“Watch out that no one deceives you!”

The incalculable effects of faithfully sowing gospel seeds among the young

The tragedy of 39 migrant deaths is a reminder of some uncomfortable truths.

Tail wags the dog as pupils take to the streets in protest.

On the need to guard our hearts.

Not a day seems to go by at the moment without some drastic event or other filling our newspapers and screens – not helped, of course, by 24/7 broadcasting, Twitter and every other way in which modern technology allows us to access events all over the world almost in real time. The effect on our hearts, minds and spirits can be overwhelming. We are on information overload - more so than any other generation in human history.

This week, continuing demonstrations in Hong Kong against Chinese tyranny have vied for airtime with growing instability in Kashmir, more devastation in Syria, the US-China trade war, a possible arms race between the US and Russia and escalating tensions with Iran in the Gulf. And of course we cannot and should not forget the mass murders of Christians happening across North Africa virtually every day, though they go largely unreported.

Never mind Brexit and Project Fear: the global ‘birth pangs’ heralding the return of our Messiah genuinely seem to be increasing in both frequency and intensity.

Bloodshed Follows Bloodshed

Perhaps most shocking of all this week has been news of the two mass shootings in the USA, claiming 22 lives in Texas and nine in Ohio, both carried out by deeply disturbed young men (aged 21 and 24, respectively). At the same time, at home we heard of a young child being hurled off a high viewing platform at the Tate Modern in London, allegedly an unprovoked attack by a teenage boy.

Surely God’s lament through the Prophet Hosea to morally degenerate Israel is pertinent: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed” (Hos 4:1-2).

Children Plotting to Kill

When our children and young people are plotting to kill, something is drastically wrong: this very concept is awful and provocative, and should be prompting searching questions.

But when the US shootings were first reported, I reacted probably in much the same way as many did: a few moments thinking how terribly regrettable it all was, before getting on with my day. It wasn’t until I read a testimony from the family of one of the victims, daring to forgive the perpetrator with true Christian grace, that I was actually brought to tears and prayer.

How easy it is, unless special care is taken, to grow accustomed to the gradual encroachment of evil as an ordinary part of everyday life.

How easy it is, unless special care is taken, to grow accustomed to the gradual encroachment of evil as an ordinary part of everyday life. We’ve seen it all too many times before; our hearts gradually harden to it, often imperceptibly. But the above verses from Hosea carry a warning: the spread of evil in a society and the departure of love are two sides of the same coin.

Pondering these things, I was reminded of Jesus’ salutary warning in Matthew 24, that “Because of the increase in wickedness [in the times of the end] the love of most will grow cold – but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (v12). Let’s consider this more for a moment.

Global Cooling?

How, precisely, might an increase in wickedness around the world threaten the love in our own hearts? Jesus’ description of love ‘growing cold’ here is translated using a Greek word (psuchó) meaning to breathe or blow on something in order to cool it down. Basic science teaches us that warm objects lose their heat when they are exposed to a cooler environment. Just so, spiritually: spending too much time immersed in contemplating the world’s evil is enough to cool the love in anyone’s heart even to numbness.

But another way objects can grow cold is by going underground, hiding away in places where neither day nor night can permeate. Just as the love of God in our hearts can be chilled by constant contemplation of evil, so a total refusal to acknowledge or face up to the realities of evil can have the same effect. This deliberate avoidance hardens hearts in self-defence.

A third way in which things grow cold is through inactivity, which perhaps speaks for itself as a spiritual problem. And a fourth way is through isolation – simply by not being near other sources of heat. Many Christians in Britain are finding themselves in a season of spiritual isolation at the present time; though God-given, these nevertheless come with their own challenges and are not intended to be permanent.

The spread of evil in a society and the departure of love are two sides of the same coin.

Staying Warm

Jesus followed his outline of the terrible days which will precede his return (Matt 24) with a series of parables designed to teach his disciples how to ‘stand firm to the end’, their hearts alive and warm: strengthened by time in the warmth of God’s presence, invigorated by the knowledge of his truth, goodness and victory.

