Personal Reflections

Well, it's Saturday, and it's time to relax, although I have had a busy morning, shopping and catching up with friends and family, and this week, it's the annual September Fair in Neath, and there's the usual crowds and bargains to be had !

Wales only lost to Australia by 12 points, 32 -20, which is a lot better than England V South Africa, although I ended up watching Rio Bravo, starring John Wayne and Dean Martin, it's a Western, and it's at least the 1ooth time I've sent it, but hey it's enjoyable. Although I want to see 3:10 to Yuma with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, which looks brilliant, unfortunately it's a remake of film starring Glenn Ford. I've been reading the Daily Mail, and listening to Welsh Bands (Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonic) on Youtube and playing Scrabble with my friend Matthew Ling on Facebook.

Tomorrow, is Sunday and it's off to Church, this time in Merthyr Tydfil, my Church New Covenant Church, Swansea are meeting with our related Churches, All Nations Church, Cardiff, and Nation Changers, Merthyr Tydfil for a day of fellowship, fun, and a family time, as well as excellent worship and ministry, then it's Monday, it's all change, as it's the first day of my BSc Computing (Information Systems Engineering) course, and now going to be 3 Years of being a (Mature) student

Channel 4's Dispatch's Progamme. " Unholy War."

Unholy War

Dispatches investigates the violence and intimidation facing Muslims who convert to Christianity in Britain. Dispatches reporter Antony Barnett meets former Muslims who now live under the threat of reprisals from their former communities. Many are still living in fear. He interviews a family who have been driven out of their home and a convert whose brother was beaten close to death. The investigation uncovers a network of churches supporting converts from Islam who have to worship under a veil of secrecy.

It is estimated there are as many as 3,000 Muslims who have converted to Christianity living in Britain. Converting to another religion for a Muslim is not just considered a taboo act by some believers. Certain Islamic texts demand converts - also known as apostates - be punished severely for deserting their faith. In several Islamic states, the death penalty is imposed. Here in Britain, Dispatches discovers a form of mob justice is taking place on our streets. A concerned Christian bishop tells Dispatches that it may not be long before a British convert is killed, and implores Muslim leaders to take action. Dispatches discovers the situation for converts from Islam in Britain is a tinderbox waiting to explode.

Increasingly asylum seekers from Islamic countries are exploring different faiths in Britain while a new strand of evangelical Christianity is targeting Britain's Muslims for conversion. With radical British Islamic groups calling for apostates to be executed if they achieved their goal of a worldwide Islamic state, it's a potentially dangerous cocktail that has been exacerbated by the silence of both Muslim and Christian leaders on the subject.

Comment:

I will be watching this programme with interest, for a number of reasons, a) this story is something that I have been following for a number of years, and b) some twenty or so years ago, I was part of an Evangelism team, that saw 3 moslems came to faith in the Lord Jesus, and it got very dangerous for us and for them.

Todays' Word from Joel Osteen, " Your Secret Petitions"

Your Secret Petitions

Today's Scripture

“Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart”(Psalm 37:4 AMP).

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria

God knows the secret petitions of your heart. He knows every hidden dream He’s placed within you. He knows those things that you haven’t told anybody about. Maybe you thought they would never come to pass, or maybe you buried them because they didn’t happen on your timetable. Maybe, in the natural, you have every reason to give up on those dreams. Be encouraged today—God is still working behind the scenes! He still has a plan to bring those dreams to pass. Do what the verse says, and delight yourself in Him today. That word delight, actually means to make yourself soft and pliable. It paints the picture of God as the Potter and you as the clay. Allow God to mold and shape your character today. Allow Him to direct your plans and ideas. Keep an attitude of faith and expectancy today, and as you submit your ways to the Lord and open your heart to His leading, He will fulfill those secret petitions of your heart!



A Prayer for Today


Father, You said the path of the righteous gets brighter and brighter. You said no good thing will You withhold because I walk uprightly before You. You said because I delight myself in You, You will give me the secret petitions of my heart. So Father, I thank You today for being in control of my life. Thank You for the good things You have in store for my future. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.


Joel Osteen Ministries, 3700 Southwest Freeway, Houston TX 77027.
Copyright © 2007 by Joel Osteen Ministries

Dr Who, a Messiah Figure, I don't think so !

I have no great desire to be controversial, but I have very serious concerns over plans by a Church in Cardiff, to hold a Dr Who themed communion service, using music and clips from Dr Who.

I am all for, engaging Society and reaching out to our neighbours, with the Gospel, but to describe Dr Who as " almost a type of Christ" well in my opinion is very, very wrong.

