Thursday, August 29, 2019

Reminder To Readers.

This Blog will return to full service on Monday.

Christians Murdered In Burkina Faso.

A series of deadly militant attacks targeting Christians in the northeast part of Burkina Faso, a once peaceful West African country, has rocked the Christian community. 
Earlier this month, the president of the Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger, Bishop Laurent DabirĂ©, told Aid to the Church in Need that Christians are in danger of “elimination” from the country due to the ongoing attacks against their community by Islamic extremists. 
His warning comes as Islamic extremist violence across the Sahel region of West Africa has been rising since 2016CP.

Christians and Animal Conservation.

https://www.christianpost.com/voice/animal-conservation-belongs-in-a-christian-worldview.html

Mr Bercow added: "Shutting down Parliament would be an offence against the democratic process."

Bercow is an offence against the democratic process."

After Subverting The Democratic Process For Three+ Years Themselves The Leftists and Crazies Go Bonkers When BoJo Attempts To Implement The Democratic Mandate on Government.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1170974/brexit-news-boris-johnson-brexit-second-referendum-peoples-vote-EU-deal

Birdie.


A 'Social Conscience' MUST Be Left Wing.

If you are not a leftist - you will not be permitted to state that you have a social conscience, ergo the expression can only be used to make socialist and liberal tendencies sound better than they are in practice!

Lucrecia Martel On Female Quotas At Venice Film Festival.

“Quotas are never satisfactory,” said Martel. “But ...

Er ... yes.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Boris Takes The Nuclear Option.

The PM has determined that there will be a long overdue Queen's Speech in mid-October.
This present government has gone the longest in modern history without one.
"About time too then." I hear you say, dear reader. This will mean that parliament will not be able to function before that date. Hmm.

As a completely separate issue, it probably means that any lawmaking or votes of confidence will not be possible prior to Brexit on the 31st October. Shame, that.

There does remain one Brexit problem, however. Does it mean that the EU will move on the Irish backstop but not on the Theresa May deal?
A 'no deal' would be far better for the UK than that.

If I were the EU Commission, I'd not be risking it and playing hardball at this point. But when have they ever acted sensibly - even when in their own best interests?

I shall not get too excited until we either hit 'no deal' or remove the weak as dishwater Theresa May bull from the equation.

There is one bonus - John Bercow, Jeremy Corbyn and co are going bonkers. Good, innit?

Bury Expelled From The Football League After 125 Years:Their Fans Deserved Better.

So very, very sad.
https://www.miltonkeynes.co.uk/sport/football/bury-thrown-out-of-the-football-league-as-bolton-are-given-two-week-notice-1-9050139

Welby Annoys Me - He Cannot Even Get The CofE To Act Like A Christian Body And Yet He Shoves His Nose Into Brexit!

Plans are reportedly being hatched for Remain-supporting Justin Welby (pictured) to chair a citizens' assembly in which 100 people would make recommendations on Brexit .Mail.

John Piper On Apostasy.

https://www.christianpost.com/news/john-piper-on-joshua-harris-i-could-commit-apostasy-this-afternoon-and-go-to-hell-if-not-for-god.html

The Greatest Thing Ever Done In History - Is This Trivial To You?


Non-Reporting on Planned Parenthood As Bad As The Beeb!

In 2017, Planned Parenthood fired long-time employee Mayra Rodriguez for reporting “high complication rates for one abortionist,” and exposing illegal conduct, including falsification of affidavits and patient records, incomplete abortions, and failure to report a minor as a victim of statutory rape.
An Arizona jury just unanimously awarded Rodriguez $3 million for wrongful termination.
In another twist, LifeSite News reports that Rodriguez, who ran three clinics, is an illegal immigrant. She claims Planned Parenthood used her immigration status to label her a liar in court, though they must have known of her status when they hired her.
If you didn’t hear of this story, it’s because only Fox, LifeNews, and TownHall covered it. NBC and CBS didn’t, and ABC and the Washington Post only did days later, ending with a pro-Planned Parenthood quote: “We will not allow this event to distract from Planned Parenthood’s 100% focus on protecting access to health care.”
As the Washington Post says, “Truth Dies in Darkness.” So do innocent lives at Planned Parenthood. Breakpoint.

Birdie.


Labour Supporters Make The Best Bigots.