These emphasise the need to be found prepared and filled with the Holy Spirit, faithful and active, wise, watchful and alert. Elsewhere in the New Testament the Apostles join the call for faithful, holy living (e.g. 2 Pet 3; 1 Tim 4; 2 Tim 3:1-4:5).

But, “over all these virtues put on love” (Col 3:14). It’s a cliché, but the fire of real, God-given love is the first and best antidote to these days in which we find ourselves.

Home schooling in Britain is growing rapidly - and with good reason.

It is August and the schools are closed for the holidays. Traditionally, this has been a time when children are with their parents, whether at home or on holiday – that special time of the year that offers opportunities for families to be together.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 comes to mind: a mandate given by God long ago, that all might go well with us. We can picture parents and children considering the beauty of God’s Creation on summer days when, walking and talking, they learn together about him.

Yet in this continuing season of political tension and upheaval, it is much more likely that we will be encouraged to dwell on the new Prime Minister’s tactics to win parliamentary battles (especially the battle to come out of Europe) than on how we might bring up the nation’s children in the ways of God.

Indeed, when September comes round and the schools re-open, for Christian parents the prospect of what will be taught to their children is of ever-growing concern. Watchmen in our nation, such as our own team at Prophecy Today and Issachar Ministries and others such as Christian Concern, inform us of more and more examples of the danger posed to our children through agendas at work within our educational establishments.

Godless Agendas

Unbiblical agendas such as those that have been imposed by the LGBTQ+ movement are impacting even the youngest primary school children, who are being driven to question their God-given biological gender.¹ The movement to eradicate belief in the God of Creation has long imposed itself and now we move on to the consequences, clearly outlined in Romans 1.

For Christian parents the prospect of what is being taught to their children in schools is of ever-growing concern.

Ungodly forces are being allowed to influence the teaching of our children and take them off that wonderful, God-given path for each one. “Train a child in the way he should go” (Prov 22:6) is the mandate given to parents, for which a sensitive, protected, God-given educational programme is needed whereby a child, nurtured first by parents and helped by teachers, learns how to walk with God themselves. Woe to those who perpetuate godless agendas in our schools. Jesus had these words of warning for them:

If anyone causes one of these little ones, those who believe in me, to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matt 18:6)

Pressure Upon Pressure

The latest LGBTQ+ pressures on children add to others already well-established and highlighted in Prophecy Today for many years. The bigger picture, over the longer term, is of powers of darkness at work to divide up families and destroy the faith of an entire generation.

For example, before our eyes are growing numbers of teenagers being drawn into gang warfare and knife crime, to the extent that MPs are now recommending police officers in schools.² Does this not illustrate a society that is increasingly unguarded against the seductive powers of evil?

Even Christian schools are under pressure, as central Government has taken it upon itself to impose pressures to conform to secular humanist ideals, especially through Ofsted. If Ofsted were encouraging biblically-based curricula and putting in measures to protect our children by reinforcing the God-given mandate that parents have been given, then we could be grateful. If instead, we find an increasing departure and enforcement of ungodly educational content and strategy (dubbed ‘muscular liberalism’ by Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman), then it is time to be very concerned.

The bigger picture, over the longer term, is of powers of darkness at work to divide up families and destroy the faith of an entire generation.

Enough is Enough?

Many Christian parents are alarmed at what is happening in schools because of Government pressures to conform, and are saying, ‘enough is enough’. According to Ephesians 6:4 and elsewhere in the Bible, it is parents who have responsibility for their children. In the coming days, I do not doubt that many will seek to withdraw from or avoid the growing corruption of the world, including that which is in many schools.

Home education of children is an obvious, and still legal, option, that has much support in the USA and which many Christian families in the UK are already pursuing with great success. The number of home-schooled children in Britain has doubled in the last four years.³ It could become even more widespread here if those of us with experience in education can help make it an attractive and meaningful possibility.

