (Jan-June); over 31,000 slaughtered since June 2015 and 53,000 since the 2009 Boko Haram uprising; over 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools burned down or wantonly destroyed, 1000 Christian communities sacked, 50m Christians uprooted and 15m Christian IDPs generated; out of which Benue State accounts for more than 2.5m Christian IDPs alone.”

The problem with belief

Iraqi soldiers putting the Cross back to where it belongs in Baghdeda and Karemlesh
after retaking the cities from ISIS.                                                Source: @AliAjeena 

In my previous entry I included a video of an Imam who claims that saying 'Merry Christmas' is worse than murder. One cannot doubt his sincerity in believing that God could not have been born on Christmas Day. It is contrary to his faith. If he understood that God came down from heaven and was made man to share our misery he would be better informed but as a Muslim he regards Jesus as no more than one in a line of prophets.

For Christians Jesus is the Incarnate Word, the 'Son of God'. Hence the condemnation of saying 'Merry Christmas'. For Muslims Muhammad is the last in a line of prophets from Abraham. He is the model of the perfect man whose life should be emulated as far as possible. An unlikely example some 1400 years later for one who married a child bride of nine, had many wives, and who is said to have personally beheaded between 700 and 900 opponents. Nevertheless he is the model for devout Muslims resulting in the barbarism witnessed today.

A recent BBC report, 'An extremist in the family', illustrates the agony of a mother, a convert to Islam, whose son became a jihadist. She said "Islam's part of our daily life. We pray and fast but beyond that, not a huge amount". Her son Rasheed had somehow fallen for the idea of the caliphate, "if you don’t do this journey you are not a believer, not a good Muslim".

For Christians the mother is the good Muslim but for Islamists the real Muslim was her son. He was killed fighting for ISIS. This is the problem with belief. Blind obedience serves only the manipulators. Catholicism, particularly in Ireland, has learnt the hard way. Anglicanism, the middle way, has lost its way while Islam remains resolute against any other way. So much so that renouncing Islam is punishable by death.

In another video 'Wolves in Sheep's Clothing' the Imam who condemned people for saying Merry Christmas rails against the 'enemies of Islam'. He names Jews, Christians, Hindus and the secular, atheistic world at large who "disagree among themselves on everything except that Islam is a target and is to be removed from the world map". Finally he tells his audience that the real wolves in sheep's clothing are not Jews, Christians or Hindus but the Shia, a different Muslim sect.

Muslims believe that, unlike Moses and prophets who heard from God directly, Muhammad heard through an intermediary, Gabriel. In these revelations Allah changes his mind many times leaving followers with the problem of abrogation which results in taking the more recent (violent) verses in preference to earlier (peaceful) verses. Consequently the religion of peace in the Quran gives way to the sword:  "The later verses, known as the “Sword Verses” (9:5 and 9:29), were considered by Muslim scholars to have cancelled the previous verses mandating kindness and persuasion. Expansionist jihad became the explicit norm." 

By contrast with uncorroborated revelations received by Muhammad, Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of eight Old Testament prophesies. The probability of fulfilling all eight prophesies has been calculated as 1 x 1028 or 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Jesus Christ came into the world not to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them. He made another prophecy which has been fulfilled: "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." This prophecy could not be clearer but nevertheless, Muslims regard Muhammad as the last prophet without question. That is the problem. 

For years Islam has been treated as above criticism, validated for its pre-'Sword' verses about kindness and persuasion. But there is a glimmer of hope. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has come out and said "It's time to stop saying Isil has ‘nothing to do with Islam’".

It is ironic that people who have largely lost their Christian faith judge Islam from a traditional Christian perspective accepting what they are told about peaceful Islam while ignoring the evidence to the contrary which has been exhibited all around the world for hundreds of years. 'Christian Daily' explodes the peace loving myth in an article "Muslim migrants display 'pure hatred' of Christians". An Arabic translator who has been living in Germany for more than 20 years explains that Muslim migrants secretly despise Christians and believe that the country should be Islamised.

Muslims need to know about Christianity. They should be encouraged to question their own faith instead of attacking others and question the imposition of penalties for renouncing Islam contrary to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights that "Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion".

