Thursday 22 August 2013

Enduring Gut-Wrenching Pain to Find Your New Beginning




9:23AM EDT 8/22/2013        JENNIFER LECLAIRE


“Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Is. 43:19).

That rhema word from Scripture nearly four years ago kicked off a season of change in my life that hasn’t quit. I’m convinced that I’ve seen more changes in my life over the past few years than many people see in two decades. I’m talking major life changes. Some of those changes produced immediate joy. Others produced prolonged pain before producing joy.

I’ve noticed a cycle, if you can call it that, where one change comes at the heels of another and then another—finally followed by the avalanche. Some of the changes are welcomed while others are gut-wrenching, even when you know it’s God’s will. I still don’t like change, but I’ve learned to embrace it because I’ve seen the fruit of faithfully following God through life's transitions—and that fruit is good!

Facing Sweeping Changes

Maybe you are seeing sweeping changes in your life even now. Whether they are welcome changes, like getting married and having a baby, or unwelcome changes, like getting divorced and losing a loved one to death, change can cause confusion, stress, delight, anticipation, fear, joy—a whole range of fickle emotions that ebb and flow with what seems like the powerful rush of a rolling tide.

Before we go any further, understand this: The only thing that doesn’t change is God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). Everything else—I said everything else—is subject to change. I won’t recite all the words of Solomon here, but suffice it to say that “to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1).

So if you are going through a season of change—especially gut-wrenching changes—how do you position yourself to walk worthy of your calling? How do you yield to God’s will while resisting the enemy? How do you embrace the change that will produce more of the character of Christ and the fruit of the Spirit in your life—and perhaps in the lives of others involved?

Learning to Let Go

Keeping your eyes on God, who doesn’t change, is the critical first step (Heb. 12:2). The Lord really is your rock, your fortress and your deliverer (Ps. 18:2). His hope is the anchor of your soul (Heb. 6:19). When you keep your mind on Him, you’ll remain in perfect peace even amid the most stormy changes (Is. 26:3). When you keep your eyes on Him, you’ll find that road in the wilderness and the rivers in the desert that Isaiah prophesied (Is. 43:19).

Next, you’ve got to be willing to let go of what the Holy Spirit is showing you to let go of. If you want that new beginning—if you want that new thing God has in store for you—then you must let go even if it feels like it’s going to kill you; even if you have to do it through tears; even if other people don’t agree with you; even if you can’t see where to go next. When you let go, He’ll show you what to do next, just like he showed Abram what to do when he left everything behind to follow God (Gen. 12:1-3).

The letting go part is probably the hardest part of the change process. I’ve written several articles—including "How to Forget Those Things Which Are Behind," "Burning the Bridges to Your Past," and "Are You Willing to Leave Your Baggage Behind?"—on this topic because it’s a real pain point for people. I had to learn that lesson and learn it well, and you should too.

Sometimes there are soul ties with people, churches or even things that you need to break. The pull you feel to keep going back to the same people and things God has told you to leave behind is often a soul tie. A soul tie is a deep emotional bond. When David met King Saul’s son Jonathan, there was an immediate bond between them. The Bible says, “The soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul” (1 Sam. 18:1). That’s intense. When you move on, sometimes you have to break soul ties, in the name of Jesus, before you can move forward full speed.

Pursuing the New Vision

Once you’ve let go of the people, places and things holding you back, ask God for a new vision. What does God have next for you? I assure you, He has a new thing in mind. God may even resurrect an old dream you thought was dead. You won’t see this spiritual vision come to pass overnight—there is a time of transition between the old and the new—but with clarity, you’ll have the discipline you need to keep pressing forward (Prov. 29:18).

During this transition time, pursue any emotional healing you need. We all suffer wounds from the words and actions of others, from the work of the enemy, from our own sinful mistakes, from disappointing life events and even from doing the work of the ministry. Sometimes we have to suffer for Christ (Phil. 1:29). It’s easy enough to get resentful, bitter and unforgiving. But walking toward your new beginning means letting go of these things also. Be assured that God is using it all for good (Rom. 8:28).