If there is not a major move of repentance across the nation as a whole, home education could be a vital means to strengthen Christian families for the days ahead. Education of our children in a Christ-centred way should be a central priority in this, and will require those with expertise to seek the Lord in considering how to provide support. Could this be part of God’s strategy for safeguarding faithful families in future? What part might you play?

References

1 It is interesting to note the furore which has broken out in Birmingham primary schools between school staff intent on imposing a radical LGBTQ+ agenda and concerned parents. Most of the parents protesting are Muslim, prompting some difficult questions for the Government on how to negotiate the competing demands of these two minority groups, Islam and LGBTQ+.

2 MPs call for police in schools to cut youth violence. BBC News, 31 July 2019.

3 See here. This is for a variety of reasons, one of which is undoubtedly the impulse of Christian parents to protect their children.

We ignore the basic building blocks of God’s Creation at our peril.

Recently I discovered a booklet lodged between two books on a shelf in my study. I had not seen it for many years. It had been given to me by a colleague in the LSE when I was lecturing in Sociology in London University. Its title is ‘The Gay Liberation Front Manifesto: London 1971’. Here are a few quotes from it.

Under the heading ‘Family’ it says:

The oppression of gay people starts in the most basic unit of society, the family, consisting of the man in charge, a slave as his wife, and their children on whom they force themselves as the ideal models. The very form of the family works against homosexuality.

Under the heading ‘Church’ it says:

Formal religious education is still part of everyone’s schooling, and our whole legal structure is supposedly based upon Christianity, whose archaic and irrational teachings support the family and marriage as the only permitted condition for sex.

Under ‘Compulsive Monogamy’ it says:

We do not deny that it is as possible for gay couples as for some straight couples to live happily and constructively together. We question however as an ideal, the finding and settling down eternally with one 'right' partner. This is the blueprint of the straight world which gay people have taken over.

Under ‘Aims’ it says:

The long-term goal of the London Gay Liberation Front, which inevitably brings us into fundamental conflict with the institutionalised sexism of this society, is to rid society of the gender-role system which is at the root of our oppression. This can only be achieved by the abolition of the family as the unit in which children are brought up. (emphasis added)

In sociological terms, the family is the basic unit in society responsible not only for passing on the culture from generation to generation, but for the stability of society as a whole. Once the family breaks down, all the structures of society are destabilised (it is important to grasp that what we are dealing with here is a foundational social issue, not a critique of a particular minority group).

The family is the basic unit in society responsible not only for passing on the culture from generation to generation, but for the stability of society as a whole.

The Cost of Broken Homes

When family life crumbles the first to be affected are children, who depend upon the family not only for learning the rules of society, culture and language, but also for their identity, protection, security and confidence. Millions of children are damaged every year by domestic violence, the breakup of their parents’ relationship and the upheaval of an unstable home-life.

In 1998 I was one of a group of academics who did a survey of family life in Britain and presented a report to the then-Home Secretary, Jack Straw MP. The report presented irrefutable proof that the heterosexual married couple family is the most stable form of family life and presents the best outcome for children. All other types of family leave children disadvantaged and negatively affect their future life-chances.

Jack Straw responded stating “The family is the building block of society”. He recognised the need to prioritise the married family and promised to publish a White Paper with Government measures to strengthen it. But he ran into problems in the Cabinet because the Blair Government had been heavily infiltrated by LGBTQ+ supporters who were strongly opposed to family and marriage. Straw was never able to publish the White Paper.

Family Matters

The report, ‘Family Matters’,¹ gave strong warnings of what would happen if there were no measures to strengthen the married family. It stated that the number of fatherless children will increase; so too will sexually transmitted diseases among young people. The number of insecurely attached and disturbed children will increase, worsening behavioural and mental health problems among schoolchildren. The cumulative effect of these and other trends will put pressure on the health and welfare services, resulting in a wide range of social problems.

