Our youngest's great day, baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Tomorrow my youngest, my youngest daughter gets baptised aged twenty, for which I am so thankful! Each and every one of our children have then taken the same steps! God's immaculate grace!

This is not something we have pushed even talked about very much with her but it is her wish after leaving home and joining a Church at her University town. We have come a long way my wife and I after becoming Christians at nineteen, some thirty five years ago. I remember it to this day, just knowing that Jesus is alive, that He died for me and that He loves me. I don't remember a lot more but I do know that everything changed.

As I look back and as I look forward, with my fair share of pain and suffering although nothing as compared to the people of North Korea, I am reminded once again of what this is all about.

JESUS.

For it is all of Him and one day soon we who call upon His name will be enthralled when we are with Him in heaven, in glory. In the meantime, He lives and we who are called by His name are still enthralled.

I am reminded of a passage in the Bible that captures the glory that is and is to be revealed for those who believe.


Revelation 19:1-10

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

Rejoicing in Heaven

19 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
²     for his judgements are true and just;
for he has judged the great prostitute
    who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”^[a]

³ Once more they cried out,

“Hallelujah!
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”

⁴ And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” ⁵ And from the throne came a voice saying,

“Praise our God,
    all you his servants,
you who fear him,
    small and great.”

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

⁶ Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
⁷ Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
⁸ it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

⁹ And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”¹⁰ Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

North Korea, a lesson about hell!

You will have seen my last two postings of articles on the Hudson Institute website about North Korea. I could not hope to match the expertise and insight of those articles. I would commend them to you.

Can you not feel the dark tragedy of North Korean and the seemingly expendable proletariat! Some irony there! There is a vicious degradation going on there of the people of North Korea, which makes you wonder whether life is worth living in the rest of the world if we have to put up with that regime much longer. If there is ever a case for crushing a regime with all the aggression you can muster it must surely rank amongst the highest of priorities. If you dare to step outside the perameters of political correctness there you are dead meat and literally a lot of the time. If you claim any kind of Christian faith, lions and fiery furnaces are nothing compared to what awaits you and yet the Christian Church continues to grow!

I have had the privilege of knowing many Koreans and currently have a number of friends from South Korea. They are such a gentle friendly people and my heart aches for the restoration of the people of North Korea to a place of freedom! Surely nothing could be as worse as the common lot of most of those who live in North Korea; a place of hell on earth!

I would appeal to the Chinese government and the people of China, to my many friends amongst the intellectual elite of China, I implore you, I beg you to bring sense and reason back to that land, people and nation. Make your powerful hand felt in that country for the good of all of the people there! There can be no loss of face in helping those who are downtrodden and poor. I beg you and implore you to help the people of North Korea to become free, free at last!

Almighty God, bring justice like a tsunami to restore the North Korean people to that place of dignity and worth that you ever intended for each and every human being on this earth, in Jesus blessed name!

Hudson Institute China vs. North Korea's Refugees

Hudson Institute China vs. North Korea's Refugees

Hudson Institute Obama's 'Victory' with North Korea

Hudson Institute Obama's 'Victory' with North Korea

The shadows of the passing time!

Copyright 2012. All rights reserved. Heavensmydestination.

A Romney victory? I don't think so. The serpent the dove and the economy stupid!

Apart from the obvious it is hard to understand why most commentators talk of a Romney victory in Michigan. This was his home state where his father had been the governor and yet by the narrowest of margins he won it and in terms of sharing the outcome they will very likely get approximately 15 delegates each.

And he had the republican hierarchy rooting for him including the Drudge Report and he spent millions; fortunate he is to have that kind of clout!

The problem for Santorum is that he needs to reign in some of the rhetoric and ease the way to deal with other issues such as the economy. I think he appreciates this which is presumably partly why just before the vote his planned economic reforms were issued. Ohio will be his "coming of age" moment and if he wins that the outcome is going to be very messy as to who is ultimately chosen.

I would commend him to this refrain, be wise as a serpent and tender as a dove, and remember the economy stupid!

