The streetfighter’s lethal weapon and the surgeon’s abortion instruments.

As London-based newspapers noted with horror that the new year had been marred by yet more fatal stabbings, it was another statistic that really shocked me. And it’s one that points to what lies behind the eruption of violence on our capital city’s streets.

While we remain obsessed with focusing on the symptoms, rather than the causes, of our problems, we will get no closer to a solution.

Knife crime has risen to frightening levels which have left London’s streets apparently now more dangerous than those of New York, long notorious for its gang warfare. But this shocking dilemma is met only with cries for more police, and more funding for law enforcement generally.

And yet in the midst of this comes news that abortion remains the biggest cause of death by far in our blood-soaked world. Whereas 8.2 million people died from cancer in 2018, almost 42 million abortions were recorded. In other words, for every 33 live births, ten infants were aborted.¹

Violence Breeds Violence

The connection is obvious: violence breeds violence. We slaughter babies in the womb by the million – legally in most cases – and wonder why violence on an unprecedented scale has erupted on our streets. And I am aware that there are other, often related, factors such as broken homes causing lost and unloved young men to seek ‘family’ elsewhere.

At a time when there is a major focus on research into killer diseases – and there has undoubtedly been much success with discovering new cures for cancer – anti-abortion fundraisers would more likely be harangued or beaten up than receive open public support.

And yet the Bible says: “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it?” (Prov 24:11-12).

We slaughter babies in the womb by the million and wonder why violence on an unprecedented scale has erupted on our streets.

While every victim of senseless knife crime is a tragic statistic, the mass slaughter of innocents that goes by the euphemistic name of ‘choice’ for women whose lifestyle is unsuited to raising children, is a blot on Western civilisation in general, and British society in particular.

Abortion was the leading cause of death worldwide last year.After all, there was a time when we led the way with missionary zeal in proclaiming the efficacy of a Judeo-Christian culture based on the Ten Commandments, one of which states with the utmost clarity: “You shall not murder.” (Ex 20:13).

But as soon as we jettisoned our commitment to those values, many of the nations we have influenced followed suit.

Our only hope as a nation is in returning to the God-given laws Moses was given on Mt Sinai – laws that Christ subsequently enabled us to follow through his Spirit in our hearts.

Attempt to Thwart God’s Plans

The slaughter of innocents is essentially a mark of rebellion against God – and the devil himself is behind it.

In anticipation of the birth of Moses, the Egyptian Pharaoh tried to prevent God’s will from being fulfilled by murdering every male Jewish infant (Ex 1:22). Moses was a ‘type’ of the Messiah to come, in that he led God’s people out of slavery towards new life in the Promised Land. Jesus went further by redeeming all who trust him from slavery to sin.

But when Christ arrived on the scene some 1,500 years after Moses, King Herod ordered the slaughter in Bethlehem of every child under the age of two (Matt 2:16).

In both cases, God was about to usher in a wonderful new era – and Satan tried to stop it.

The slaughter of innocents is a mark of rebellion against God – and the devil himself is behind it.

In more recent times, when six million Jews were mercilessly slaughtered in the concentration camps of Germany and Poland, one-and-a-half million children were among them.

Once again, God was about to introduce a glorious new epoch for Israel, with Jews back in their ancient land and many recognising Jesus as Messiah. satan tried to stop it in an unspeakably monstrous way. Yet, even so, he failed in his ultimate objective, but at a terrible cost of precious lives because so few who were in a position to do so lifted a finger to help.

Devil Doomed to Defeat

It’s interesting that the legalisation of abortion in Britain in 1967 happened to coincide with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the old established churches. Whenever God wants to do something special in revealing his presence and power to sinful humanity, satan seeks to spoil his plan.

Ultimately, however, the devil is doomed to defeat and will take all his allies with him into the pit of everlasting fire known as hell (see Rev 20:7-10).

St Paul writes: “The God of peace will soon crush satan under your feet” (Rom 16:20).

My new year message to abortionists, and all who support them, is: Stop this satanic slaughter!

References

1 Jerusalem News Network, 4 January 2019, quoting Life News. The estimate of 42 million abortions is conservative; the real number is likely to be higher - perhaps 56 million or more, according to WHO data gathered by Snopes.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘The Robots Are Coming’ by Nigel Cameron (CARE, 2017).