The warnings were ignored - with the result we see today in our daily newspapers and on TV: knife crime, guns and drugs, self-harm (affecting one in five girls aged 13-16), and the rise in the suicide rate among young people, especially teenagers.²

But all this is only the tip of the iceberg of what will happen in the future if we continue breaking down gender differences among children in our primary schools. The level of mental health problems will go through the sky! Gender is a basic building block of God’s Creation which we ignore at our peril!!

Gender is a basic building block of God’s Creation which we ignore at our peril!

Warnings Ignored

We are in a similar position to the people in Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s time, when he sent a strong warning to the King, on a scroll read by a court messenger. King Jehoiakim, instead of taking careful note of the warnings, destroyed the scroll: “Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the King cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the brazier, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire” (Jer 36:23).

Jeremiah went back before God in his prayer time and heard the response: “I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them because they have not listened” (36:31). Then Jeremiah took another scroll and dictated similar words and a lot more warnings. As we know from history, the warnings were ignored and Jerusalem was destroyed, with thousands losing their lives.

Even those who are not Bible-believing Christians should be aware that the heterosexual married couple family is the only unit in our culture capable of maintaining the very fabric of our civilisation. If it is destroyed, which is the stated aim of the LGBTQ+ lobby, they will actually destroy the foundational structures of society in the Western nations, which can only lead to chaos.

Deafness in Church and State

Yet politicians and church leaders are deaf to all warnings. Either they are so incompetent that they cannot grasp simple facts; or they are bent on a suicide mission to destroy Western civilisation that will bring about their own demise along with millions of others. The Methodist Church in their Annual Assembly are due to debate same-sex marriage next week. Will the successors of John Wesley uphold his commitment to biblical truth, or will they acquiesce to the powers of darkness seeking the destruction of humanity?

Politicians and church leaders are deaf to all warnings.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has already set down a marker for the ‘Apostate Church’ of the last days by encouraging CofE Primary Schools to promote cross-dressing among little children,³ to prepare them for living in the brave new world that the LGBTQ+ lobby are intent upon creating. Jesus said that it would be better for those who harm children to be thrown into the sea and drowned.

Surely God will bring judgment upon those who distort his word and play havoc with the truth. Billy Graham said that if God does not bring judgment upon America he will have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah.

Surely the same applies to Britain. But what will our new Prime Minister do, whether it is Boris or Jeremy (Hunt or Corbyn…)? Will any one of our politicians recognise the threat to the future of our civilisation posed by the destruction of the family and have the courage to reverse the tide of change – and will believing Christians have the courage to hold them to account?

References

1 Download the full report here.

2 E.g. see here and here (p7).

3 The Independent, 13 November 2017.

Frances Rabbitts reviews ‘Same-Sex Parenting Research: A Critical Assessment’ by Walter R. Schumm (2018).

In a week when a former magistrate has lost his appeal over his right to express (even in private) Christian views about same-sex adoption, it seems especially pertinent to review this 2018 book from Wilberforce Publications on academic understandings of gay marriage and parenting.

In the second of two gold standard studies commissioned by the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life (the first was published in 2014 as The Marriage Files), US Professor of applied family science Walter R. Schumm provides a comprehensive review of the academic social science literature on the politically charged issue of same-sex parenting. In so doing, he challenges the claim, presented so often as incontrovertible, that same-sex partnerships are no different to heterosexual partnerships when it comes to the raising of children.

Schumm sets out to ‘follow the evidence where it leads’, unwilling to accept brazen claims of absolute academic consensus on this issue at face value. Undeterred by the many powerful enemies this has made him, Schumm not only presents a fair-minded review; he also levels a devastating critique at academia’s co-option by LGBTQ+ dogma, leading one scholar to label the book the “social science parallel to Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses being nailed to the Wittenberg Chapel door”.