The End of Marriage in Scandinavia | The Weekly Standard

The End of Marriage in Scandinavia The Weekly Standard

"MARRIAGE IS SLOWLY DYING IN SCANDINAVIA. A majority of children in Sweden and Norway are born out of wedlock. Sixty percent of first-born children in Denmark have unmarried parents. Not coincidentally, these countries have had something close to full gay marriage for a decade or more. Same-sex marriage has locked in and reinforced an existing Scandinavian trend toward the separation of marriage and parenthood. The Nordic family pattern--including gay marriage--is spreading across Europe. And by looking closely at it we can answer the key empirical question underlying the gay marriage debate. Will same-sex marriage undermine the institution of marriage? It already has...."

Religion or true faith? Joel Chapter 2, verses 12 to 17. ESV

Return to the Lord

¹² “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
     “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
¹³     and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
     for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
     and he relents over disaster.
¹⁴ Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
    and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the Lord your God?
¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion;
     consecrate a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
¹⁶     gather the people.
Consecrate the congregation;
    assemble the elders;
gather the children,
    even nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her chamber.
¹⁷ Between the vestibule and the altar
     let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep
and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
    and make not your heritage a reproach,
    a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”

There is much within this passage to say into our modern world. 


The clear delineation between religion and true faith, faith of the heart, genuine faith. An unequivocal description and invocation of who God is. The nature of His call to those who espouse His name. The call to those who are being raised up by Him as leaders amongst His people to lead out of heartfelt recognition of the need, to seek for His intervention and to look forward to the revelation of His hope and mercy in those whom He calls; for all of such of them an apprehension of real gladness and joy.


So much to do, so much to look forward to, so much to apprehend. Our truly great and majestic God!

Health and Safety Rules; the cheapness of a life and the Santorum effect!

It has been quite a week and the week to come looks to be as interesting and challenging.

It is sickening to see the pictures of that scene after the man who had had a fit near a shallow public duck pond, had fallen into the water and the emergency services refused to wade in and pick him out. He drowned. It was against health and safety rules! It beggars belief that we have come to this, some mechanistic soul less view of reality. It does not matter any more that he was a fellow human being in need of help who could have been saved with a bit of common sense and compassion? But no, what's more important? Soul less mechanistic living! In my view a state of being that is contemptible!

The republican primaries enter a dynamic and probably decisive phase this week. Is it Santorum or Romney? I happen to believe it will be Santorum for in his candidacy there is something compelling; the conviction of a man that believes that life any life is worthy of deep respect and dignity. Santorum would have jumped into that pond and sought to save that man in that shallow duck pond, you can be sure of that!

And there we have the essence of this contest in the US and we have the essence of the challenge that we face here in the West. Do we really believe that people are sufficiently important that they are worthy of our self-sacrifice. That there is something genuinely noble, courageous even heroic about putting another's interests first! We are wobbling on this one as societies and Santorum will not wobble. That is both his power and his challenge.

Lynne Featherstone and the Tory leadership: an intellectual vacuum at the heart of government!

"He (David Cameron) is not driven by belief, but simply by an opportunistic attempt to spin himself as a modern, liberal kind of guy, and to try to pacify a tiny number of militant gay campaign groups.

           Lord Carey’s comments were particularly brave in view of the fact that so many   
         people who have publicly supported traditional marriage between a man and  
         woman have become the target of a disgraceful campaign of vilification.

After the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, recently spoke out against legalising gay marriage, he was sent abusive, threatening and racist mail. (Amanda Platell at the address below)"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2106107/Vilified-daring-fight-marriage.html#ixzz1nNrXpMbx

"Lynne Featherstone tells Church 'don't polarise gay marriage debate'
The Church does not have the exclusive right to define who should be allowed to get married, the equalities minister warns, as she suggests that religious groups have polarised the debate on gay marriage. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9104785/Lynne-Featherstone-tells-Church-dont-polarise-gay-marriage-debate.html"

This current Tory leadership tells us that the issue of whether redefining marriage is not something they wish to discuss with us the people, they merely request us to make a contribution to the "when"! There is nothing in their manifesto to forewarn us of this. It is at the very least a power grab from an opportunistic prime minister spinning his liberal credentials in the interest of select groups hell bent on winning! There comes a time when a particular society becomes no longer a place worthy of the name democracy, worthy of the respect of it's citizens; this patronising power grab from this government, now using this stereotyping trick to malign it's opponents is accelerating that process and revealing along the way the racism and violence out there towards those with differing views.