Professor Nigel Cameron is a leading Christian thinker on new technologies and their impact on society.

In conjunction with CARE (Christian Action Research and Education) he has produced two significant books which are highly recommended - not just for those with a particular interest in technology but for all Christians who desire to know what will be affecting humanity in the near future. This week, we review his first book, on robots.

Smarter Than You

Many will be familiar with scenes of robots in factories, making cars and putting together electronic equipment, often doing routine jobs, but now the whole area of robotics is getting more sophisticated – some might say smarter - and more widespread. You may have such a device in your home. You may talk to one regularly. In fact, you will certainly have talked to one over the phone, even if you weren’t aware of it. And one day everything will be ‘smart’: not just your phone or TV but your car and maybe your whole house.

As the author states in his introduction “Every single day that passes, our ability to make these super-intelligent machines even smarter increases. And they get smaller. And cheaper. Every day” (p.viii). So what are the benefits and dangers of such an increase in technology? What are the practical problems and ethical issues? Indeed, what will being human mean in the 21^st Century? These are just some of the questions considered in this fascinating book, as well as the important question of ‘Is there a Christian view of robots?’

One day everything will be ‘smart’: not just your phone or TV but your car and maybe your whole house.

The most fundamental question to address, however, is what exactly is a robot? What is meant by such a term? Cameron explains that they come in six main kinds, not just those that look like robots. Some just look like machines. Others look like toys or pets. And then there are a multitude of ‘invisible assistants’: algorithms, with a voice and without. And finally there is the ‘Internet of Things’, a new term for the way everything is becoming interconnected via the internet, for instance, smart meters that communicate directly with energy companies.

After asserting that humans are special as created beings in God’s image, Cameron asks where what we are creating is taking us – are we moving further away from God or in line with his will? For the first time we now have the ability to create something smarter than we are. So what will happen to humanity as we hand over more power and control to these new ‘beings’ which will be able to think and learn faster and better than us?

Future Prospects

Cameron provides some historical background into automation and robotics, and also reminds us of some of the spookier stories that appear in film and fiction, which now seem eerily predictive. But it is the here-and-now, and the immediate future, that grabs our attention.

There is an interesting section on bio-technology and the creation of cyborgs, as well as how cognitive science or neuroscience will transform humanity once we are ‘plugged in’ to all that the new technologies offer.

Cameron discusses prospects for jobs, and the use of robots in the lives of children. ‘Talking’ dolls have been around for decades, but now there are ones that ‘see’ and ‘sense’ the child and can react to a conversation that the child initiates, or even start one based upon the observable mood of the child. If such a doll becomes a special friend, how will this impact the child’s emotional and psychological development? Robots of all kinds are becoming common toys – perhaps you bought one for a Christmas present? Parents need to be aware of what they are giving to their children. Who has produced it and programmed it?

Cameron asks where what we are creating is taking us – are we moving further away from God or in line with his will?

Robo-therapy is new territory but one which is attracting more and more attention. For instance, can robots provide care and companionship for the elderly? Will replacing human carers by robots solve our care crisis?

The author raises many other intriguing aspects of the likely development in robotics. What relationships will develop between robots and humans, and even between robots and robots? How will they be programmed to behave in certain situations? As they become more like us, will we need to provide them with a code of ethics, or a system of ‘robot rights’?!

God is Not Surprised

When considering what God thinks about all this, Cameron stresses that it is important to realise that God is not taken by surprise by what we are doing. We may be surprised by it, but he is not! Cameron points out that God is already “out there in the future” (p 106), always ahead of us. However, whether he is pleased or not is another matter. Whether we are heading towards a self-made catastrophe is left open to debate, but the author is prepared to contemplate another thousand or even another million years of technological progress rather than an imminent end-of-the-world scenario. Discuss!

Overall, the book contains 17 short chapters, easily digestible, and with some questions at the end of each chapter for further thought. There is some repetition as you reach the end, however the book ends in a most intriguing way. The epilogue consists of two imagined future scenarios, set in 2040. The author engages in a bit of fictional speech-writing, suggesting what a future Prime Minister and Archbishop of Canterbury might have to say in two decades’ time!

