Chris Evans (MP) :

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions
he has had with internet service providers about bringing forward
legislative proposals to tackle revenge porn websites.

Also:- This month Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, announced that the posting of so-called “revenge pornography” on the internet will carry a maximum jail term of two years. It is now likely to become law in the Criminal Justice Bill next spring.

According to ChildLine, 25 per cent of 13 to 18-year-olds have admitted sending a sexual image of themselves to someone else and the National Stalking Helpline and UK Safer Internet Centre report a dramatic rise in revenge porn incidents in the last six months.

Also from Chris Evans:-

Chris Evans: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment
he has made on the potential merits of consolidating all government
websites into gov.uk as means of reducing the use of copycat websites
which charge extra for government services.

Mary & Martha talk of praying for people they come into contact with; they share how God is answering prayer and moving anew in their nation. They excitedly tell me of miracles of healing, lively prayer meetings in their church and of neighbours being inquisitive of their faith.

They live with a deep sense of  Gods purpose and calling_ and chose not to allow the pain of a very difficult childhood to overshadow what the lord is now doing in their lives.

Although they will  never forget past difficulties they both read the Scriptures avidly for spiritual food.

Their eyes are clearly on the horizon in which Jesus is all they need and want and they ignore the few “inconveniences”.   (Cairo)

Release mag  Dec 2014 Issue 82     www.releaseinternational.org

How good to sing praises to our God!
    How delightful and how fitting!
³ He heals the brokenhearted
    and bandages their wounds.
⁴ He counts the stars
    and calls them all by name.
⁵ How great is our Lord! His power is absolute!
    His understanding is beyond comprehension

As Spafford travelled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died. 

“When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know, It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain: It is well, (it is well), With my soul, (with my soul) It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin — oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! — My sin — not in part but the whole, — Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live: If Jordan above me shall roll, No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life, Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait, The sky, not the grave, is our goal; Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord! Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.”

I was raised in an unbelieving home. I came to Christ at 15. My mum became a Christian soon afterward. But my father was the most resistant person to the gospel I’ve ever known. He’d told me never to talk to him about that “religious stuff” again. At 84, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. One day he phoned, very upset.

“I’m in terrible pain. I’ve got a gun to my head. Sorry to leave you with a mess.”

I begged him to hold on. I made the 30-minute drive in 20, jumped out of the car and pounded on the door. No answer.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door. On the floor I saw a rifle and a handgun. Calling out for my father, I turned the corner into his room, prepared for the worst. Eyes half closed, I bumped into him as he walked out. My heart racing, I rushed him to the hospital, where they scheduled him for surgery the next morning.

I arrived an hour before surgery, praying that in his despair, with no easy way out, my dad would turn to Christ. Standing by his bed, I opened my Bible to Romans. I began reading in chapter three. “There is none righteous, no, not one … All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Those weren’t easy words to read. My tavern-owner father had always taken hot offense at being called a sinner. I wanted to gloss over this portion, moving quickly to the good news of God’s grace. But I forced myself to keep reading, verse after verse, about human sin. Why? Because I told myself, If I really love Dad, I have to tell him the whole truth. If God’s going to do a miracle of conversion here, that’s His job. My job is to say what He says.

We made it to Romans 6, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Then Romans 10, about being saved through confessing Jesus as our risen Lord.

Finally I looked Dad in the eyes and asked, “Have you ever confessed your sins and asked Jesus Christ to forgive you?”

“No,” he said in a weak voice. He paused, then added, “But … I think it’s about time I did.”

I’ll never forget that moment. The impossible took place right before my eyes: my father prayed aloud, confessed his sins and placed his faith in Christ just before they wheeled him into surgery.

Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries (EPM), a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching biblical truth and drawing attention to the needy and how to help them.

For Christian prisoners of faith, ‘taking up their cross and following Christ’ is no easy road. Their testimony of enduring faith is both a challenge and an encouragement to their brothers and sisters in Christ here in he UK and Ireland and around the world.

North Korean, Eritrean, Iranian and other Christians who seek to share and live out their faith in theses countries often pay a high personal price- yet it is a price they accept as ‘normal’ Christian discipleship.

Their prison experience is not viewed with surprise outrage: on the contrary, they often regard the prison cell as their mission field, imprisonment as training and the whole experience as part of God’s purpose & plan.

The reality is that today in detention centres and prison camps across the world, God is doing exactly what he promised to do: building His church.

Just as He did with the early church, God is there in those cells watching over His children, pouring out His love into their hearts and reaching out in love to others, prisoners and persecutors alike. Still He calls us to ‘remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison’. (Hebrews13V3

11 September 2014

Today it is 150 days since 275 girls were abducted from the Chibok Government Secondary School by Boko Haram, on the night of 14 April. Although 47 of these girls have managed to escape, the others remain captive.

One of the girls was able to hide a mobile phone in her clothes and called her parents after she escaped with some others. The girls had no idea where they were. Their parents told them to continue walking west every evening, in the direction of the setting sun, and eventually they made it to the Cameroon border and were reunited with their families.

The escaped girls said that they were raped almost every day. Girls who do not cooperate face severe punishment.