No, this is not an exclusively religious issue although it is obvious why this government wishes it to be seen that way.

It is about liberty, the liberty to use reason, the liberty to present the arguments and seek for the common ground, the liberty to disagree; it is about what is best for a society as a whole and it's children and not just giving way to whatever certain militant groups want for us. It is about the humility to recognise that there is nothing new under the sun and that the work and views of generations over thousands of years may well have a lot to teach us in the present.

Not once does Lynne Featherstone appear to mention anything about the needs of children; not once does she appear to define the meaning of love; not once does she appear to admit any inconsistencies in defining everything in terms of "love". There are just so many potential "love" relationships, does she mean all such are therefore now free to define what they want anything to be and gain the sanction of society irrespective of the consequences. Just take a look at what I think is Stonewall's attempt at a petition and defining why it wants the change; it is all about love, is that love without limits?

There in the form of this current government we have the intellectual heart of darkness at the centre of power in this country!

Ideology rules, we do what we want because we have the power. Reason be gone!

We look forward to this leadership of this government doing the same, being long gone!

The Iranian regime's cold blooded murder of a Christian pastor beckons!

We remember Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani and his family at this time. 
For he has been convicted in Iran of apostasy, that is that he is a Christian, despite never having been a Muslim and we are told that the order for his execution has been issued and his hanging is imminent.
We hope and pray that this may not be.

Santorum, a defining quote!

"We can have limited government, lower tax—we hear this all the time, cut spending, limit the government, everything will be fine. No, everything's not going to be fine. There are bigger problems at stake in America. And someone has got to go out there—I will—and talk about the things."

Peter Tatchell and Sharon James and the constitution of marriage and the family!

There was a Sky News debate yesterday involving these two on opposite sides.

The argument in favour of marriage to be redefined centres around the use of terms such as discrimination and inequality, a denial of equal rights under the law, and all combined with some very well worked pincer movements towards those who dare to put their heads above the Wall and the use of the media, of course!

There are key and important differences between men and women; the genetic heritage of male and female in one person creates an indivisible link to that child. Children need to and want to know who their parents are. The results of not knowing and the results of being separated from either of those genetic links is plain and obvious.

Marriage between a man and a woman has been and still is Society's recognition that the optimum ultimate and best must be to encourage the kinds of relationships that will encourage support and establish those linkages; linkages that include the mental physical and emotional kinship and comfort of attachment to male and female differences. You can always point to exceptions; the usual ones trotted out are the childless couples through choice and the fact that there have been and are gay couple success stories, etc. Of course, but none of that changes these basic facts on the ground that a child needs a father and a mother and the constitution of marriage as an institution that first and foremost promotes and encourages that is so precious that it should not be changed.

If you change marriage as planned on the basis of inequality and discrimination as your sole frontispiece then that will be no solution, since marriage as then conceived will still carry with it the claimed affront of being discriminatory and as perpetuating inequality. For it still represents a definition of marriage and defines itself by excluding other types of relationships as marriage and so it is still discriminatory in those terms. The problem is that there will always be a line drawn somewhere and that is because society has to decide what is the best for the goal that is trying to be achieved.  The goal to support the procreation and not annihilation of the human race, the goal of seeking the stability of relationships that best represent the diversity of man and woman and the linkage to one's true parents and beyond to the stability of inter generational unity. The only real solution to this discrimination line of argument is that everyone should be free to choose whatever they mean by marriage however it suits. That should just about solve it and maybe then the charge of hypocritical intellectual inconsistency might shift on to someone else's shoulders.But then that would be another story altogether.

The debates tonight in the US, what a long way from the Nixon Kennedy showdown!

The route to the Republican nomination is a long and arduous one with many twists and turns and for some a long way down! There is no doubt that since the showdown between Kennedy and Nixon all those years ago television has had and still does have a powerful impact on people's views! You may recall that those who listened on the radio thought that Nixon won because of his reason and logic and yet those who saw the television programme (and this is what dominated the outcome) thought that Kennedy had won the debate!