The book is a glossy production with colour photos and set out in a most accessible way. It is a ‘must read’, for we cannot ignore how our world is already changing. We must become more aware and better informed, and then share with others. The robots are coming – in fact, they’re already here…

‘The Robots Are Coming: Us, Them and God’ (148pp) is available from CARE for £9.99 + P&P. Find out more about CARE at https://www.care.org.uk/. Next week, we review Nigel Cameron’s second book, God and My Mobile.

Torah Portion: Exodus 6:2-9:35

Coincidentally, as we enter a new year on the Roman calendar, when we traditionally look forward with resolution, our Torah portion for this week contains a key reminder of God's promises. 

On the biblical calendar, according to the three main Feasts of the Lord, Sukkot (Tabernacles) is behind us and Pesach (Passover) lies before us. Exodus 6:6-7 gives God's fourfold promise to the Children of Israel:

• To bring them out from under the burden of their oppressors;
• To rescue them from bondage;
• To redeem them with an outstretched arm and great judgments;
• To take them as His people and be their God.

The four promises are recalled by the drinking of four cups of wine during the Passover Seder. These four cups were shared by Yeshua with His disciples at what we call ‘The Last Supper’. Two of the cups are specifically mentioned in Luke 22:15-22, when Yeshua reinterpreted the Passover as a remembrance of Him. What was accomplished in the deliverance of Israel from bondage to Egyptian slavery became a foreshadow of Yeshua’s deliverance of His people from this world of bondage to sin.

The recent celebrations of the birth of Yeshua are now behind us, so it is fitting to focus on the more important remembrance of our Lord. The Bible contains the account of the birth of Yeshua, so it is fitting to remember His coming as a man, but more important is it to remember Him as our Saviour who gave His life for us. As the Apostle Paul said, when we remember the Lord's sacrifice through the sharing of bread and wine, especially at Passover, we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

The promises of God in Exodus 6 preceded the ten great plagues of which we begin to read this week. That is what it took to free the Israelites from Egypt. Likewise, such immense earth-shaking events will take place prior to Yeshua's return to complete our redemption: the great woes recorded in the Book of Revelation.

As we enter this new year, the signs of His coming are all around, so let us go forward to Passover in remembrance of Him. Let us not be so preoccupied with the things of this world to miss out on these days of preparation. Yeshua Himself said:

Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near. (Luke 21:28)

Author: Dr Clifford Denton

Is there any hope for Britain?

Over the New Year holiday, I spent some time seeking the Lord for his word to Britain and I was strongly led to what God said to Ezekiel at a time when Jerusalem was in turmoil. He said, “Son of man you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”

This message meant that people could not see what should have been blindingly obvious. The nation was facing disaster but her leaders, both religious and secular, were running around like headless chickens, fighting one another but not taking any positive steps to deal with the situation.

Jeremiah (unlike Ezekiel) was actually in the city. He was driven to despair. “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you,” he said. “My people are fools…They have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good” (Jer 4:18-22). Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah knew that the nation was under judgment which the people had brought upon themselves by deliberately turning away from the truth of the word of God.

In Britain, we are in a similar situation. The scenes of turmoil in the House of Commons in the run-up to Christmas were a vivid illustration of the mood in the nation – it is a mood of dissatisfaction with everything; yet no-one has any idea what to do about it! It is in this situation of major disagreement among our political leaders that the voices of the mob in Westminster streets calling for a ‘people’s vote’ should be ringing alarm bells everywhere. Such a vote would spread dissension and conflict across the land.

People bring judgment upon themselves when they deliberately turn away from the truth of the word of God.

Social Problems Side-lined

The Brexit debates in Parliament for the past two months have been so all-consuming that major social issues affecting the welfare of the nation have been woefully neglected. A review of school exclusions was delayed which could have helped to deal with the crisis of knife crime that claimed the lives of more than a hundred young people on the streets of London in 2018.

The Green Paper on social care was also kicked into touch despite the crisis in the NHS, the shortage of beds and elderly people not being cared for in the community. Many other urgent social issues have been side-lined by the Brexit rows that have split the Conservative Party and exposed the weakness of the Opposition.

These are all signs of the serious moral and spiritual issues that underlie the great Brexit debate that is dividing the country. What is being exposed is the lack of an overriding standard of truth by which all issues can be judged.