Incorrect and Over-Blown Claims

The book is organised into 15 relatively short chapters grouped into six sections, making it easy to use for reference purposes. The main body of the research is contained in sections 2-5, with each chapter organised into ‘What has been claimed’, ‘What we know’, a critical assessment of the existing literature and a short conclusion. As the book progresses, a pattern quickly becomes evident: “the facts on the ground do not support many of the so-called ‘consensus’ claims” (p229) about the issue of same-sex parenting.

Part 1 is given to background information, including a summary of the LGBTQ+ challenge to traditional marriage, and social science theory on sexual morality, marriage and happiness. Part 2 starts with assessing the number of children raised by same-sex parents in the US. Here we gain an astonishing insight into the way academics can get their most basic facts wrong, rushing to echo wildly incorrect but convenient claims without due consideration: Schumm traces the oft-cited figure of 6-14 million children back to an unsubstantiated newspaper article, with the real figure more likely to be about 200,000.

Schumm challenges the claim, presented so often as incontrovertible, that same-sex partnerships are no different to heterosexual partnerships when it comes to the raising of children.

Other chapters confirm that academic claims about the benefits of same-sex parenting have also been vastly over-blown, with many gaping holes in the literature and lesser-known studies indicating that the real picture is more complicated. For instance, some research suggests that children of same-sex parents may be vastly less likely to enjoy a stable family home, and that children may act as destabilising factors in same-sex marriages (cf. they act as stabilising factors in heterosexual marriages).

Parts 3 and 4 focus on the impacts of same-sex parenting on children’s sexuality, gender identity, mental health and value systems. Schumm challenges the flat academic denial that same-sex parenting is any different to heterosexual parenting, citing newly emerged studies but also recognising the lack of research into this issue. In Part 5, we are given some insights into the potentially negative consequences of same-sex marriage and parenting on society as a whole, before Part 6 offers some conclusions.

Science ‘Thrown Under the Bus’

Schumm is obviously an expert in his field who balks at his profession being corrupted by politically-motivated claims that cannot be backed up by sound empirical evidence. He challenges anyone to conduct a wider-ranging and more scholastically sound review of the literature than he has managed here (his bibliography runs to 31 pages, a tenth of the book), with the same willingness to consider all the evidence - even that which doesn't fit the given narrative.

But he has done more than review sociological understandings of this issue: he provides an eye-opening account of how social science has largely capitulated in the ideological battle for Western culture, throwing itself “under the bus” (p225) to advance the LGBTQ+ cause.

Schumm points to the increasingly totalitarian atmosphere of higher education, with scholars who dare to deviate from the consensus position ignored, ridiculed, silenced or sacked. His epilogue and appendices are dedicated to reflecting on this professional cost of dissent, including his personal defence against his critics, and testimony about his own and colleagues’ experiences of being discredited and shut down.

Readers begin to understand that behind the culture wars in the West being fought in the courts, the papers and the schools, lie the hallowed halls of our universities, where most of the radical anti-Christian ideas that are now transforming our society were conceived and incubated.

Schumm is obviously an expert in his field who balks at his profession being corrupted by politically-motivated claims that cannot be backed up by sound empirical evidence.

Honest and Refreshing

Schumm’s devotion to scholarly excellence is refreshing, allowing the literature to speak for itself rather than imposing his own value judgments. He is not afraid to critique careless science, to offer caveats and clarifications, to anticipate counter-arguments and to acknowledge areas where further research is desperately needed. Much of this (including his statistical analyses) may not be directly useful to the lay reader, but it does underscore the author’s honesty and diligence, strengthening his credibility.

Do not be fooled into thinking that this book is not for you because it is an academic literature review – apart from being a helpful encouragement that ‘the science’ behind same-sex parenting is still developing and certainly does not discredit the common-sense view derived from Scripture, it is just as valuable for its window in on the battle for ideas raging in academia.