Athird of Labour supporters say they would be "upset" if their child married a Tory, according to a YouGov poll.
The findings for Labour are twice as many as the reverse situation. 
The YouGov poll of 2,380 people found that a third of those who identify themselves as Labour supporters would be “upset” to some extent if their child married a Conservative, with a tenth saying they would be “very upset”.
The percentage of Labour parents who would be upset by a Conservative son or daughter-in-law has risen six percentage points since January, when 28 percent told YouGov they would be “upset” in the same situation.
This compares to just 13 percent of Conservatives who say they would be “upset” to... DT.

Death In The Family.

I have just learned of the death of my cousin and the best man at my wedding. 
As children, we were big buddies although we have not seen a great deal of each other during adulthood - and to the point, there is only six months between us in age.
To the best of my knowledge, he had not accepted Jesus into his life. I shall go to the funeral with a grieving heart. Happily for me, I had made two attempts to point him towards the Gospel. 
Going to any funeral of one of God's people does not lead to the same sorrow and sense of loss.
They, at least, I shall be meeting again in Glory.

As Christians, it is our duty to do all in our power to reach out to the lost. Have we been allocated any duty more necessary and compelling than that by the Father?

Cheating Retailers.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/27/shoppers-ripped-supermarkets-misleading-offers-despite-government/

Blogger: if you do not hold prices in your head, you are ripe for the plucking by retailers.
It is one of those necessary modern skills to be learned by all except those who have more money than sense.

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

No Deal? - Precious Little To Fear. (Most Issues Already Addressed.)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7318477/So-does-No-Deal-Brexit-really-mean.html

This Blog.

There will be significantly reduced postings this coming weekend - Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
We shall return to normality on Monday.

Churchill's Attitude To The EU Would Have Been ...

“We have our own dream and our own task.  We are with Europe, but not of it.  We are linked but not combined. We are interested and associated but not absorbed.  If Britain must choose between Europe and the open sea, she must always choose the open sea.” (Naturally europhiles criticise and hate the use of this quote - to the point of trying desperately to deny it was ever made.)

BUT they cannot make any inroads into what he said below!

Furthermore, Churchill made it very clear in his 6th September 1943 Harvard speech that if any close union should ever be made - it would have been with the US with whom we share 'a common tongue.'

Free Will.

"Man's free will is impotent and entirely useless apart from God." Jacob Arminius.

Pretend As Much As You Like But You Cannot Hide From God.

Feelings Not Faith.

Last week, following the high profile falling away from faith of Joshua Harris, former Hillsong singer and songwriter Marty Sampson posted this on Instagram: “Time for some real talk…I’m genuinely losing my faith…and it doesn’t bother me.”
The next day he deleted this post and clarified that he hasn’t fully renounced Christianity, at least not yet. Still, he admitted, his faith was quite shaky. He then reiterated his doubts and said that “the majority of a typical Christian’s life is not spent considering these things” because they fall into the “too hard basket.”
Sampson’s claims, I’m sad to say, are not uncommon among young evangelicals. And let me just say this as directly and bluntly as I can: they reveal a failure on the part of the church to take the difficult but essential task of faith formation seriously enough.
As I read through his description of what was happening, I thought to myself, “Which faith is he falling away from?” His words reveal a lot.
First, he described a faith largely driven by emotions. Losing his faith, he said, did not bother him. In fact, he’s happy about it. So, if his doubts bothered him and his faith instead made him happy, would he then reconsider?
The fact is, too many churches sell Christianity with feelings. We’re told how interested God is in our own happiness, our own meaning, and our own sense of purpose. But our feelings cannot determine whether or not something is actually true.
Second, the faith Sampson describes is an uncritical faith. Science, he says, “keeps piercing the truth of every religion.” I’m not completely sure what that even means, but it seems to buy into the classic science vs. faith narrative. It’s just not true that science is ultimately opposed to faith. It’s not true historically, nor is it true today. Faith doesn’t need to reject critical investigation.
Third, Sampson describes an uneducated faith. He claimed that “no one talks about” the seeming contradictions in the Bible, the fact that Christian leaders fall, or how a loving God can condemn “four billion people to a place, all ‘coz they don’t believe.” This of course is just not true. Every apologetics book ever written tackles these questions, and the issues he raised here aren’t even the difficult ones.
Still, while Sampson is mistaken that “nobody” is talking about these issues, he’s not completely wrong in his critique. In fact, far too many churches avoid tough questions. Far too many fail to equip Christians on the current cultural controversies. In fact, too much of Christianity – especially evangelical Christianity – neglects intellectual discipleship altogether. Not even basic theology is articulated from some pulpits. I don’t know how else to say it: They fail God’s people.
Fourth, Sampson also wrote that “Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of truth.” This statement reveals a misguided faith, one that smacks of what sociologist Christian Smith called “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism,” that the point of religion and faith is self-improvement. That’s not what Christian faith is about. Christian faith is discovering the truth about who God is and what He is doing in the world, and then through repentance and His grace, aligning ourselves to that truth.
Now look, I have no problem with Sampson admitting doubt. Most of us, at some point in our journey of faith, will encounter doubt about God’s love, about Scripture, about whether Jesus is really God, any number of things. In fact, I discussed doubt with apologist Brett Kunkle recently on the BreakPoint Podcast.
But Marty Sampson was a worship leader. He wrote modern Christian melodic catechism. He was tasked, as worship leaders are, with communicating theology to the body of Christ. Apparently, he was in a church where no one was talking about the questions he struggled with. The church failed him.
In his book “The Fabric of Faithfulness,” Steve Garber wrote that the reason so many young Christians lose their faith is that their worldview isn’t “big enough” for the world. This is a depressingly accurate description of what we can expect from a generation whose intellectual faith formation has been neglected. Breakpoint.