The "war" of attrition that is going on in the process of nomination requires, a special kind of life to want to go through with it, significant financial support and an ability to catch the national mood. Obama managed to do it with such heart warming and noble platitudes that proved empty of any substance; for when he arrived in power he merely reverted to type and showed once again that his kind of politics is as divisive as it ever has been. Soak the rich, smash the big corporations, rev up the environmental conjuring tricks, and forget our allies.

So in contrast, so many Americans, so many of whom still have the spirit of "liberty" in their bones, in part desperation are looking for a different leader, someone who encapsulates their heartfelt hopes, someone lean mean but "genuene" with a view of life that believes enough in absolute truth, of right and wrong. This is why Santorum seems to fit the bill and yet he comes first and foremost to a Republican party that for too long has been immune to their conservative calling and certainly any social moral dialectic. So Santorum's rise from the ashes is as much opposed by many in the Republican party as those on the Left and so his is an uphill but not impossible task and one that has much potential for liberty and the preservation of the dignity and worth of the individual!

So, we shall see! But one thing is true, that if the media starts to bite you, you know you are on to something, and what we also know is that the Republican party need too to get on to something and that is to stop the tearing apart and start building for the inevitable shown down at the OK Obama Coral as there is not long to go now!

The Effrontery of Rick Santorum - Rich Lowry - National Review Online

The Effrontery of Rick Santorum - Rich Lowry - National Review Online

".....Although his critics will never credit him for it, Santorum’s social conservatism brings with it an unstinting devotion to human dignity, a touchstone for the former senator. The latest position for which he’s taking incoming is his opposition to a government mandate for insurance coverage of prenatal testing often used to identify handicapped babies who are subsequently aborted. For his detractors, his respect for the disabled is trumped by his unforgivable opposition to abortion...."

Theological and cultural vandalism; to redefine marriage!

The Book of Remembrance: to speak of the Lord.

The Book of Remembrance

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared theLord and esteemed his name. “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. Malachi Chapter 3 and verses 16 to 18. ESV" 

When you have once seen the glory of the Living God, however limited a view that may have been and may be, if it is a saving knowledge, there really is no going back! The light of the Gospel has shone in your hearts and there can be no going back! For we will have seen something of the Saviour, of our Lord Jesus Christ. The nearest I can get to an explanation of this is what the disciples witnessed at the scene on the mountain when with three of them present Jesus was transfigured before them. This is how this is described in Mark Chapter 9 verses 2b and 3. 

"And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them...And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son, listen to him." ESV

If this is something you can share (different but of the same Lord) you will know that it is not possible to keep it within and hidden. For how can you lock up a deep and glorious peace, the peace of reconciliation through Jesus to the Father by His Holy Spirit. For there comes from within this burning desire to share it with others particularly with those who share in it. This must surely be what Malachi is here referring to. Those who truly know His name, those who truly trust in the Living God will signify ther authenticity through their desire to share with those who also share such faith their love for God and His Word. For in so doing they reflect that which is deep within and they cannot keep it in. They will want to benefit those to whom they share. For the heritage of those who thus share His Name is written in God's Book of Remembrance. In which He remembers them as His treasured possession. A calling, indeed, which drives you to your knees and brings worship to your heart!

Trevor Philips stokes the furnace of persecution under the guise of the Equality and Human Rights Commission

There is little to find in the recent comments of Trevor Philips as reported in the Telegraph yesterday at this address that is helpful;-
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100138081/trevor-phillips-is-wrong-%E2%80%93-it-is-equality-activists-not-christians-who-are-imposing-their-beliefs-on-others/

His use of generalised statements sweeping between unsophisticated extremes calls the death knell on constructive debate on these subjects for they are from a leader of an institution that has little to commend it other than the rather jarring use of the description, an "inquisition". We can all set up "straw men and women" to prove our case, which on close examination are merely the outpourings of propaganda in favour of one position and one position only, that of secularism's arch princess, socialist-marxist theology.

For anyone open to real debate will have to deal with the injustices of  equality legislation. For in it's attempt to impose such uniformity the consuming outcome will be division and bitterness and entrenched positions. For this unjust legislation cannot fit all and any society that tries to do so is in for a rough ride in the years ahead.

