Healthcare and election manifesto promises
05 May 2017
The main political parties have published their manifestos, and leaders have taken to the airwaves to define their ideas and criticise those of their opponents. There is a degree of common ground between Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat proposals on health. With the population living longer and more people living with long-term conditions, more seamless care will become a central challenge in the next parliament. Funding for social care for the elderly and vulnerable has been cut by 16 % recently. Although the Care Act brings clarity and consistency to social care entitlements, it will not end social care rationing. All three manifestos promote the importance of joined-up care, particularly for the elderly and chronically ill. We can praise God that this need is recognised, and pray that positive pledges will be implemented now that all parties have got the message that the NHS needs additional funding to survive.
Rev Gavin Ashenden, one of 33 chaplains to the Queen, had become involved in a controversy because he openly criticised the reading of the Qu’ran in an Epiphany church service in which Muslims took part. During the service, which celebrated the wise men’s visit to Bethlehem and their acknowledgment of Jesus being God in human form, passages from the Qu’ran were read in Arabic stating that Jesus was not the Son of God. Rev Ashenden said he needed to resign from his post to avoid any misunderstanding that his statements were said on behalf of the Queen. He added, ‘I think it a higher and more compelling duty to speak out on behalf of the faith than to retain a public honour which precludes me doing so at this time.’
Global Mapping International (GMI) will close on 30 June - three decades after it began as a two-year global mapping project. ‘We thought we’d get it done in two years,’ GMI president and CEO Jon Hirst said. ‘Then we realised that the nature of gathering information for the Great Commission was never-ending. That led to us becoming an independent research organisation supporting the global Church.’ Its publication Operation World and other resources have helped foreign missionaries become more effective, with custom maps, infographics, etc. Hirst said that a changing approach to mission and funding structure has forced GMI to close. The need for independent mission research hasn’t disappeared, and he hopes a new group will step forward to take it up. He said, ‘God blesses causes and people, He doesn’t bless organisations. The structures of the 20th century won’t always be able to withstand the changes of the 21st.’ Before closing, GMI will give away all its research.
A Government without God
05 May 2017
Stephen Green of Christian Voice recently wrote, ‘Our leaders try to run things in their own wisdom. Even though our Queen was anointed to reign under the authority of God in the Name of Jesus Christ and given the Holy Bible as “the rule for the whole life and government of Christian princes,” her ministers have passed law after law in opposition to the will of God.’ Good laws might not make men good, but they can restrain the wicked, and bad laws encourage evil. We must pray for our Government as never before, and pray that God will raise up men like John Knox and John Wesley in Britain today to call the nation to repentance. Pray for our nation and its people to turn from the belief that mankind knows best and to trust in God again. Pray for Christians in Parliament and all who are led by God’s Spirit in positions of authority to be strong in His power.
Christian doctor condemns IVF egg-sharing scheme
05 May 2017
The health watchdog is looking into claims that women are being offered free IVF treatment if they give away half of their healthy eggs. Undercover reporters from the Daily Mail went to one clinic, and recorded a consultant talking about how thousands of pounds change hands for donated eggs. In one recording a nurse says, 'It's just like giving blood.' The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) says donations are supposed to be voluntary and unpaid. Dr Trevor Stammers is a Christian medical ethics expert and a former GP. He is also a lecturer at St Mary's University in Twickenham in London. He said the HFEA needs to act. ‘This story is extremely sad, disturbing but actually not surprising. Fertility treatment is extremely costly and women seeking it are very vulnerable, so the power of a doctor to persuade a woman to donate eggs for others is extremely powerful.’ He added that the HFEA needs a radical overhaul and more funding.
Ashers refuses again to make a gay cake
05 May 2017
Northern Ireland bakery Ashers has refused to make an engagement cake with a same-sex marriage slogan for a man and his partner. Joe Palmer, who is to wed long-term love Andy Wong this summer, says he’s hurt by the refusal to bake the cake ordered. This has happened just weeks after a landmark Court of Appeal ruling against Ashers, a bakery run by the McArthurs, a Christian family. The ruling was that Ashers had discriminated against a customer due to his sexuality when they refused his order for a cake with a pro-gay marriage motto. This time a friend, Grainne McCann, ordered and paid for the cake online, only to have the order rejected the next day. The wording requested for the cake was ‘Gay marriage rocks! Happy engagement Andy and Joe! Lots of love xxx’. Grainne said, ‘The cake was refused because it celebrated gay marriage.’
Europe and Islam
05 May 2017
Historian David Engels predicts that Europe faces the fate of the ancient Roman Republic - a civil war. Some are now saying, ‘Jihadists seem to be leading an assault against freedom and secular democracies.’ Mainstream media are asking if Europe fears Muslims more than the USA does. We can pray against fears occupying the collective imagination of Europeans. A survey of 10,000+ Europeans from ten different countries revealed increasing public opposition to Muslim immigration, with 55% agreeing that all further migration from mainly Muslim countries should be stopped. Islamists take culture and history more seriously than Westerners. In Paris, an Egyptian terrorist attempted to deface artwork in the Louvre because ‘it is a powerful symbol of French culture’. We can pray for every aspect of Godly heritage rooted deep in European culture to be revived not reviled.
Kingdom view: Europe shall be saved!
05 May 2017
A new chapter has opened in European history. For the first time a member state is leaving. The EU needs citizens who identify with the European project after becoming increasingly sceptical over recent years. A new balance of power is needed between the EU’s Council and Commission and its member states. No one is comfortable in seasons of change where the future is not yet born. But a growing number of recognised leaders say that God is preparing a very special time for Europe in the near future. At a small conference last autumn in Switzerland, they received the vision that God will save 100 million in Europe during the next ten years. Breath-taking? Past revivals saw things happen which nobody could have anticipated in either quality or quantity. This can happen in Europe! They heard a word from God, a word which only the Lord himself can proclaim, ‘Europe shall be saved!’