MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL

Pauline and I send our heart felt good wishes to all who have followed our posts this year.

Thank you for all kind and thoughtful comments we have received on Facebook, by e mail and by the occasional phone call. We value them and count you part of an ever growing and special circle in our lives.
May peace fill your hearts and homes this Christmas Tide and health and blessings flood your New Year.

I will be in the States for a few days so the restaurant is closed until the first week in January,

See you then.

Ian

War in Duck World continues

If A&E media giant was expecting a recantation from Duck Commander Robertson for expressing his views on homo-sexuality, they were disappointed.

Instead, their suspension of Captain Duck from the reality show "Duck Dynasty", has resulted in an unprecedented out pouring of fan support for the grizzled patriarch and an expression of solidarity from Clan Duck.

It seems that people stick together in the Bayou.

Refreshing isn't it when some one is able to stand up to the anti-christian, atheistic, politically-correct bullies who run the media empires and say "Bring it on"

When A&E stuck their fork into Captain Duck they found he was a lot tougher meat than they had anticipated.

And not only tougher but richer too. 

This family is rich in their faith, rich in their wallets, rich in their friends and rich in their fan base ( 2,000,000 have already signed their support on face-book). 
So don't expect an apology soon.

If I lived in Louisiana I'd be calling in for a neighborly visit but since I live up here in the frozen North, I'll content myself by saying:
"All power to you, Robertson's  and peace, love and joy in Christ this Christmas."

Ian

P.S. Cracker Barrel restaurant chain pulled all their "duck" gear from their shelves on day one of Commander's suspension. They were so inundated by complaints by irritated customers that today they have put all the product back again. ...surely this thing can't be all about money?

WAR IN DUCK WORLD

Patriarch, Phil Robertson, alias 'Duck Commander', has been suspended by A&E and the future of his long running reality show 'Duck Dynasty'  is now question.

It was only a matter of time..

Grandpa Phil is an outspoken individual of unshakable Christian faith.

Filled with pithy comments, American folk lore and Old Time Religion he has made no bones about his convictions or his faith.

Asked this week about his views on SIN, quoth Uncle Duck:

"We would start with homo-sexuality and morph out from there"
Further pressed to explain himself, he went on:

"The Bible says that adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, drunkards and the like will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God"

For such temerity A&E have suspended him from his show, avidly watched by over 15 million fans.
The president of A&E said " Robertson's opinions are unchristian and un-american"
Astonishing , since in the first, Uncle Duck quoted the words of the Apostle Paul and, in the second, his views on homosexuality are shared by at least 50% of Americans.
I suppose it all comes down to which half of America you live in and which Bible you read.

Fly on Uncle Duck and Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Ian

Wise Men and the first GPS

The star that led the Wise Men to the inn at Bethlehem was probably the first ever recorded Global Positioning Satellite.
The Wise Men were not guided by a map or a dash-board compass but by something IN THE SKY.
They had studied, conferred and then concluded that a  momentous event was about to take place in Palestine and that they had better not miss it.
When they obeyed their inward prompting and set out, God put the G.P.S. in place and, BINGO, they were right on time and right on target at the birth of Jesus.
I have a G.P.S. in my car. Pauline calls it DORA. This lady's voice has got us to our destination many times, BUT there have been occasions when she has been wrong.
God NEVER is and never will be.He is ALWAYS RIGHT.
We have His Word to study. We have others with whom to confer.
We have the gift of His Holy Spirit to inwardly teach us. If we are truly wise, we will add our OBEDIENCE to His Voice and we will get safely to Heaven. Right on time. Right on target. BINGO.

Jubilate.

Ian

Christmas:The New D.N.A..

We will forgive Mary for asking the Angel Gabriel exactly how she was going to bear a child since she had had no relationship with a man.

The Angel replied: "Simple. God will do this by His power and wisdom. For with Him NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE"
Mary embraced the word from the Angel and nine months later gave birth to a Son with "NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD" stamped into His genetic make-up.

Thirty years later He was healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind and raising the dead by way of proof.