No Christian regards themselves as above the law and in fact just inferring that any and all do regard themselves as such is to paint/tar, call it what you will, in a few broad brush strokes all Christians with the same brush and that is why the comments are so dangerous. We are not above the law but neither does that mean that we agree that a particular law is intrinsically just and or that it's implementation is justly applied. We are entitled as fellow citizens to use what legal and legitimate means we have at our disposal to explain why we might think that either of those two objectives are not being fulfilled and that we are doing. Are you denying us even that right Mr. Philips? Presumably not and so I suggest in the interests of community cohesion you make yourself a lot clearer? And if we should fail, and civil disobedience be justified we are of course subject to the law.

But no government is above the law either and of course at this point we are having to consider what law we are talking about?  He knows as well as I that the de facto assumption that a law passed by a government does not give it the divine right to be obeyed for in so doing you will be succumbing to the undoubted decree that we are all once again serfs paying obeisance to the nobility. And remember what they did to the Tolpuddle martyrs? We have had enough of the class system here in historic Britain. For there are other matters to which all human beings need to attend to to be able to join in with the view that our humanity and what gives us dignity is being respected. Whether that comes from a view of nature, or a religious expression, I don't think anyone seriously suggests otherwise and of crucial value here is also freedom of conscience and association. For one day Mr. Philips you too may be on the receiving end of laws that fundamentally do not respect your conscience and we shall see then what that does to your sense of worth as a human being to have that inflicted upon you, too.

What this debate misses is the lack of gracious inclusivity of many of those who support such legislation, for them it is their core value being expressed and they can admit of no other, no incorporation of others with a different viewpoint, no reasonable provision for those who disagree. A kind of unyielding step in the dark kind of faith that has little to do with argument or reason just a faith of the blind watchmaker type.

And what the imposition of this legislation also shows is the lack of impartial interpretation of it's decrees for it is borne out of a world view at odds with the very word "religion". For the definition of religion that the court system currently appears to give is so narrow that any reasonable person, even the ones on the Clapham Omnibus, must conclude that it is merely a fiction and will be and has been trumped by almost any other rights!

The prejudice begins in the political classes, then proceeds through the judiciary and then, slowly but surely the division starts to reveal huge splits within society and as the persecution grows so does the opposition. Mr. Philips does none of us a good service to speak as he has without a healing tongue. When sentenced to seven years' transportation, the sentiments of the Tolpuddle martyr George Loveless speaks of what we should all be seeking; times have not changed.

God is our guide! from field, from wave,
From plough, from anvil, and from loom;
We come, our country's rights to save,
And speak a tyrant faction's doom:
We raise the watch-word liberty;
We will, we will, we will be free!

Baroness Warsi; the Cameron Humpty Dumpty Party and the reeking hypocrisy!

Baroness Warsi's recent speech to the Vatican is to be welcomed, talking as she does about "secular intolerance".

But a reason why such secular intolerance has increasingly taken hold of late is as much to do with her own party and it's "waltz" with the Liberal Democrats as anything else. For she leads a Conservative party whose leader is hell bent on parading proudly his "liberal" credentials and the outward adorning of that faith, to show they have changed! It is his government who in response to invited submissions from the European Court of Justice about certain of the recent court decisions in the UK against respecting Christian conscience, indicated that they did not disagree? It is his government that has decided to invite comments not on whether but on when and how best to implement a re-definition of marriage and thereby further ingrain into our society and a number of institutions certain dogmatic prejudices of those who don't like those who seek to disagree. And of course, all supported and endorsed triumphantly by the liberal democrats and their leader whose persuasiveness on the arguments suits well the proponents of many of his views; I am still waiting to see any depth in some of them, but there again he has to speak for the cameras and there is a need for sound bites!

No, this current Conservative party reeks of hypocrisy and is too often offensive to many Christians and others who share their views on many issues and so whilst I find myself comforted by Baroness Warsi's views, it is difficult to take any comfort from them for underneath the front there is a different story!

Was Santorum a Senate Spendthrift?

Was Santorum a Senate Spendthrift?

A very useful analysis of the record of Santorum in the Senate in respect of his voting/support for certain economic policy matters, as a measure of his fiscal conservatism, such that it seems clear that Romney's attacks have little if any substance. The compelling part is his record despite the economic inclinations of the people of Pennsylvania.