Release sabotaged

Dr Stephen Davis, an Australian cleric, was appointed as presidential envoy in the negotiations with Boko Haram. Dr Davis was able to persuade Boko Haram to release some of the girls: “They told me they’d be prepared to release some as a goodwill gesture towards a peace deal with the government.”

The rebels brought 60 girls to a location in Cameroon as promised, but the release was sabotaged: “We travelled for four-and-a-half hours to reach them, but 15 minutes before we arrived they were kidnapped again by another group who wanted to cash in on a reward… I understand, from the Boko Haram commanders I spoke to, the girls eventually ended up back with them.”

Dr Davis has had contact with four girls who were able to escape the camp, with the help of a young man who was kidnapped by Boko Haram and forced to work as driver. However, when Dr Davis tried to make contact via text message with the young man, he got a chilling response: “The person you are trying to contact has gone on a journey from which there is no return. He was an infidel.”

The kidnappings will not end

After spending four months in Nigeria, Dr Davis returned to Australia. He says the kidnappings will not end. “It became very clear that if I was able to get 50 girls released then another group would kidnap 70 or 80 more.”

He told Open Doors that in April they were dealing with three separate factions of Boko Haram that had agreed to work together. However, Boko Haram has now unified and changed. The involvement of other groups such as Al-Qaeda, IS and Al Shabaab is further radicalising the group.

There are also allegations that high ranking politicians and international sponsors are in collusion with Boko Haram, further complicating any settlement.

There are several verses in the Bible which specifically talk of thankfulness.

eg Give thanks for everything  Ephesians 5 V20

Always be thankful  Colossians 3 V 15

Sing with thankful hearts  Colossians 3 V 16

Have a thankful heart  Colossians 4 v 2

Be thankful in all circumstances  1 Thessalonians 5 v 11

Be thankful for the unshakeable kingdom Hebrews 12 v 28

The Question is. Can the Christian really expect to be thankful in ever circumstance given the bad things that happen in this world?

http://www.careforthefamily.org.uk/events/parenting-events/parentalk

CARE FOR FAMILY EVENT

The problem with parenting is that normally by the time we get the hang of it – we’re redundant!  Parenting is a mixture of highs and lows … and everything in between. It can bring some of life’s biggest joys, but also its greatest challenges. For most of us, a bit of encouragement and a reminder that we’re not alone can make a real difference.

During this event, we’ll look at key issues such as communication with our children, setting boundaries, helping them grow in independence while keeping them safe and, above all, building strong bonds with them that will help us weather those teenage storms. We’ll share practical tips that you can take away and put into action at home straightaway. It certainly won’t be dull – there will be lots of humour and you may even shed a tear or two. The aim of this event is to have you leaving inspired and empowered as a mum or dad.

Jesus was always being asked questions. He also answered people with questions. And questions about whether Jesus is unique are not new.

For example, when faced with Jesus on trial, Pilate the Roman governor represents all the political and religious tension of the time in his question in John 18:33: “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Pilate is in this immense conflict within himself. Something within him is prompting him to say that this trial is a charade. But he’s trapped between the political manoeuvring of Rome and the Jewish authorities he’s subjugating. And he asks the crucial question: Who is Jesus? Is he unique?

We often hear that all religions are the same, but this is not true. They are superficially the same, but they are fundamentally different.

How is Jesus different? There are a number of ways:

The Human Condition

Fundamental is Jesus’ description of the human condition. He talks of the alienation of the human heart by being separated from God. He says that the heart is in rebellion against God: so deep is this, that morality alone cannot solve it. It goes beyond mere good vs bad. The heart is in need of something greater than just pulling ourselves up by our moral bootstraps.

The  Unique Solution

Second, Jesus offers a unique solution to the problem. The provision he gives for you and me is absolutely unique, and it is not cheap. It is the cross. That’s why you will find an Easterner, when they come to Jesus Christ, literally sobbing and sobbing and sobbing, because they have felt the anguish of what sin is. Their recognition of the graciousness of forgiveness is very, very unique. Islam says, to get to heaven your good deeds will have to outweigh your bad. In other words, you pay. When Christ comes and says to you and me that he is offering forgiveness and doing so through the payment of his life on the cross, it is an extraordinary truth. The Bible says that we need a Saviour and we need forgiveness.

Love, Forgiveness & Justice

There is only one place in the world where love, forgiveness and justice come together: justice was being revealed, love was being demonstrated and forgiveness was being offered. That is on the cross of calvary. Jesus Christ claimed to be the way, the truth and the life because he is what the absolute truth really is. Repentance is an anguished moment, but your tears are wiped away with the joy of forgiveness. This truth of Christ’s grace is unique.

Sinless

Thirdly, Jesus was unique in that he had no sin. Even Pilate said, “I find no fault in this man”.

The Resurrection

Finally, the resurrection is the ultimate demonstration of his uniqueness. Jesus shows that he is the Son of God through his rising from the dead. And, through his death and resurrection, Jesus conquered through evil, not in spite of it. It shows that there is a hope that comes from beyond the grave.

This is a precis of a talk given to the Keswick Convention 2014. The audio is available free here and will be summarised in a BBC Radio 4 broadcast on 24 August.