I have listened to the positive-thinking gurus, the Tony Robbins, the Brian Tracey's and others of like ilk. None of them has remotely approached the glorious promise of Jesus Christ that we could have his DNA spliced into ours. That we could, indeed, be the "ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE" people. (Mark 9:23)

The Virgin Mary gladly believed the promise of God.This Christmas you can do the same, receive the Lord Jesus into your heart and enroll with the "all things are possible' people.

Jubilate.
Ian

Is there anybody out there?

Is there any body out there? Christmas gives the clearest of answers.

"YES "..........and more of them than we could ever imagine.

There are none on the moon or on Mars: the Rover would have seen them by now. But there are plenty on Earth and never too far away. 

I'm speaking about Angels of course.

Zechariah, the priest was accosted by one in the Temple and told of the birth of John Baptist. Mary was visited by Angel Gabriel in her living room to inform her of her imminent pregnancy and a whole host of angels visited the shepherds in the fields to announce the birth of Jesus.

Nobody has to go into outer space to discover whether "There is any body out there"
The message of Christmas is that God comes into OUR space to declare wonderful things to us if we are prepared to listen.

Jubilate.

Ian

When the wrong man gets the job.

We watched , along with millions of others, as world leaders stepped to the podium to pay their respects to the memory of Nelson Mandela.

We assumed that the black interpreter standing next to the Presidents and dignitaries had security clearance and that he knew what he was talking about.
Wrong.
It turns out that Thamsanqa Jantjie had a history of mental illness, was hallucinating and was signing gibberish during speeches of solemn and soaring eloquence.
For example during the most poignant moments of President Obama's address Jantjie was signing "BIG FISH; LITTLE FISH IN A CARDBOARD BOX." "GET ON YOUR ROCKING HORSE" AND " YOU NEED A HAIRCUT."
 It is normal practice to exchange interpreters every 20 minutes, but this trickster kept the show going for FOUR HOURS.

Only now do we realize that the whole world was duped.

Which leads me think of the arrival of the Great Impostor, Anti-Christ, who will, by his eloquence and mesmerizing speeches, deceive the whole world.
If Thamsanqa Jantjie could do it, for Anti-Christ it will be a cinch.

Jubilate.
Ian

The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.

Well folks, Merry Christmas to everyone, that is, if you live in South Korea. 
Here is the satellite image of Korea this December.
Seoul, a matter of 60 kilometers from the border, appears bathed in light. They are enjoying Christmas this year and should be, since the city boasts the largest Church congregation in the world.
 They have something to celebrate.
Now look to the North. A black patch with scarce a pin prick of light. Their communistic doctrine has ensured that there is no money to turn them on, and no reason either. 
This puts me in mind of a piece of humor I once read:
COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both and gives you part of the milk.
FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both cows and sells you the milk.
NAZISM: You have two cows.The government takes both cows and then shoots you.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. The government takes both of them, shoots one, milks the other and then pours the milk down the drain.
CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one of them buy a bull and start a dairy farm. Then you give a Christmas food package of milk, cream and cheese to your neighbor who sits in the dark.

Jubilate.
Ian

The demise of Manchester United.

It is always difficult to see the end of an institution but it seems that it is happening with Manchester United Football Club. (MUFC)

The club dominated the English Barclay Premier League for twenty years, guided by the stern, unwavering hand of Manager, Alex Ferguson and followed by a horde of tens of thousands of die-hard fans.
But more recently all has not been well in the 'Republic of Mancunia'

Another hand, of less sure authority, has taken over the helm of the ship of state. Dreadful drubbings have been administered to the dream-team, none harder to bear than the one given by their arch enemies from across town, Manchester City.
What can possibly be the problem? 

I have a short answer. 

Blasphemous songs and slogans.

One sixty foot banner hung in the stadium proclaims:
"MUFC : OUR RELIGION" another "SIR ALEX IMMORTAL" and yet another displaying a 20 foot high portrait of David Moise, the new manager, declares "THE CHOSEN ONE"

Oh dear. This year there have been no miracles, no euphoric presence or hymns of praise, just a series of dismal defeats and melancholic fans streaming home before the game ends.