Many men in the Bible suffered great losses on their way to greatness. Just look at Job, Joseph and David. But all of these men endured the enemy’s best shot and took back what he stole—and then some. Each of them had a new beginning that brought glory to God. They persevered, kept their eyes on God and waited on His deliverance. So while you are enduring gut-wrenching pain, take comfort in God’s Word: “Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert” (Is. 43:19). Amen.


Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior's Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at   jennifer.leclaire@charismamedia.com or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.

Thatcher's spin doctor says fracking protestors want UK to live in 'tepees and wigwams'. Daily Express


ANTI-FRACKING protestors are "blinkered totalitarians" who want "us all to live in their yurts, tepees and wigwams" according to Margaret Thatcher's former spin doctor Bernard Ingham.

Bernad-Ingham-has-severly-criticised-the-anti-fracking-lobbyBernad Ingham has severly criticised the anti-fracking lobby
The problem with anti-fracking fanatics is that, like other zealots, they are blinkered totalitarians.
Bernard Ingham
The 81-year-old has also claimed modern environmentalists are showing "hypocrisy, utter stupidity and exaggeration" over fracking, arguing it has far less impact on the countryside than wind farms.

The former Downing Street Press Secretary made the comments just days after the Green MP Caroline Lucas was among protesters arrested at a site in Balcombe, West Sussex where energy firm Cuadrilla is drilling for oil.

Writing in the Yorkshire Post, Mr Ingham said: "The problem with anti-fracking fanatics is that, like other zealots, they are blinkered totalitarians.

He added: "Fracking for shale gas is merely the latest example of their hypocrisy, utter stupidity and exaggeration."

Mr Ingham, who served as press secretary to Mrs Thatcher for 11 years, argued so-called green energy such as wind and solar power had failed to reduce C02 emissions, and are hampering the British economy.
Anti-fracking, lucas, green, arrestGreen MP Caroline Lucas was arrested during the anti-fracking protests

"So much for the average environmentalist’s tender loving concern for the poor, for the unemployed, for the ability of the nation to compete in the world and for a healthy economy capable of looking after the health and welfare of its citizens," he said

"It seems they want us all to live in their yurts, tepees and wigwams in a sort of glorious, save-the-planet pre-industrial squalour – regardless of our manifest objections. If that is not totalitarianism, I don’t know what is.

"As for stupidity, their entire approach to energy is to plump for everything that does not work and exclude everything that does – coal, gas, oil and especially nuclear power which emits next to no CO2.

"Worse still, their long campaign has captured our limited politicians. The result is that, short of an early shale gas bonanza, we can no longer rely on any government of whatever political complexion to provide secure supplies of energy at affordable cost."
Green Party London Assembly Member Jenny Jones said: “As well as being offensive to local communities concerned about fracking, Mr Ingham’s ill-judged comments show he hasn’t done his homework. 
“The debate isn’t one between proponents of progress on one side and ‘green zealots’ on the other. It’s not totalitarianism to want the Government to invest in clean, renewable energy technologies.  You don’t have to live in a yurt to want to avert dangerous climate change.
“As for exaggerating the risks of fracking, the International Energy Agency – not known for hype – has warned of a range of impacts on local communities, including the potential contamination of groundwater.

“And the effect on fuel bills would be minimal at best. Ofgem and Deutsche Bank both say that the widespread use of UK shale gas is unlikely to bring down prices”
No Dash For Gas, which organised the Balcombe camp, said they would return to Balcombe in the future, calling the campaign a "marathon" not a "sprint".

Protesters believe the drilling could lead to fracking, which they claim imposes environmental risks including water contamination and small earthquakes.