It is because truth has been eroded from the public square and the forces of darkness have been allowed to spread deception that we are seeing the very thing that both Ezekiel and Jeremiah saw in Jerusalem. 500 years later Jesus saw the same thing when he wept over Jerusalem that both leaders and people were blinded by deceit. He said “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matt 13:13).

Good for Evil, Evil for Good

In Britain, we have not only abandoned truth, but we have actually embraced lies and deception. Even our language has changed to accommodate opposite values. Children and young people call good things ‘wicked’ and evil things that are harmful to them are celebrated as good. It is a rebellious generation that has no understanding of ultimate values. This is why we are seeing knife crime ruling city streets, as gang life is substituted for family life; loyalty to the gang for the love of parents and siblings.

Urgent social issues have been side-lined by the Brexit rows, which have split the country and exposed its lack of an overriding standard of truth.

Also driving society deeper into deception are the false values of LGBTQ+ that have been embraced by politicians from all our political parties. We are led by a Prime Minister who was the chief architect of radical changes when she was Home Secretary, driving the Same-Sex Marriage Bill through Parliament despite the opposition of more than a hundred MPs of her own party and all the warnings that were sounded across the nation.

That legislation, more than five years ago, marked a tipping-point in the nation: Britain went from at least nominally acknowledging the biblical foundations of its social value system to adopting a system based upon the total denial of truth. It was ignoring the clear warnings given in the Bible – “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa 5:20).

You cannot ignore fundamental standards of truth that are part of the creation of the universe without bringing disaster upon society. But this is exactly what we have done in Britain and this is the reason why we are seeing the turmoil in our Parliament that is reflected across the nation.

The plain fact is we have brought judgment upon ourselves, one of the consequences of which is listed in Deuteronomy 28:28 as “madness, blindness and confusion of mind”, which we can see clearly by watching the debates in Parliament.

Hope for the New Year

But the Bible does not only warn us of the consequences of rejecting truth. It also sets out the remedy. Jeremiah was given a promise from God that applies to any nation at any time: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jer 18:7).

The circumstances of the giving this promise should give us great hope and encouragement as a message for the New Year.

You cannot ignore fundamental standards of truth that are part of the creation of the universe without bringing disaster upon society.

Jeremiah was told to go to the potter’s shop where he watched the potter at work. The clay he was using simply did not run in his hands so he was unable to form it into the shape in his mind. He stopped the wheel and Jeremiah probably expected to see him throw that obstinate bit of clay into the dust across the floor of his workshop. But instead, the potter patiently kneaded it back into a ball, put it on the wheel and carefully made it into a pot. It was not the beautiful vase he originally envisioned but it was a useful pot that would no doubt serve a busy housewife.

From this, Jeremiah learned a message about God’s love and forgiveness. We all of us mess up our lives at some point; but God never abandons us, in the same way as the potter did not throw away that bit of clay. When we confess our sinfulness and our need of his love, he immediately re-makes our lives, as the potter re-shaped the clay.

This is the message of hope that God wishes to convey to us for 2019.

Shameful treatment of Jewish ‘illegal immigrants’ recalled as migrant crisis takes hold

Among the incidents reported over a Christmas period during which I was largely preoccupied with the death of my dear mother were the illegal immigrant crisis and the potential disaster of a rogue drone that brought Gatwick Airport to a standstill. There is a poignant connection between the two that has an important message for Britain in the new year.

Jews trying to escape the gas chambers were once prevented by the British from entering their own fatherland, a nation that has now come to our rescue by providing the technology used to ground the unmanned flying machine.

Before, during and immediately after World War II, British soldiers were ordered to deal with ‘illegal immigrants’ to Israel, and the grossly insensitive way in which they handled it still reverberates in the hearts of those who experienced it and their descendants.

The greatest injustice of that tardy episode in our history was the fact that Britain had been charged by the League of Nations to prepare the Holy Land for re-settlement by Jews who had been scattered and persecuted among the nations for almost 2,000 years.

It was thus an obvious refuge for Jews desperately trying to flee Nazi-occupied Europe. But in order to appease the region’s Arab population, who used violence and intimidation to discourage Jewish repatriation, we disgracefully limited the quota of immigrants.