Birdie.


Pure Apostasy.

August 23rd, 2019 | Church and StateSexual Orientation
The Diocese of Llandaff is throwing its weight behind this year's Pride Cymru, writing a Prayer for Pride. But what is the right way to show love to LGBT+ people? Communications Manager Paul Huxley comments.
Christian Concern.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Jeremy Becoming As Ridiculous As His Former Girlfriend.

. Mail.

Our Sick, Sick Nation.

Criminals are committing as many as 100 offences before being sent to prison for knife crime, official figures have shown.
There have been 38 “super-prolific” offenders in England and Wales since 2008, with more than 100 previous convictions or cautions each, according to Ministry of Justice data.
Last year 98 people who were jailed for the first time for possessing a blade each had more than 50 past convictions and cautions. Of these, six had more than 100 each. DT
Incredibly some people believe that first time criminals are being jailed for relatively minor offences.

Recommendation To BBC From Peter Hitchens.

PETER HITCHENS: I doubt anyone was surprised when the BBC's Songs Of Praise featured a same-sex wedding last week.

Blogger: I have never been over fond of this 'religious' programme so when I say that I shall never watch it again, TBH, it will be no great loss.

Jesus and Wealth.

Jesus and Wealth: 4 Points

1.     He didn’t condemn wealth or condone it.
We see this in his actions. One great thing about Jesus is that he hung out with rich and poor alike. He had dinner with the wealthy, the elite, the poor and the social outcasts.
2.     He warned about the deceitfulness of wealth.
Remember the rich young ruler? He told him to sell everything that he had, and the man went away sorrowful. His riches impeded his pursuit of God and provided false hope. Is it any wonder that Jesus said it would be hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom (Matt. 19.23)?
3.     He cared about how wealth was used. Do you remember Mary? She anointed his feet with perfumed oil, which was worth an entire year of wages. Some challenged Jesus and said it could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. However, Jesus saw through this false religiosity; the object of her affection was right and true.
Do we use wealth to bring honor to the King of Kings, or is it for our benefit and comfort?
4.     He commended wealth used for eternal impact. Many puzzle over the meaning of the story of the shrewd steward in Luke 16. Jesus commends the shrewd steward for using earthly wealth, but with a proviso: so that he would be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Put differently, if we use earthly wealth for eternal purposes, such as people coming to know the love and grace of Jesus, that’s considered shrewd.
Jesus possessed little earthly wealth. On the other hand, who will be the wealthiest person in all the world in heaven?
It’s Jesus. The book of Hebrews tells us there will be a great cloud of witnesses who will testify to the saving power of Jesus, who gave everything for our sake.
Bill High is CEO of The Signatry: A Global Christian Foundation. He works with donors, ministries and financial advisors, with a focus on business owners who are looking to sell and/or transition their business to the next generation. Recognized as one of America’s Top 25 Philanthropy Speakers, Bill's recent books include Charity Shock: Ten Critical Trends Revolutionizing Fundraising, co-authored with Ray Gary, and Giving It All Away…And Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously, co-authored with David Green, CEO and founder of Hobby Lobby.