Though aimed predominantly at scholars and students, it is a surprisingly easy read that will be both accessible and relevant to church leaders, professionals and anyone seeking to better their own understanding of the issue. An ideal resource for anyone concerned to confront the gender ideology juggernaut and its over-simplistic, ideological claims with a more reasonable, evidence-based view of reality, written in the belief that science should be about searching for the truth, however inconvenient it may end up being.

‘Same-Sex Parenting Research: A Critical Assessment’ (308pp, paperback) is available from Amazon for £14. Also on Kindle. Read more on the Wilberforce Publications website.

Testimony: The harvest is ripe in our schools. Following Charles Gardner’s report last week on the positive response of schoolchildren in Doncaster to the Easter story and the Gospel message, we copy below a testimony from David and Jean Foster at the Manor Park Christian Centre in London, celebrating a similar openness in schools in Newham.

From David and Jean Foster

On the same note as Charles Gardner’s article, we have been astounded at the openness of the primary schools here in Newham to hearing about Christianity and the Gospel. Back in December, we had a primary school contact us (Manor Park Christian Centre) about sending 180 children before Christmas in order to share with the children the story about why Christians celebrate Christmas.

At the end of each two-hour session (the children were split into two groups of 90), we presented every classroom a copy of ‘The Christmas Story’ by J. John and gave every teacher a copy of the Gospel tract ‘Why Christmas’. During both of the sessions, I clearly explained the Gospel to the children and then prayed for them.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, we had 300 children come from three different primary schools over a two-day period to do ‘The Easter Experience’, promoted by the Christian organisation Faith in Schools. We offered six workshops for the children, all of which told the reason that Christians celebrate Easter. In one workshop, for instance, the children made an Easter garden while two of our ladies told them about the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus. We gave all the classes a copy of ‘The Easter Story’ by J. John and every teacher and many of the children took away the Gospel tract ‘Why Easter’. At the end of each of the four two-hour sessions (75 children in each), I clearly explained the Gospel to the children and then prayed for them.

98% of the children coming have never been inside a church building. The majority of the children come from families of Muslim backgrounds. I had one Muslim trainee teacher come up to me after I had prayed for the children and beg to also have a copy of ‘The Easter Story’ by J. John that I had given to every class.

Last week I had another primary school ‘begging’ me to allow them to bring their children to hear the stories about Jesus. So on 8-9 May we will be having another 90 children coming to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is quite obvious that the Lord, in his timing, is at work across the UK amongst the children and planting a hunger within their teachers to find out more about Christianity and this Jesus whom we worship.

God bless,

David

Please keep David, Jean and these school visits in your prayers.

Primary pupils awestruck by popular Easter project

It was an awesome privilege once again this Easter to find myself sharing the Gospel message with many hundreds of primary schoolchildren here in Doncaster.

With regard to the commandments of God which formed the bedrock of our national life today as well as that of Israel long ago, we are told: “Teach them to your children and to their children after them” (Deut 4:9).

As for keeping the Passover (fulfilled at Easter), we are similarly urged to pass on the message to the next generation: “In days to come when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery’” (Ex 13:14).

The Easter Journey

Though much of what we share is unfamiliar to this new generation, many schools warmly welcome our so-called ‘Easter Journey’ project. This involves a group of volunteers virtually taking over school premises for a morning, during which the children are invited to explore the meaning of what Christians believe.

With the aid of scenery, props, costumes and key roles being acted out, pupils are imaginatively transported to Jerusalem as they travel from Palm Sunday to the Passover meal known as the Last Supper, followed by the Garden of Gethsemane and the Good Friday crucifixion, before finally witnessing the wonder of the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

With regard to the commandments of God, we are told: “Teach them to your children and to their children after them”.

In setting the scene for the Upper Room meal, it’s been a sheer delight to explain the significance of the occasion to so many children over the past ten days. Most of them are polite and well behaved – and some of the schools are in quite tough areas.

Volunteers work hard to get the right table setting for the Last Supper for each of up to nine groups of children. Photo: Charles GardnerJudging by the wide-eyed attention of these seven to eleven-year-old pupils, the words and pictures conveyed will no doubt have found much good soil for seeds of faith to germinate.