Yesterday's clerics' errors

 Lord Harries of Pentregarth, former Bishop of Oxford                                Picture credit: Endeavour Public Affairs

The former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries of Pentregarth, features in the Oxford Times "weighing in on EU vote". He is among 37 "faith leaders" who in an open letter to the public have called on Britain to stay in the EU. Lord Harries is a former collaborator of the Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan who together with Dr Morgan's predecessor and former Archbishop of Canterbury, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, signed the open letter. Considering this trio's judgement on the ordination of women and their liberal agenda resulting in the parlous state of Anglicanism, particularly in Wales, it is difficult to afford much credibility to their opinions on the European Referendum.

As for the former Bishop of Oxford, an ardent promoter of same sex marriage, his opinions would be better left in the ivory towers of Oxford. This is the cleric who suggested that the Coronation of Prince Charles should be opened with a reading from the Koran, as a ‘creative act of accommodation’ to make Muslims feel ‘embraced’ by the nation.

There will be plenty to 'embrace' based on report from Migration Watch, "The Refugee and Migrant Crisis in the EU – The Potential Implications for the UK". It claims that up to "half a million refugees and their relatives" could move to Britain after 2020 in a "secondary flow of refugees" because of EU rules on the free movement of people. While Germany, Greece and Italy had borne the brunt of Europe's refugee crisis, those granted asylum could settle in the UK in the coming years once they had acquired EU citizenship.

Based on his 2015 Christmas plea the Archbishop of Wales will be thrilled to read that Cardiff, Swansea and Newport have been named as three out of 10 places in the UK with the highest number of asylum seekers per head of population.

The 2011 census recorded 45,950 Muslims in Wales, far more than the 30,468 average Sunday attendances in 2014 reported by the Church in Wales. Most of the Muslims in Wales are spread between Cardiff (23,656), Newport (6,859) and Swansea (5,415) with smaller communities in the valleys and across rural and North Wales.

In their appeal to the electorate the faith leaders claim that "faith is about integration and building bridges, not about isolation and erecting barriers. As leaders and senior figures of faith communities, we urge our co-religionists and others to think about the implications of a Leave vote for the things about which we are most passionate."

TOSH! As the former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks rightly pointed out on the BBC Newsnight programme last night, "multiculturalism has been a failure". He referred to the warning by Trevor Phillips, the former chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, that "British Muslims are becoming a nation within a nation". Trevor Phillips said we are "in danger of sacrificing a generation of young British people to values that are antithetical to the beliefs of most of us, including many Muslims".

The Remain campaign has lost much credibility by basing their claims on scare stories, foggy forecasts and guesstimates. There may or may not be problems if we leave but these pale into insignificance compared with the ramifications of uncontrolled immigration which have not been properly addressed.

Still in denial of the genocide of Armenian and other Christian minorities in the years 1915 and 1916, Turkey hopes to join the EU. That would result in 78 million mainly Muslim people, and rising, eligible to go where they please in Europe compared with Turkey's population of less than 30 million in 1960.

As Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan says, "Family planning not for Muslims". In Great Britain Census figures reveal a ‘startling’ shift in Britain’s demographic trend with almost a tenth of babies and toddlers born in England and Wales being Muslim'. Combining immigration figures with the higher birth rate it is understandable that some forecasters predict that Christianity is set to be a minority religion in Britain by 2050 as Islam and atheism rise.

The Justice Secretary Michael Gove has claimed that he has been forced to allow terror suspects to enter Britain because European Union rules left him powerless to intervene. During his time in the Cabinet Mr Gove "experienced frustration" at Britain’s "inability to refuse entry to those with a criminal record and even some who are suspected of terrorist links".

The only way to bring order to our borders is to "quit the EU", says former Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith.

Postscript [06.06.2016]

From the Rev Dr Peter Mullen: Bishops are no laughing matter

Another nice mess

As my friend Barack said to me George, "Well, here's another nice mess we've gotten ourselves into!"

The world and his wife it seems are piling on the pressure to tell us Brits that we should remain in Europe. To leave would be a catastrophe. If that is so, why in the world has Dave 'gotten' us into this mess at enormous cost financially and politically?

'Paddy Pantsdown' wagged his finger throughout BBC Question Time on Thursday as he previewed what President Barack Obama was to say about American blood being shed in Europe in the US's contribution to the 1917 - 1918 and the 1941- 1945 wars fighting for freedom in Europe. As Albert Steptoe once said, it might have been the '17 - '18 and '41 - '45 wars for them but it was the '14 - '18 and '39 - '45 wars for the rest of us. 