Although we had recognised, finally, that you couldn’t negotiate with fanatical dictators like Hitler, we failed to apply the same lesson to our dealings with the Arabs of the Middle East.

Where Are You My Child?

The story of one particular family, as told by Aliza Ramati in Where Are You My Child? (published by Zaccmedia), is especially harrowing and helps to bring the current migrant crisis into perspective.

Theirs was a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire – escaping from the Fuhrer’s claws only to be crunched by the jaws of the British lion. After fleeing Czechoslovakia in November 1940, they eventually joined 1,800 refugees boarding a rickety old ship designed to carry only 300 people.

The grossly insensitive way in which Britain handled Jewish immigration to Israel still reverberates in the hearts of those who experienced it and their descendants.

Because they didn’t have the necessary papers, the crew were reluctant to press on with any haste for fear of incurring the wrath of the authorities themselves, so the desperate passengers kept bribing them with jewellery and other gifts. But the journey was perilous, with much sickness and death. And when, after some months, they finally caught sight of Haifa, they were surrounded by the British navy who treated them like dogs before re-routing them to detention camps in the faraway Indian Ocean island of Mauritius as well as in Atlit, near Haifa.

The Exodus, the most famous ship carrying Jewish immigrants back to the Land. Photo taken in 1947, after the British boarded the vessel.Some were transferred to a bigger ship, the SS Patria, which was subsequently blown up and sunk with the loss of 250 lives.

The Haganah, an underground Jewish movement fighting the British, planted a bomb on the vessel with the apparent intention of only disabling it in order to prevent the deportation of its passengers, but the plan went horribly wrong.

As a result, the family at the centre of this true story got separated in the chaos following the explosion – husband from wife, and wife from baby, feared drowned. Another described swimming to safety through a sea of blood. But a Viennese man had saved the child, who was reunited with his mother some time later.

The family somehow survived their ordeals to realise their dream of settling in Israel, though it took a circuitous route via Mauritius where, with the help of the Czech consulate in South Africa, the storyteller’s grandfather enlisted as a Czech soldier fighting the Germans and was eventually posted to Israel, where he deserted in order to join the Haganah.

His wife, however, was treated with compassion by one British officer, who paid for it with imprisonment and who wrote: “I joined the British army with the intention of fighting the Nazis…To my sorrow, I was not sent to the battlefield, as I had hoped. Instead, I was sent here to assist in taking care of the Jewish illegal immigrants…I’m a soldier, and I must obey orders, but I am doing everything I can in order not to lose my humanity…”.

Exploring the Jewish roots of our faith adds clarity and insight to the truths of Scripture.

Connecting to Our Roots

The book is the product of a school ‘Roots’ project undertaken by 13-year-old Roni, who successfully traced the tortuous and heroic path of her ancestors with the aid of cassette recordings of her great-grandparents.
Family tree searches have become quite fashionable – and that’s a good thing as knowledge of our roots helps us appreciate the positive influences of past generations.

In the same way, it is vitally important and hugely enriching for Christians to explore the Judaic roots of their faith, adding clarity and insight to the great truths of Scripture which, of course, came to us through the Jewish people and patriarchs.

A better understanding of our roots might well have prevented much of the persecution suffered by Jews at the hands of ‘Christian’ Europe.

Western civilisation itself is based on the framework of biblical teaching perfectly reflected in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, and if we cut ourselves off from its influence, we will lose the sap that gives us life, light, wisdom and compassion – and will wither and die as a tree does when cut off from its roots (see Rom 11:17f).

The future of our civilisation depends on remaining connected to these roots. Those who oppose Israel need to understand that we cannot do without them. Even the technology that brought down the drone at Gatwick was developed in Israel, whose expertise in dealing with terror is proving beneficial to all.¹

The future of Western civilisation depends on our remaining connected to our Judeo-Christian roots.

As for the Iranian and other migrants risking their lives trying to cross the Channel, there is a need for compassion, mixed with wisdom. Above all, we must not repeat the shameful response of the British to the Jews trying to escape the gas chambers.

Jesus famously said: “Do to others what you would have them do to you” – the so-called ‘golden rule’ – “for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 7:12).

References

1 Israeli anti-Drone Technology Helps Reopen London’s Gatwick Airport. United with Israel, 23 December 2018. 

Don’t let the media steer your priorities this year.