Essential Communing With God.

Halal: Student Initially Disqualified For Not Being Politically Correct.


Published: August 21st, 2019 

Printer-friendly version
Tim Dieppe comments on the recent disqualification of a student’s GCSE Religious Studies exam paper simply for criticising halal meat.
A 16-year-old vegetarian student was disqualified for “obscene racial comments”when she made observations about halal meat in her Religious Studies exam in June.
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Abigail Ward was informed by exam board OCR that she had committed a “malpractice offence” and would be disqualified from the GCSE “due to obscene racial comments being made throughout her exam paper.” Her school appealed the decision, explaining that she is a strict vegetarian and that her comment“which I find absolutely disgusting” related to her finding halal butchers disgusting because she is vegetarian. The school explained that no other comments in the paper that could be construed as racist.
 

Appeal upheld

The exam board upheld the appeal and apologised for the “upset and stress” accepting that their original letter “describing the frequency and severity of the comments was inaccurate.”
The exam board explained: “OCR takes all incidences of suspected offensive material against a religious group in exams very seriously and must apply rules which are set out for all exam boards in such cases.”
"We accept that initially we did not reach the right conclusion and were too harsh.”
 

Why did this happen?

This incident raises some serious questions. Why did any examiner consider that remarks about halal meat were not only racist but obscenely racist? In fact, so racist that the student should face the extremely harsh penalty of disqualification?
There was actually nothing in her paper that could be construed as racist, as the school said on appeal and which the exam board later accepted. Criticising halal meat is not racist. It is not even criticising all Muslims, though it may have escaped the examiner’s notice that Muslims are not a race.
What would happen if a student expressed her opinion that FGM was an abhorrent practice? Would that be considered racist? What if a feminist student criticised wearing the burka? Is that racist? What if a student expressed support for the Iranian women who arebravely sharing videos of themselves removing their headscarves in public, risking a 10 year jail sentence for doing so? Would that be racist?
 

Criticism of Islamic practices is not racist

It needs to be said over and over again that criticism of Islamic practices or beliefs is not racist. Islam is not a race. Furthermore, not all Muslims practise all the Islamic practices or believe all the Islamic beliefs.
This kind of ‘racism’ allegation can be linked straight to the proposed definition of Islamophobia which has been accepted by Labour, Lib Dems, City Hall, SNP and various city councils. It states that:
“Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.”
I have written before on how deeply problematic this definition is. If this definition were formally accepted then there would be no hope for GCSE students like Abigail Ward. Halal butchery would be seen as an ‘expression of Muslimness’ which is not open to criticism. Abigail would be judged Islamophobic and the exam board would be regarded as justified in disqualifying her.
The fact that any examiner considered it appropriate to disqualify a student for criticising halal meat is deeply disturbing. This shows where society is heading if we accept this definition of Islamophobia. Criticism of Islamic practices or beliefs will be beyond the pale and could lead to loss of qualification or employment.
 

Islamisation through halal products

Meanwhile, while we still can talk about it, co-founder of Christian Concern, and Islamic Affairs advisor Sam Solomon published a detailed paper earlier this year on Islamisation through halal products. In it he explains how pushing for halal products and certification is part of a wider strategy of the Islamisation of society. Most people in the UK eat halal meat unwittingly on a regular basis. Thus, Islam has captured a whole sub-sector of our economy and Islamised it.
 

Should never have happened

One has to agree with Abigail’s mother who said of her daughter’s disqualification: “It’s great that it has been overturned but it should never have happened.”  Christian Concern.

Birdie.


Sunday, August 25, 2019

England Do The Impossible!

England won the test by one wicket to level the series as Ben Stokes' 135 not out was arguably the greatest ever innings by any English batsman.
He played so many top bowlers in a variety of conditions and in a multitude of differing fashions.
He deserved the luck which accompanied him and to some extent washed the foul taste from the mouth left by England's disgraceful first innings.
Awesome, magnificent, high octane!
(Man of the match? - Jack Leach for his supporting role with one not out? - According to David Gower - "the finest 1 he has ever seen!)

                                                    WOW!

Free Will Explained.

A.W. Tozer
“God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, 'What doest thou?' Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so.”
― A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy.

God Is Prepared To Forgive Our Sins ...