All in the 'IN' camp at home and abroad appear to be reading from the same news sheet prepared and circulated by No 10. That is in addition to the £9 million of tax payers money they have spent on circulating propaganda for the 'IN' campaign. So much so that it is difficult to trust anything that is said or written about the consequences of leaving Europe.

Paddy Pantsdown claims that every important world organisation and every world leader "with the exception Vladimir Putin" wants us to remain in Europe. Indeed, the President of the United States has gone so far as to threaten that the UK would be left at the back of the queue when negotiating future trade deals with the US if we left, not that Obama will be President in that eventuality. But so much for friendship and our 'special relationship'. When self-interest rears its head it is OK in the US but not in Great Britain!

For many I suspect the head says IN but the heart says OUT. The decision would be easier if the self-perpetuating bureaucracy in Brussels desisted from regulating everything they can think of plus anything else they had not thought of when it comes to light. If Turkey is allowed in that will allow another flood of economic migrants with all the dangers already apparent as they try to impose their alien ideology on their hosts. The last thing we need is more failed multiculturalism.

My feeling is that the British people have had enough of being told what to think and what to do and are inclined to vote with their hearts, sink or swim.

Monochrome Morgan's misplaced message

Original source: Church in Wales

Speaking from the sidelines at the Lord Mayor’s National Civic service at St John the Baptist Church in Cardiff's city centre on St David’s Day the Archbishop of Wales observed that "Wales is a country of migrants" and should be proud of its record in welcoming refugees.

All of us are migrants of one kind or another he said, even we Celts the original inhabitants of this island came from Northern Europe. "Not one of us is ethnically monochrome".

A predictably charitable sounding message which may appeal to many but it is far too simplistic. A more balanced view comes from US Air Force General Philip Breedlove, a top NATO commander in Europe with first hand knowledge of the problem:

Terrorists who pose a threat to Europe are arriving on the continent every day among waves of "legitimate" refugees fleeing war in Syria and Iraq. Islamic State militants are among those who are "taking advantage of paths of least resistance" to reach Europe alongside desperate refugees.

The extremist group is "spreading like cancer" and "threatening European nations" by joining the vast movement of refugees escaping conflict in the Middle East. Fears about IS fighters infiltrating Europe and the US have fuelled legislation to crack down on Syrian and Iraqi refugees seeking to enter the US.

Whether terrorists or refugees these migrants are not leaving their supremacist ideology behind them. Most are reading from the same book with many prepared to follow it to the letter. Even fellow refugees who have been identified as being Christian have been attacked and murdered by Muslim 'refugees'.

Countless men and women have not sacrificed their lives to defend these islands against aggressive ideologies for later generations to welcome a brutal alien culture with open arms. Had the fallen been pacifists instead of warriors for freedom, the Archbishop would not be free to preach as he does.

If monochrome Morgan possesses a filter to spot the difference between refugees and warriors for Islam he should let us and NATO into his secret.

Christian today but what of tomorrow?

"Christianity is being quietly erased from public life. What are we going to do about it?" Good question but very little where it matters, if anything. The question was posed in Christian Today:

"A strange and troubling paradox is now glaringly evident in society today. On the one hand the UK Government is praising and giving funding to Christian initiatives in communities and recognising the rich contribution the church makes to national life. On the other it is proposing measures to tackle extremism that could privatise Christianity. As we enter this New Year, it is clear 2016 will be a critical year for Christian freedoms. This week former Whitehall mandarin William Nye talked of the "secularising spirit" now permeating the machinery of government. After 20 years of working at the highest level he sees the gradual "squeezing out of Christianity" from our national life despite the public expressions of support from ministers. The chilling effect has been that more and more Christians are afraid to speak out and feel disenfranchised."

If we value our heritage we must do something about it. While Christianity is being marginalised, Islam continues to gain ground. From Patheos:

"Christians may be the most persecuted group in the world, and their persecution is on the rise. As Islamic extremism takes hold and repressive governments step up their campaigns against Christianity, the Pope has been moved to warn of “a form of genocide”, and for campaigners to speak out over “religio-ethnic cleansing.” Organisations that monitor religious persecution have rung alarm bells worldwide, from South America to sub-Saharan Africa and from Asia to the Middle East, warning of a rapid increase in attacks and repression".