I'm a fan of Dr Who, and enjoy watching the show, although I do feel, that is a very strong moral theme to the show, at the end of the day, it's meant to entertain us.

To read further see below:-

Church hosts Doctor Who service

The church was used for filming an episode with a giant reaper creatureA church is to host a Doctor Who-themed communion service aimed at young people. St Paul's Church in Grangetown, Cardiff, was once used as a filming location for the BBC Wales-produced series.

The "cafe-style" service for people in their teens and early 20s, will feature music and clips from the hit show. One of the organisers Fr Dean Atkins, said as a saver of the world, Doctor Who was "almost a Messiah figure".

Two years ago, the Anglican church was used as a location for the Father's Day episode of the first series, in which a giant reaper creature attacked wedding guests at the church.

More:-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6991351.stm

American bankers could put world at financial risk, story by Alex Brummer, City Editor, Daily Mail

American bankers could put world at financial risk !

The eyes of the world have been on General David Petraeus, America's top military commander, this week as he outlined plans for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

But another influential group of figures in Washington were plotting an even more important course for the world. The normally tight-lipped governors of the Federal Reserve, America's powerful central bank, embarked on an unprecedented information exercise.

Flying across the country - from Manhattan to San Francisco - they began a series of speeches seeking to convince American businesses and consumers that the mortgage meltdown that began in the nation's trailer parks and suburbs, and which is now clogging the arteries of the global financial system, is under control.


Their intention is to make sure this crisis will not bring the U.S. economic juggernaut - and possibly that of the world - to a shuddering halt.





Read More:-http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=481300&in_page_id=1770

Comment: We're beginning to see the damaging results of other peoples greed on the World Economy. We could also be seeing the beginning of the demise of the so-called American Empire as the World's only Global Superpower, because of a possible looming world financial crisis and the damage they have caused in the Middle East.

Today's Word from Joel Osteen. " Be a Prisoner of Hope"

Be a Prisoner of Hope

Today's Scripture

“If you will be a prisoner of hope, God will restore back to you double everything that was stolen” (Zechariah 9:12).

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria

Are you in an emotional prison today? You may not have thought about it that way, but if you are holding unforgiveness or bitterness towards someone who has wronged you—whether it was five, ten, or thirty years ago—that is an emotional prison. The Word of God promises that if you’ll step out of that prison and become a prisoner of hope, God will restore back to you double for your trouble! That means if someone does you wrong, instead of getting negative and bitter, your attitude should be, “They just did me a favor. They just qualified me for double.” That attitude will make you a prisoner of hope. When you’re a prisoner of hope, you simply can’t stop hoping. You are locked in! Lock into that attitude of victory that says, “I will not be defeated. It may look impossible, but I know God can do the impossible. They may have treated me wrong, but I’m not worried. I know God is my Vindicator. It may be taking a long time, but in due season I know I will reap if I just don’t give up.” Stand in that place of hope knowing that you will come out with twice the peace, twice the joy, and twice the victory today!

A Prayer for Today

Gracious, Heavenly Father, today I choose to release those who have wronged me. I know You are my Vindicator. You are my Redeemer. Today I choose to be a prisoner of hope. Teach me to see others the way You see them today.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Joel Osteen Ministries, 3700 Southwest Freeway, Houston TX 77027 .

Copyright © 2007 by Joel Osteen Ministries

Social Networking, Excellent Story from the BBC's Bill Thompson

Social net offers new perspective

Social networking has extended friendships around the globe


Columnist Bill Thompson asks whether social networking could underpin a new politics of connection.

When BBC reporter Michael Buerk brought us film of the starving children of Ethiopia in 1984 it motivated the country to action. In 1985 Bob Geldof and Midge Ure's Live Aid raised millions of pounds, and the attendant publicity put humanitarian aid onto the agenda of the senior politicians of the day, forcing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe to take seriously an issue which they had not, hitherto, seen as a high priority.



Twenty years later Geldof was at it again, though the cultural and political impact of Live 8 was diminished for many by the sight of too many millionaire rock stars seeking to revive their careers on the back of the world's poor.



But something else had changed. In 2005 we didn't need the Six O'Clock News to bring us pictures from Darfur or Bangladesh, and we didn't need the journalistic talents of Buerk and others to tell the stories in a way that made it impossible not to respond.



The internet, through the web, instant messaging, email and its other applications, had brought the world into our living rooms - and our offices, classrooms, cafes, clubs, bars and railway carriages. The last decade of the twentieth century saw a transformation in the forms of communication available to the lucky billion with easy access to the network, and the impact on the way we perceived the world was immense.





Read More, from Bill Thompson's story here:-





http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6989327.stm