As we enter another calendar year (albeit on the Roman rather than the biblical calendar), what will be the central focus of our attention as a society, and as individuals? A delayed vote on the Brexit ‘deal’? Concerns over immigration? Climate change? The fortunes of our favourite sporting team? The next TV cooking competition?

We can be sure that the news media will be full of their own top priorities, all shouting loudly to draw our attention. Three days after Christmas, I ran a search on the name ‘Jesus’ on the BBC website. Among a multitude of news items, sporting fixtures and scores, entertainment, travel and so on, apart from a small amount of archived material, Jesus was barely mentioned: a late-night Christmas Day programme, an early morning Sunday radio show, and an upcoming Daily Service on 14 January. Nowhere else.

Yet, unless Jesus is at the centre of all that we think and do, our focus will be out of balance and our priorities skewed more towards worldly affairs and opinions than we might realise. In this fast-paced, media-driven culture we must be careful to check our priorities, even as Christians - that would be a good new year resolution for all of us!

Check Your Sources!

Personally, I have become more concerned than ever about the way the media focusses our attentions and dictates our concerns. We can be beguiled into thinking that the latest BBC news headline is the key issue in the world. But the choices of news editors can blinker us away from what might be God's priorities.

When I was a child I was brought up in a working class family and worked with my father on building sites, where I am glad to have come into contact with many ‘ordinary’ folk. I was impressed by the depth of understanding that they seemed to have of political affairs, debated hotly in the tea and lunch breaks. It was only in later years that I smiled when I realised that most were only expressing the opinions that they read in their daily papers, such as the Daily Mirror. Many of these workmen had their choice of newspaper in their pocket as they went to work.

Unless Jesus is at the centre of all that we think and do, our focus will be out of balance and our priorities skewed more towards worldly affairs and opinions than we might realise.

In conversations I have had this Christmas break, I was struck again by the way opinions across all social classes are still formed by the media. It was standard media opinions and the arguments of charismatic media personalities that were used by my non-believing friends to defend evolution against creationism, or LGBTQ+ ‘rights’, or to debate questions of our membership of the EU, or President Trump, Theresa May and so on.

"Check your sources!" is my constant cry against arguments that are too often based on no solid foundations. Certainly the mainstream media is not usually a primary source of truth, even if it is a primary source for opinion.

Steering Public Opinion

I read Andrew Marr's book, My Trade, recently and this confirmed my view of much corruption in the news industry: always seeking a headline (whether true, part-true or contrived) in order to make sales. Fake news is a new term, but it is not a new issue. Fake news or biased news reporting has permeated news media from its inception.

Not all is bad and rotting of course, but overall, the general public is often faced with a variety of selected ‘news’ stories that they cannot check and which are cleverly contrived to steer their opinion in a certain direction.

What we witness in the public arena is a power struggle for who shall govern our nation. The media has a legitimate place to hold politicians to account, but it has become a manipulating power that often weakens government instead of strengthening it. This adds daily to the corruption which is all around us - a corruption that is deepening because Jesus – the Truth - is no longer the central focus in our nation.

Generation Gap

Young people are not always as beguiled as older generations by what they see in the news arena. They have grown up in a world where you can no longer believe what you see. I discovered this from other conversations that I had this holiday season. These conversations made me wonder whether I really understand our younger generation who, through their own interactive and online communities, seem to be separating themselves away from a failing world.

The mainstream media is not usually a primary source of truth, even if it is a primary source for opinion.

The up-side is that many young people are thinkers. The down-side is that they are vulnerable and susceptible due to our cultural drift away from the Gospel message (which many young people have never heard). The nation is ripe for a youth-led revolution: but whether an uprising or a revival - it could go either way.

Jesus at the Centre

My challenge for 2019, therefore, is for us who know him to bring Jesus fully into the centre of our lives once more: to see things as he sees them and not according to worldly agendas that make no reference to him.

The Bible speaks so often, though sometimes in mysteries to be understood through prayer, about the days in which we live - days like the days of Noah or of Sodom and Gomorrah - days leading up to the return of Jesus, on which we need to be focussed more and more.

Perhaps, if Christians were to strengthen their focus on our Lord, then he may be gracious enough to revive us once more and through us speak truth to this needful generation. The days are urgent.