Despite the well documented evidence of how Muslims oppress others in Islamic countries, do-gooders with no apparent comprehension of the threat of an Islamic Supremacist ideology press for more and more concessions for Islam. The latest from the Mail Online: "Sit exams early to fit in with Ramadan: Pupils taking GCSEs and A-levels face timetable shake-up to accommodate fasting Muslims". Quite a contrast with the option offered to Christians in many Muslim countries - convert, pay the tax or die.

In Belfast, "Following yesterday’s ruling which found Pastor James McConnell not guilty of a “hate crime” for referring to Islam as “heathen” and “satanic”, the Belfast Islamic Centre, which reported the pastor to the police, has said that they “disagree with the verdict”. The Islamic Centre is calling for a blasphemy law in Northern Ireland, by demanding that “insulting” a faith be punishable under Irish law. However, shortly after the ‘Satanic Islam’ sermon, Dr. Raied al-Wazzan, the executive director of Belfast Islamic Centre, made remarks that were not only insulting to some Christians, but appeared to support a banned terrorist organisation."

In Birmingham a former teacher at two schools linked to the Trojan Horse scandal could face a lifetime ban from the classroom after he told pupils that Christians and Jews were 'ignorant' and Muslims have 'the true religion'.

This is a Christian country but for how long? Christian belief is that there is only one way to the Father. The Bible warns about false prophets but still many of our bishops and even archbishops encourage the spread of Islam instead of seeking to make disciples of all nations. Encouraging other faiths denies them the real truth. Meanwhile, Christians in the United Kingdom are facing increasing marginalization and oppression under new laws originally intended to safeguard equality. The position abroad is worse, serving as a warning to those who condemn as Islamophobic anyone who seeks the truth about Islam.

If we do not stand up for what we believe our children and grand children will become part of the Dhimmitude as Islam expands and Christianity becomes a minority religion in the UK. Leaders who persist in regarding Islam as just another faith similar to others have had a rude awakening following the terrorist attacks in France by supposed refugees and the more recent attacks on women in Germany on New Year's Eve but bishops still persist with their deluded embrace of an alien culture which seeks our demise. They may believe that they are following the Gospel but Jesus gave short shrift to those who deserved condemnation.

'Refugees' or 'migrants', the vast majority of immigrants are Muslim. They do not leave their ideology behind. Christians in refugee camps who have not fled the persecution there continue to suffer at the hands of Muslim refugees while others who have sought safety by sea have been thrown overboard.

There is no escape from an ideology which regards the kafir as worthless while Muslims try to buy their way to heaven doing what they believe to be the will of God, even if it means killing the innocent, something our political as well as religious leaders need to grasp.

The best Archbishop we never had, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, summed up the problem of convincing the ill-informed when he responded to Boris Johnson's claim that "we should counter anti-Islamic scare-mongering by recalling our debt to the culture of Muslim Spain". Bishop Michael said: Boris Johnson points out the achievements of Muslim rule after their conquest of the mostly Christian and Jewish Middle East, North Africa and Spain (Comment,3 January). In fact, if they had not been stopped at Tours by Charles Martel, Mr Johnson might have had a more direct experience of such rule. [My emphasis - Ed.]. Read Bishop Michael's full response here and about the Battle of Tours (732 AD) here:

"Had Martel fallen at Tours the long term implications for European Christianity may have been devastating. His victory there, and in the following campaigns, may have literally saved Europe and Christianity as we know it, from conquest while the Caliphate was unified and able to mount such a conquest." - And today they are invited in to spread their supremacist ideology!

Something to hide?

Picture Credit: Express/REUTERS•GETTY•AP

Hat tip to Anglican Ink via Anglican Mainstream for this report:

On 5 November in the House of Lords Lord Pearson (UKIP) called for a national debate on the nature of Islam. He asked the government whether, as part of their counter-extremism strategy, they will encourage a national debate about the nature of Islam, including whether the Muslim tenet of abrogation remains valid today.

The response from a number of members of the House was that discussing Islam would be counter productive and therefore that we should stay silent on radical Islam. Full report here.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport and Home Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con) said: My Lords, the Government’s approach and strategy to countering extremism is firmly based on further strengthening our relationships and work with the communities and organisations across the United Kingdom and together confronting, challenging and disrupting extremism in all its ugly guises.