... but not our crimes. God has charged society to deal with our crimes for which we must all pay the price outlined in Scripture.
Of course, there is overlap. A sin can be a crime and a crime a sin. The crime part is not God's concern - but the sin part most assuredly is.

More To This Than Meets The Eye(s).


Overlooking The Fact That Over-Taxing The Rich Is Theft - IT DOESN'T WORK!

Taxing the rich.

Posted by Guest Author | Aug 22, 2019     
Written by Sir John Redwood
This article was first published in Sir John Redwood’s Diaries (see here) and we re-publish with his kind permission.
~~~   ***   ~~~
Recent Treasury figures demonstrate that Mr Osborne’s assault on Non Doms in the UK has meant some have left the UK.  Rather than have to pay UK tax on their worldwide assets and income a good number of very rich people have decided they will not stay at all in the UK and will no longer pay UK taxes on UK investments and no longer earn money and profits here in the UK and pay tax on them. It means we lose the ability to tax their purchases of homes, cars and the other items they enjoyed when here.
The  number of Non Doms fell from 90,500 in 2016-17 to 78,300 in 2017-18. Their payments of CGT, Income Tax and NI fell from £9.5bn to £7.5bn. We also lost other consumption and transaction taxes they would have paid including Stamp Duty, VED, VAT and others. It is true some of the Non Doms converted to being domiciled here and now  pay tax as a resident as an offset, but others simply left and pay nothing. The Treasury does not give us an overall figure of total tax paid by rich foreigners in both categories.
I am defining rich here as someone who has substantial investment wealth above and beyond their home or homes, people who do not have to work to earn a living and who can sustain an expensive lifestyle without getting a job. I am not talking about the well off who sustain a high quality of life by well paid employment income and who work for UK based companies or institutions.
In a world where people are  rightly condemned for saying unpleasant things about  groups or categories of people, an exception is made for the rich. Politicians of the left delight in tribal incantations against the super rich, often condemning them for the crimes of a few. I have met various rich people in my time in politics and government. I have met or read about  saints and sinners. Some are modest, caring and keen to help others. Others are self seeking and self promoting. Some are scrupulously careful to do the right thing, others keen to push the boundaries of the rules.
A few I see in the media are criminals who have broken laws to make their fortune or to try to sustain it. Most are law abiding, and take advice to try to comply with very complex tax and property laws that countries now apply.  There is no evidence to suggest that there are more rich cheats as a percentage than cheats from any other income level in society. We should exercise the same care when seeking to describe the rich as a group, as we do when trying to describe a national or religious grouping.
Some argue that there is no trickle down, that there is no advantage to a country in attracting globally rich people to spend time and money in our community. I find this difficult to understand. There is clearly a first round effect when a person arrives in the UK and invests money in homes and businesses. They may bring a new business we need, or they may fund businesses here that require cash. There is a continuing benefit from the employment they generate from the things they buy and the services they need. There may be a final benefit if they come to love our country, as they may go on to endow charities or leave some other legacy.
To those who say they have driven the prices of homes up needlessly against the rest of us, I would say they competed to buy homes most of us  could never afford. They have brought forward a new export business especially for London of building high specification very expensive flats we would not otherwise have developed. These in turn spawn substantial employment to furnish them, service them, supervise and manage them. The German business model has been to sell rich people expensive cars they do not  need but want. The UK model has been to sell them expensive homes they like but do not need.
The UK over many centuries has welcomed entrepreneurs and other wealthy investors to our shores. From the Hugenot cloth makers to the middle European bankers, from the oil sheiks to the Russian emigres, the UK has provided a home for people who can make a difference and who soon contribute from their UK incomes substantial UK tax revenue. Maybe it is time to revisit this question of how we tax them. We need to tax them to make a good contribution to our needs, whilst remaining competitive internationally. Breitbart.

Birdie.


Well - Multiculturalism Seems To Be Working Well In London.

.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

In Test Cricket, What A Difference A Day Makes.

Yesterday, England were heading for abject humiliation; today they showed a real fire in their bellies.
The final four Aussie batsmen were still to be removed - and removed they promptly were.