The Fields are Ripe!

This is the tenth year of the project, for which schools are queuing up; unfortunately, we have to turn down invitations for lack of resources. The feedback from teachers accompanying the groups on the journey is invariably upbeat, speaking of the sense of wonder being captured.

Indeed, the fields are ripe for harvest, yet many Christians are under the mistaken impression that schools are closed to the Gospel. We know there are aggressive atheists working towards that end, but the national curriculum still encourages Christian visitors to share what they believe in the classroom.

Linda Gardner, who became a Christian herself through a Gideon Bible received in school, has been engaging Doncaster’s primary pupils with the Gospel message for the past 24 years, through assemblies and RE lessons as well as special projects such as Christmas and Easter Journeys.

Employed by a trust¹ supported by churches, her diary is bulging with appointments at schools straddling a wide geographical area. About half the borough’s 100 primary schools have been reached on a regular basis over the years, while Linda’s colleague Dan Budhi is making an impact in the secondary schools.

Many Christians are under the mistaken impression that schools are closed to the Gospel, but the fields are ripe for harvest.

The message – particularly of the Easter Journey – is of a loving God who has come to rescue us from slavery to sin and degradation, and whose sacrificial blood cleanses and sets us free. It’s a message that brought freedom to an ancient people who had been slaves for 430 years, and that brought freedom to us in Britain as we turned from paganism to the living God and became world leaders.

Linda Gardner, heading up Christian work in Doncaster’s primary schools. Photo: Charles GardnerMost importantly, in the schools, it’s a message that can change lives. And we pray they will never forget it. This is, after all, why we are urged to celebrate the major festivals – for the crucial lesson they teach us to remember about the path to freedom.

Remembering Hope

Young people have never been so helpless, fatherless and without love, care and discipline. My prayer is that – should darkness, despair or loneliness threaten to lead them astray – these children will remember the lesson of the rescuing servant King who died because he loves each and every one of them; and how, like the Red Sea opening up to let the Israelites cross to freedom, he was raised from the dead to be with us forever.

I pray also that, if ever any of them should be caught up in a web of violence, drugs or sexual abuse, they will recall the hope we shared with them. For no-one is beyond the reach, and help, of Jesus, as the powerful testimony of Bishop Ron Archer forcefully brings home.

As a distraught ten-year-old, he held a gun to his head wanting to end his short life. But something stopped him, and God soon began speaking to him through the scriptures.

This is a message that can change lives – and we pray that the children will never forget it.

From Pain to Power

Addressing an international conference of the Bible-distributing Gideon movement, the bishop shared how – as a so-called ‘trick baby’ born to a prostitute and one of her clients – he had come to that dark moment.

His mum became pregnant at 16. It wasn’t supposed to happen and the pimps to whom she was indebted did everything they could to kill the unborn child with drugs, alcohol and repeated kicking and stabbing.

But the baby refused to die and was born two months prematurely with neither pancreas nor bladder, unable to function properly and later developing a severe stutter as he grew up being physically abused.

“That baby was me. Life was so horrific with so much vitriol and pain that by the age of ten I had had enough and wanted to die,” Ron recalled.

Then the miracle happened. “There was a teacher with a Gideon Bible who came to my school and saw dysfunctional kids like me as her mission field. She would read me stories of dysfunctional characters whom God used – like Moses, who was also a stutterer. She said, ‘Ronaldo, God will turn your pain into power.’

“And I began to understand there was hope for me. I began to memorise the Bible, I stopped stuttering, stopped wetting my bed…and eventually became a pastor until everyone in my family got saved.”

He said everything changes “when a child begins to understand the love of God and the power of his Word,” adding: “I may have been a ‘trick baby’, but the trick was on the devil because of you [Gideons] and the power of the Word of God.”

For Ron’s full testimony, click here.

References

1 Doncaster Schools Worker Trust, in association with Scripture Union.