Enduring Gut-Wrenching Pain to Find Your New Beginning

Enduring Gut-Wrenching Pain to Find Your New Beginning

I abhor bigotry, but why should we demonise schools that don't want to promote gay lifestyles?, Daily Mail Article



We now live in a world in which civil partnerships are accepted by most people as perfectly normal and soon we will have gay marriage
We now live in a world in which civil partnerships are accepted by most people as perfectly normal and soon we will have gay marriage
The biggest social change of the past ten or 20 years must surely be the general transformation in attitudes towards homosexuality.
It was not very long ago that a homosexual embrace or kiss on television sent some newspapers and politicians into orbit, and a thousand angry pens into hyperdrive. Now we live in a world in which civil partnerships are accepted by most people as perfectly normal. Soon we will have gay marriage.
Most gay MPs no longer huddle beneath the parapet. The ‘gay vote’ is now considered so powerful that David Cameron sought an audience last week with the gay panjandrum Stephen Fry in an East End pub to discuss the ill treatment of homosexuals in Russia.
But some gays, it seems, still feel they are the victims of discrimination. Gay rights activists have identified some 40 schools across the country which allegedly state in their sex-education guidelines that governors will not allow teachers to promote homosexuality, or are ambiguous on the issue.
Stonewall, which campaigns for homosexual rights, is indignant, and suggests that these schools are reviving the language of Section 28, the law introduced by the Thatcher government in 1988 aimed at ‘loony left’ councils, some of which were energetically promoting homosexuality in schools.
Section 28 banned councils from using taxpayers’ money to fund books, plays, films or other material to promote homosexuality. Though its wording was hardly draconian, and no prosecution was ever brought under it, Section 28 has assumed mythic proportions in the minds of gay activists.
Despite opposition from rebels of all parties in the House of Lords, as well as from the Roman Catholic Church and other religious groups, the law was removed from the statute book by the Blair government in 2003. In 2009, David Cameron apologised for the Tories’ original championing of Section 28.
 