Perhaps things may turn around, but I suspect not before the fans  find a different Messiah and put their faith in a different god than the one they currently worship.

Jubilate.  ( Dedicated to my friend, Toks Odofin, a true die-hard)

Ian

Nelson Mandela 1918 - 2013

We say farewell to a noble and courageous warrior for his cause.

In so far as Mandela strove to be a peace maker among men he must surely be registered in Matthew Chapter 5, as numbered among the children of God (Matthew 5:9).
He will not be remembered for his soaring oratory, his wise sayings or for his consummate skills as a politician; what set Mandela apart, as a statesman of international stature, was the GREATNESS of his HEART.
He emerged from the darkness of 27 years of sordid incarceration like a diamond emerging from the darkness and  pressure of the Kimberly mine.
 He came forth from his imprisonment not bitter but BETTER.
He came forth not calling his countrymen to retaliation but pleading for RECONCILIATION. 
In so far as that is true, Mandela became the greatest gem that South Africa has ever produced.
When I was visiting Capetown I heard one of Mandela's quotes.

He likened his country to a zebra. "Shoot it in the black stripe;it will die. Shoot it in the white stripe;it will still die. My brethren to live together we must learn to love and to forgive."

Could any man have expressed South Africa's challenge more perfectly or lived the life of reconciliation more convincingly?

Jubilate.

Ian

And it all happened in a single day.

It all happened in ONE day, and that day was yesterday, December 3rd 2013.
Firstly Federal Judge, Steven Rhodes,  ruled that the City of Detroit could file for bankruptcy protection from its creditors. The figure involves a staggering 10 billion dollars in unfunded pension obligations to thousands of city public workers. Other debts amount to a further 10 billion dollars or more.
Secondly, the global educational stats were published which rank American students 75th among the nations in math; 68th in science and 45th in physics. Need we add that the top places belonged to Chinese and Far Eastern students.
Thirdly, in a poll conducted nationwide, over 50% of the respondents believed "that they were witnessing the decline of America as a world power"

Let us then return our thoughts to the City of Detroit.
Before her bank accounts were empty Detroit's churches became empty. And as her churches became empty they were converted into mosques.
Now Detroit has the distinction of having almost as many Mosques as churches and of being the largest city in American history to file for bankruptcy.
Could it be that there is a connection between the two and, more alarming, could what is happening in Detroit be a harbinger of what is to come for the United States of America?

Jubilate.
Ian

Keep your hands off Christmas.

Without a doubt Christmas is my favorite time of the year.Sixty some years ago it was about my unrestrained eagerness to get my hands on whatever gifts were coming my way.
But times have changed.
My joy these days is in the clearest of understandings of the miracle of God's gift, to myself and all mankind, of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. The wonder of it all dawns with renewed freshness upon my heart as this most blessed of Christian Feast days approaches.

I say "Christian", for this is what Christmas is, a holy day with Christ at the very heart of it.

If the pagans, commercialists, secularists, capitalists and their ilk wish to bow down to the Molech of Materialism, by all means let them.
But let them also name their own feast day and celebrate at a different time of the year to those of true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let them "Keep their hands off Christmas", leave the creches in the market squares, the teaching of the traditions in our school rooms,
The carols on the radio and "Merry Christmas" banners in the malls and object not to lawn signs that proclaim:

"JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON"

For we defy anyone to provide proof that He isn't.

Jubilate.

Ian

Where are my Bit-Coins?

Last week there was a truly cyber-age story.

James Howells, an ordinary guy from South Wales, discovered to his horror that he had thrown his old hard drive into the trash; a drive that contained $ 7,000,000 of bitcoin currency.

You may ask what a "bit-coin" is.

In it's simplest form it is a new type of trading currency that has been circulating through the inter-net for the last five years.

One "coin" is worth about $1,000 and, since Howells had invested in 7,000 of them, he threw out about seven million dollars when he put his hard drive in the garbage.
The trove is now under a mountain of trash in the Newport City dump, available to any one who wishes to start digging.

But there is a moral to the story.