England were left with a seemingly impossible target of 359 to chase down even though there was plenty of time left in the game.
Jason Roy did the usual and Burns soon followed. Sigh!
Skipper Joe Root then rebuilt England's claim with a stand of 126 before Denley departed for a gritty half century.
Stokes joined the captain and they batted out the day leaving another 203 to win.
There are seven overs left on the old ball - but those 42 balls will hopefully allow Joe and Ben to play themselves in tomorrow morning and be ready to face the pace onslaught which will be awaiting them from this fine Aussie attack.

What a superb day's aggressive cricket! Australia are still big favourites to win but, at least, England have some sort of chance of stealing the game.

The Outworking of Grace.

Thomas C. Oden
“The Spirit of God draws or leads the sinner from one phase to another, gradually, in proportion as one is found having a disposition to responsive hearing. Grace flows ordinarily from prevenient grace through the grace of baptism through the grace of justification toward sanctifying grace leading toward consummation in glory. The power by which one cooperates with grace is grace itself. In this way God draws all to himself, eliciting a hunger for righteousness and a desire for truth.”
― Thomas C. Oden, The Transforming Power of Grace

Strength From Weakness.

  • All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on God being with them.” Hudson Taylor.

Brexit and The Beeb.

https://independencedaily.co.uk/the-bbc-and-no-deal-a-pavlovian-experiment-part-i/

Receive.


I have just watched 'True Grit' made in 2010.

What a pointless exercise. We had the excellent version with John Wayne and there was no way that this could surpass it - and it didn't!

Birdie.


Ten Batsmen Shame England. Only One In Double Figures. Ashes Cast Away.

The eleventh batsman was Joe Root who, at least, had the courtesy to be out to a ball which was difficult to play - this time.
After England's sixth wicket fell - for the first time ever - I stopped watching for the day.
Seeing batsmen waft bats outside the off stump as if they were twirling a magic wand sickened me.
How hard is it for a professional batsman to see that a ball is short and not play it - or as they say in the trade 'leave it on length'?
How hard is it for a professional batsman to see that a length ball is way wide of off stump and not follow it?
There must be Sunday League players who know how to leave a flippin' ball!

Obviously, the rot began with Jason Roy WHO I REPEAT IS NOT A TEST BATSMAN!
He led the way and seemed to infect the rest.
Well, he has had his chances - for some reason I cannot fathom - and must now be unceremoniously dumped!
Joe Denly is an honest cricketer but looks incapable of bridging the gap between county cricket and tests - even if he was the only batsman to reach double figures yesterday. Time to say 'thanks and farewell'.

Two new batsmen needed for the next test. How's about trying young Pope and the not so young Sam Northeast? They cannot do worse and certainly possess a batting technique far superior to that of Mr Roy. Desperate times - desperate measures.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Jason Roy.

This blogger has made it abundantly clear that he puts no trust in Jason Roy whatsoever to be an opener for England as his technique is not sufficient to deal with the rigours of test cricket.
England are in the driving seat in the third test and he owes his skipper for selecting him, yet again. 
It is my belief that this means that England have gone into this match with a depleted batting lineup.
How I want to be proved wrong! Desperately so. Joe Root must bear a great responsibility if England's batting loses us the Ashes with poor or mediocre scores from this oh-so talented ONE DAY player.

Mercy.

Austin Fischer
“The God of Romans 9–11 finds ways to show mercy, even when the facts clamour for judgment. This doesn’t sound much like Calvinism to me, but it does sound a whole lot like Jesus.” 
― Austin Fischer, Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed: Black Holes, Love, and a Journey in and Out of Calvinism

Which Religions Lead To God?

Religion leads nobody to God whatsoever. 
Jesus the Christ, God the Son, however, is the only way to God.

Prayer Corner.

Please pray for: Ashley, Marlene, Peter, Alan, Margaret, Roy, Elaine, Phil.

Birdie.


Bye Bye, Oliver.

Brexit basher Sir Oliver Letwin QUITS as MP - Tory rebel announces intention to stand down.

TORY rebel leader Sir Oliver Letwin has announced he will stand down as an MP before the next general election. Express.

Boris Breakthrough With Macron?

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1169119/Brexit-news-boris-johnson-eu-negotiation-emmanuel-macron-angela-merkel-no-deal

Tears.

“What is it about tears that should be so terrifying? the touch of God is marked by tears...deep, soul-shaking tears, weeping...it comes when that last barrier is down and you surrender yourself to health and wholeness”
― David Wilkerson, The Cross and the Switchblade

Until Today, I Shopped At Morrisons About Once A Month. Not Any More!

Fury at Morrisons as Christians slam new cheese - 'not what Easter's about'. Morrisons' new Easter-themed cheese has prompte...