How much has changed in ten years. The Department for Education is evidently embarrassed by the reports about the 40 or so schools, and various Tory, Lib Dem and Labour MPs are quoted as saying they must be brought into line, and we must not go back to the antediluvian past.
Many of these schools ‘outed’ by campaigners are self-governing Academies. Some have hastily backed down, while others have gone to ground. None seems to be eager to justify itself in public.
Yet the British Humanist Association, which has somehow got in on the act, huffs and puffs as though a major crime has been committed. Its spokesman speaks of the ‘pernicious’ Section 28, and the need to bring these errant schools to heel.
Meanwhile Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, has circulated an email in which he announces a new series of training events for staff in primary and secondary schools this autumn ‘to equip teachers with the tools and confidence to tackle homosexual bullying’.
The 'gay vote' is now considered so powerful that David Cameron sought an audience last week with the gay panjandrum Stephen Fry in an East End pub to discuss the ill treatment of homosexuals in Russia
The 'gay vote' is now considered so powerful that David Cameron sought an audience last week with the gay panjandrum Stephen Fry in an East End pub to discuss the ill treatment of homosexuals in Russia
In fact, there’s no evidence of any homosexuals being bullied at any of these schools. Perhaps this is just Mr Summerskill’s way of saying that his organisation stands ready to re-educate teachers who show signs of straying from the new orthodoxy.
What strikes me about this story is that some of the representatives of a group that was once undoubtedly the victim of persecution are now showing a degree of intolerance towards people with whom they do not agree.
There are more than 30,000 schools in this country. A mere 40 or so have been identified as being either opposed to the promotion of homosexuality or ambiguous on the issue. This is a minuscule percentage, though of course there may be others.
And yet there is outrage, simulated or not. The campaigner Peter Tatchell, whose bravery in several spheres I admire, declares that ‘this is spookily similar to Section 28 in Britain and the new anti-gay law in Russia’.
Really? None of these schools appears to be demonising homosexuals. Grace Academy, which runs schools with a Christian ethos in Coventry, Solihull and Darlaston in the West Midlands, is quoted by The Independent newspaper as saying: ‘The governing body will not permit the promotion of homosexuality.’
Gay rights activists have identified 40 schools across the country which allegedly state in their sex-education guidelines that governors will not allow teachers to promote homosexuality, or are ambiguous on the issue
Gay rights activists have identified 40 schools across the country which allegedly state in their sex-education guidelines that governors will not allow teachers to promote homosexuality, or are ambiguous on the issue
The two Crest Academies for boys and girls in Neasden, North-West London, have a similar rubric, as does the Castle View Enterprise Academy in Sunderland, though it has now deleted its guidance from its website.
Not one school cited by campaigners denounces homosexuality, or suggests that gays are in any way reprehensible. They simply do not want to promote it on an equal basis with heterosexuality. Of course, there may be schools, particularly Muslim ones, that take a harder line.
In my perfect world, schools would not offer any view about any sexual orientation.  Certainly no teacher ever did in an explicit way at my school. It should really be a matter for parents. But I accept that the State has long since arrogated to itself the right to instruct — I will not say indoctrinate — children in these matters.
What, though, if some parents do not agree with the State on grounds of conscience or religious belief? The whole philosophy behind Academies is that they should be self-governing and independent, and as free as possible from government diktats imposed by Whitehall.
Ben Summerskill has circulated an email announcing a series of training events for staff in schools this autumn 'to equip teachers with the tools and confidence to tackle homosexual bullying'
Ben Summerskill has circulated an email announcing a series of training events for staff in schools this autumn 'to equip teachers with the tools and confidence to tackle homosexual bullying'
Most of us, I think, would abhor any educational establishment that encouraged its pupils to discriminate against homosexuals, or any other social group. Apart from being morally objectionable, such an approach would break a number of laws.
If there is evidence of any teachers in a state school — or indeed any school — preaching hatred against gays, or stirring up prejudice against them, they should at the very least be dismissed, and preferably prosecuted.
But shouldn’t parents who have reservations about the promotion of homosexuality on equal terms with heterosexuality be free to send their children to schools where their views are reflected, as well as respected?
Such views were held by a majority of people until quite recently, and they are still held by many decent folk who don’t think that homosexuals are inferior or deviant or to be pitied in any way. Nonetheless, all things being equal, they would probably be happier if their children turned to be straight rather than gay.
Don’t such people have a right to influence their children’s values according to their own beliefs and consciences, rather than having them imposed by gay campaigners or commissars from the Department for Education, who extol freedom so long as it is the kind of freedom of which they approve?
Gays should be free to live and work and play just as non-gays are, and it is a credit to our society that at last they are able to do so. They have been abominably treated in the past, and perhaps a few of them still are.
But those gays and non-gays who believe in freedom of conscience should defend the rights of their fellow citizens so long as their own rights are not threatened.
Section 28 is dead and buried, and rightly so. But prejudice and intolerance live on. And they have a strange propensity to flourish among the people who were once their victims.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2399246/STEPHEN-GLOVER-I-abhor-bigotry-demonise-schools-dont-want-promote-gay-lifestyles.html#ixzz2chQYIOdx
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Ordinary Christians in the Hands of the Extra-Ordinary God. Part 4:


 




I Corinthians 1-12:13, 3:4-11, 3:21 – 23  New Living Translation.

12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter, [d]” or “I follow only Christ! …… 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.  11 for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ…. 21 So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you— 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Peter,[g] or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

When we look at the Church today, what do we see and what do we mean by the word Church ? to some the word Church has a negative effect on the other hand, the word Church has a positive effect, to others Church should be consigned to the past, and it doesn’t have any relevance to them and society both today in the present or indeed tomorrow the future, some think of the word Church and they think of a physical building others think of the New Testament concept of God’s people or a spiritual building.

The Church today is divided into various camps or tribal groups, that more often or not have very little to do with other camps or tribal groups, sometimes different churches can be close to each in terms of a physical distance, but miles apart in so many other ways.   Is the Church somewhere we can go to or is it a body of people that we belong to, and are joined alongside each other to work alongside each other to see the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom preached to those without the Good News of Salvation through our Lord and Saviour Jesus.