Jesus said " What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world but lose his own soul."
Like cyber bit-coins the human soul has no weight or measurement.
A minute after death the human body weighs exactly the same as it did two minutes before. But something fundamental has happened. The soul of the man has departed. His "bit-coins" have been cashed in.





Make sure that before that moment comes you deposit your treasure safely in the Hands of Jesus Christ.
Jubilate.
Ian

Thanksgiving American Style.

The rest of the wondering world of humans has truly cause to shake their heads.
It is Thanksgiving  in America with its annual unseemly, avaricious rush to the malls.
2013 topped last year for its madness when ONLY one security guard was trampled to death and ONLY several arrests were made for shop-lifting and assault.
This year, when the frenzy had finally expended itself, three people had been shot, a police officer sent to hospital, two or three shoppers had been subdued with pepper spray and numerous arrests made for assault and battery in Wal-Mart stores.

I ask myself, as do millions from other nations, how this:








Could turn into this:







 God knows, and I think somewhere in the Bible He has given US the answer.

Jubilate.

Ian

The Tetrads are coming.

And what may we ask is a TETRAD?

It is the term given when there are four consecutive total eclipses of the moon.  They are called "Blood Moons"
Next year they will coincide with each of Israel's four major Feast Days.
There have only been seven of these events since Yeshua. (You remember that He was crucified on a "Blood Moon" cycle.)

There was a blood moon in 1948 when  Israel declared itself to be    "A nation among the nations" and also one in 1967 when the Jews took control of the Temple Mount and proclaimed Jerusalem to be their new capital.

 There have been none since.










Now excitement (and a degree of anxiety) is building  among orthodox Jewish believers that a "big event" is imminent. Maybe the arrival of the Messiah!
I seem to recall that Jesus mentioned a "Blood Moon" being one of the chief  signs that would presage His return to Earth.
This year, when we pray "Thy Kingdom Come", could it mean that the greatest event in history is about to take place?

Go ahead and work on your calendar for 2014 BUT be prepared for a sudden interruption in your plans.

Jubilate.

Ian

Troubles come in "Threes" and sometimes more.

Last week introduced a cascade of emergencies and S.O.S calls.
Three of these included young  people in crisis.
Two I have known since they were born. All are in our city.
One of them is riddled with cancer and he is not expected to live out the year.
The other, involved in a high profile christian band, went through an operation to remove a tumor from his knee and to replace the bone in his lower leg.
Then Pauline returned home to tell me that the daughter of her tennis partner is on a suicide alert. She is starving herself to death with extreme anorexia. She is not yet seventeen.
By Friday I was truly feeling the burden and the weight of these situations on my heart.
All these precious young people and seemingly no answers.
Then I remembered the words of David in the Psalms:

"When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I."

Thanks be to God, through prayer, Pauline and I were able to get a different elevation and a new perspective on things.
We still didn't have any easy answers but we had the assurance of peace in our hearts from the One who does.

This week promises to be better; a lot better.

Jubilate.

Ian
  

President Kennedy and C.S.Lewis.

A fiftieth memorial that probably escaped us was the death of C.S. Lewis, the eminent Christian academic and writer, who died on the same day as J.F.K.
Like Kennedy, Lewis was a statesmen; a statesmen for the Kingdom of God. (Is is surprising, then, that his death passed almost unnoticed?)
But,  "He being dead yet speaketh" His voice still lives on in major works like "Mere Christianity", "The Screw Tape Letters",
"Surprised by Joy"and "Four Kinds of Love": all books that had a profound effect on me in my formative years as a christian.
His  "Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" (which became a block buster movie) also have impacted another generation for Christ.

Lewis had keen insight into people and an irrepressible sense of humor.
At Magdalen College, Cambridge, he was a professor of classics.
His tenure corresponded with that of a friend of mine, Jack Kane.
Jack was a student in the same residence as Lewis. One night Jack returned to his dorm a little the worse-for-wear from the local pub. Since he was in an attic, four floors up from the wash room, Jack emptied his bladder through his small bedroom window.
The professor's room was directly beneath him.
Lewis opened his lecture the following morning by remarking:

"Raining rather heavily last, Mr Kane!"

Always room for a smile in the Kingdom Of God.

Jubilate.
Ian