In reply to Lord Pearson's claim that some noble Lords may not be aware that "abrogation means that where there is contradiction in the Koran, its later and more violent verses outweigh its admirably peaceful early texts" Lord Ahmad said "...with the exception of one verse in the holy Koran, every verse starts with the words: "In the name of God, the gracious, most merciful", which underlines the true sentiments and principle of that religion". Lord Ahmad needs to look around more and consider what is happening "in the name of God" in the Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea and Syria for a start.

There is more evidence in this Christian Post article which doubters may wish to read if they are not convinced: 'Unimaginable Horrors' Detailed in US Report on ISIS' Persecution of Christians.

Back in 2008 The Spectator reported on No-go Britain: "One of Britain’s best and most courageous men, Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, said that there were parts of Britain which had become no-go areas for non-Muslims. For these comments he was met with widespread scorn and denial."

"Nick Clegg – then merely leader of the Liberal Democrat party – said the Bishop’s comments were ‘a gross caricature of reality.’ William Hague said that the Bishop had ‘probably put it too strongly’, while the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) accused him of ‘frantic scaremongering.’ Unfortunately for Bishop Nazir-Ali's critics the offenders made videos of themselves proving Bishop Nazir-Ali correct.

In February 2015 the Gatestone Institute think tank published a fuller report  "European 'No-Go' Zones: Fact or Fiction? Part 2: Britain". Trevor Phillips, former chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality said "We are sleepwalking our way to segregation. We are becoming strangers to each other and leaving communities to be marooned outside the mainstream."

Meanwhile, Christians in Middle East 'are facing genocide'. Also, from The Express, "Migrants flee incomprehensible violence but are they all victims?"

Are our politicians so desperate for votes that anything goes? If not a conspiracy of silence, perhaps there is something to hide that we should know about.

The Promised Land - for some.

Sayida Khaliif, wife of Saeed Khaliif,
at the £2m house she shares with members of her Somalian family

This morning I awoke to the news that benefits are being claimed by 371,000 migrants. The Mail Online filled in some details including the case of the Khaliif family. According to the article, Somali asylum seeker Saeed  Khaliif was given a £2million home in one of the country’s most exclusive neighbourhoods at the taxpayer’s expense. No wonder Sayida Khaliif has a smile on her face. A few days ago we received the news that radical cleric Abu Qatada won his appeal at the European Court of Human Rights against deportation from the UK. According to another Mail Online article, this preacher of hate is reported to be living  in West London "off state benefits said to total £1,000 a month – including £70 a week for a bad back".

Only yesterday I listened to a number of accounts of hardship and the difficulties of obtaining assistance. The first, a young man who is incapacitated to the extent that his mother has been completing the forms demanded by the state, not once but three times in a procedure that appears designed to avoid payment. His mother said that had she not intervened her son would have starved. Towards the end of her life a frail but independent lady in her 90's was struggling to survive with the aid of local authority assistance limited to 10 mins a visit yet migrants who have paid no contributions appear able to receive benefits without difficulty. How can "people from Romania and Bulgaria [be] claiming benefits by claiming to be self-employed because they sold the Big Issue newspaper"? During the trial in 2010 of a migrant gang who defrauded the country of £450,000 the barrister for one of the defendants said: 'It is not a sophisticated fraud in any way, shape or form. The reality is this country is known as "Benefits Britain". This defendant cannot be held responsible for that.'

After Christmas I heard of a dodge which sounded a little far fetched. A farmer friend had taken pity on an East European and given him work. He left for home in Europe for the holiday period perfectly healthy but instead of returning for work he sent a note asking for confirmation that he had broken his leg, apparently enabling him to claim sick pay from this country while living back home in Europe.  Perhaps not so far fetched after all!

All this comes on top of unemployment figures at a 17 year high of 2.69 million which makes it all the more outrageous that "official figures show that up to 90 percent of new jobs created in Britain over the past decade have gone to foreign-born workers while levels of unemployment have risen". 'Great Britain' has become 'Benefits Britain', the Promised Land for immigrants where human rights can be enjoyed by all but innocent victims and a better life can be enjoyed provided no contribution has been towards it. 

What a mess!