We are divided into groups or denominations that have more to do with our past, and very little to do with our present or future. We hold onto ways of both doing and being church because of our history and our responsibilities to that history, and the expectancies of others. Sometimes we're divided into seemingly rival tribal groups, because for some our revelation of being and doing church is driven by being the people of God where His Presence dwells, but on the other hand we're divided because of politics and personalties !.



We don’t need another “ new “ expression of Church, being built  out  of people’s own sense of importance ,  and because of their misguided zeal  they will attempt to draw followers after themselves  from established churches, offering false promises and prophecies and they tell  people that if join us, the grass will be greener, unfortunately these “ new “ expressions of  church have no foundations and no covering,  because they think that we will build our own foundations and we will become our own covering,  we need to be built up together as one church,  and not be separated into another tribe or grouping. 

The Church is a movement for change and transformation but for many of us The Church has become a monument to our spiritual forefathers who were a movement for change and transformation !.

We follow men and sometimes women, we follow the traditions that were our spiritual forefather’s doctrines and their distinctiveness from other tribal groups and when someone from another tribe says let’s meet together for fellowship and to share together, we say we can't because we’re group a and your group b and our big chief said in 1920 said that we need to avoid group b because your understanding of church and Christianity is different from way he told us to be the church and to be a Christian and therefore you’re wrong, or we do meet together but in a spirit of reluctance and/or a spirit of mistrust, we’ve created theories,  doctrines, theologies and solutions how we’re to be the church and to life our Christian lives and be a Christian Witness, but many of those theories etc belong in the past, and have become hindrances and obstacles for us today.

Many of our tribes or denominations have become tied to the way we did Church, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or a 100 plus years ago, we look for structure and safety in the past.  

We think that the way we do and are the Church is the right or indeed the only way to be do or be Church,  we mistake our history for our present and future and wonder why despite our best efforts, our prayers indeed our prophecies, we’re unfulfilled !

When our Lord Jesus walked the streets of his homeland,  he saw a fig tree and when he looked for fruit he found only leaves Matthew 21:18-20, 18  In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19  And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?

I would say that so many of our churches are like that fig tree, yes we have life but it has gone to produce only leaves, instead of producing leaves alongside fruit, indeed later in the same chapter, Jesus spoke about the physical nation of Israel, saying that because they trusted in themselves rather than trusting in the Lord, that had lost the Kingdom of God, Matthew 21:43 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

For many of our churches today, we’ve lost the Kingdom of God because we’ve trusted in ourselves, our systems, structures and strategies instead of trusting Him , our Lord and Saviour Jesus,  we’ve just grown leaves not fruit and God has gone and left us, even then we’ve created a theology and/or theory/or solutions around that, see Habakkuk 3:15-18 17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!    I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

However there is a message of hope, for those Churches that once proclaimed God’s Message, Haggai 1:6  6 You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes! See Haggai 1, our transformation isn’t due to our living in the luxury houses that  are our own tribal groups/denominations/churches but rather our transformation comes through being part of His Church, or the Temple or the House of the Lord. We’ve become consumed that our way of doing and being Church is also the Lord’s way of doing and being Church, but our ways are not his ways of doing and being Church see Isaiah 55:8-11

We have set in place man made structures, systems and organizations to how to do and be the Church today, we set in place committees, clerical systems and called and commissioned those He’s not called and commissioned to lead us in being the Church and we wonder why nothing is working, we’ve watered down and diluted our message to make it pliable to others, we’ve accepted things that go against Biblical Standards like Homosexual Clergy  and wonder why God isn’t moving amongst us and blessing us

Yet, there is hope for us the Church,  the old wineskins of our ways,  those beloved ways of doing and being the Church aren’t working and if we try to add His way of being and doing Church or the new wine to our old wineskins, our old wineskins are going to tear and break up, instead we need His new wineskins of doing and being the Church, his structure, systems, and Leadership* and following those He has called and commissioned to lead us forward, see Luke 5:37-39.

We notice in Scripture, there is a God Ordained indeed Organized way of being and doing Church, no longer will our man made systems cope with the things, our message should be say no, to the status quo,  We don’t need any other or more denominations or tribes, we don’t need another methodology of doing and being the Church.  We need to be a Movement and not a Monument. We need to see a restoration of Apostolic Christianity, which is a Movement for the 21st Century Church not a Monument to the 1st Century Church.  We need to see Revival through a Renewed Church.

It says in Ephesians 4:11-13* 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  See Ephesians 4:11-16 for context.


Yours in His Grace

Blair Humphreys


Southport, Merseyside

Britain’s rundown seaside towns: How our coastal towns are among the poorest in the country with deprivation levels of nearly 27 per cent Daily Mail

Britain’s rundown seaside towns: How our coastal towns are among the poorest in the country with deprivation levels of nearly 27 per cent 

  • Government figures show rundown seaside towns continue to deteriorate
  • Twenty five of the larger resorts have higher than average deprivation
  • Blackpool has suffered the most, with Clacton and Hastings not far behind

English seaside resorts are among the most deprived places in the country, blighted by high unemployment, poor health and riddled with crime, official figures revealed yesterday.
The report, from the Office for National Statistics, lays bare the crisis facing resorts from Blackpool to Clacton, Ramsgate to Margate.
It comes after a recent report, from the Centre for Social Justice, said seaside towns have become ‘dumping grounds’ following the destruction of their economies by cheap foreign travel.
Attraction: While Blackpool remains England's most popular tourist destination, it is a shadow of its former self
Attraction: While Blackpool remains England's most popular tourist destination, it is a shadow of its former self
Better days: The once glorious Regency Hotel in Ramsgate is badly in need of a facelift
Better days: The once glorious Regency Hotel in Ramsgate is badly in need of a facelift
A fish and chip shop in Blackpool which has the highest level of deprivation than any other coastal town
A fish and chip shop in Blackpool which has the highest level of deprivation than any other coastal town
Signs at the entrance to a typical Bed and Breakfast guest house hotel in Blackpool
Signs at the entrance to a typical Bed and Breakfast guest house hotel in Blackpool
Resorts which used to be thriving have become heavily populated by welfare claimants, those with substance abuse and mental health problems and patients leaving the care system, it said.
The ONS looked at England’s 57 biggest seaside resorts, based on the size of population. To be included in the list, the resort must have a resident population of at least 15,000.
Towns which it investigated include the ‘big two’ - Brighton and Bournemouth - as well as many other household names such as Weston-super-Mare, Scarborough, Skegness and Whitstable.
Many popular seaside resorts, such as the Prime Minister’s current holiday destination, Polzeath, and other idyllic Cornish resorts, were not included due to their small resident population.
Seen better days: Pier Avenue, in Clacton on Sea, Essex, could do with a sprucing up
Seen better days: Pier Avenue, in Clacton on Sea, Essex, could do with a sprucing up
Run down: Homes in Jaywick near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex
Run down: Homes in Jaywick near Clacton-on-Sea in Essex
‘The likely size of the tourist population on a sunny, summer weekend’ was ignored, the ONS said.
Overall, larger seaside destinations, such as Clacton, Ramsgate and Hartlepool, are more deprived than the rest of England typically is. ‘Larger’ resorts have a minimum population of 40,500 And Blackpool is the most deprived of them all, based on the ONS’s assessment of key measures of deprivation such as higher unemployment, lower incomes, poor health and more crime.
Among smaller seaside destinations, Skegness and Ingoldmells, the site of Billy Butlins’s first holiday camp in 1936, is the most deprived resort.
The ONS’s report highlights how pockets of deprivation exist in England, next door to exclusive and much-coveted destinations.
Skegness was also among the 57 seaside resorts the ONS looked at
Skegness was also among the 57 seaside resorts the ONS looked at
Among smaller seaside destinations, Skegness and Ingoldmells, the site of Billy Butlins's first holiday camp in 1936, is the most deprived resort
Among smaller seaside destinations, Skegness and Ingoldmells, the site of Billy Butlins's first holiday camp in 1936, is the most deprived resort
For example, Blackpool is a short drive from Lytham St Annes, which is one of the least deprived of the 57 seaside destinations beaten only by the more exclusive Christchurch in Dorset.
Lytham St Annes is internationally renowned for golf, particularly the Royal Lytham and St Annes Gold Club, one of the host courses for the Open Championship.
Meanwhile, Blackpool has introduced a free school breakfast for all its 12,000 primary school pupils following fears they were arriving for school too hungry to concentrate properly.
The Centre for Social Justice’s report found more than 40 per cent of children were fatherless in areas of Blackpool, while house prices have plunged to an average price of just £77,000.
Old fashioned: An amusement arcade in Clacton-on-Sea which was the second most deprived coastal town
Old fashioned: An amusement arcade in Clacton-on-Sea which was the second most deprived coastal town
A pie shop in Clacton-on-Sea which is considered the second most deprived town in the UK
A pie shop in Clacton-on-Sea which is considered the second most deprived town in the UK
A Treasury spokesman said: ‘These 2010 statistics show that, under the last administration, too many seaside towns and villages suffered from economic decline and neglect.
‘There is huge potential for our coastal towns to welcome new industries and to diversify their economies so they can become year-round success stories.
‘The Government’s Coastal Communities Fund was set up in 2011 to help these towns tap into new business opportunities that will create jobs and boost skills that benefit the whole community.’
Shabby: Pelham Arcade in Hastings which came in third of most deprived coastal towns in the UK
Shabby: Pelham Arcade in Hastings which came in third of most deprived coastal towns in the UK
Derelict: The once popular beach huts of St Leonards in Hastings are now boarded up and abandoned
Derelict: The once popular beach huts of St Leonards in Hastings are now boarded up and abandoned



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2398822/How-Britains-coastal-towns-deprived-country.html#ixzz2cg5hm5GA
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CT Studd.

Studd, C.T. – In 1884, C.T. Studd, one of the Cambridge Seven, felt convicted, “How could I spend the best hours of my life in working for myself and for the honour and pleasures of this world while thousands and thousands of souls are perishing every day without having heard of the Lord Jesus Christ, going down to Christless and hopeless graves?” (John Pollock. The Cambridge Seven, 2nd ed. Great Britain: Marshalls, 1985, 75.)
“Some want to live within the sound Of church or chapel bell;
I want to run a rescue shop, Within a yard of hell.”


Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin! The time of waiting is past! The hour of God has struck! War is declared! In God's Holy Name let us arise and build! 'The God of Heaven, He will fight for us', as we for Him. We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of the sayings of Christ, and the gates and minions of hell shall not prevail against us. Should such men as we fear? Before the world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God, we will venture our all for Him, we will live and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only our God, than live trusting in man. And when we come to this position the battle is already won, and the end of the glorious campaign in sight. We will have the real Holiness of God, not the sickly stuff of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; we will have a Masculine Holiness, one of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ.



If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.


Should such men as we fear? Before the world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God, we will venture our all for Him, we will live and we will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only our God, than live trusting in man. 

Amy Carmichael.
Does it not stir up our hearts to go forth and help them, does it not make us long to leave our luxury, our exceeding abundant light, and go to them that sit in darkness?" - Amy Carmichael

William Booth.
Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world." William Booth.

“While women weep, as they do now,
I'll fight
While little children go hungry, as they do now,
I'll fight
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now,
I'll fight
While there is a drunkard left,
While there is a poor lost girl upon the streets,
While there remains one dark soul without the light of God,
I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!”




 William Booth

Today's post

Jesus Christ, The Same Yesterday, Today and Forever

I had the privilege to be raised in a Christian Home and had the input of my parents and grandparents into my life, they were ...