Our man in Japan

Filled the hungry with good things.. Luke 1:53 Today, pasta salad for breakfast. So easy to make. I can't help feeling Mr Ramos saw no future at Wendys. Perhaps people looked down on him for working in fast food. There's a joke in England: What do you say to a sociology major who's just graduated? Can I have fries with that? But as Anthony Bourdain would tell you, you can go a long way if you learn how to cook well. So God bless everyone today working at Wendys or in catering & taking pride in what they do. Feeding people is an honorable profession. I enjoyed my 6 months with McDonalds. The management were sometimes unkind, as were the clients, but the team I worked with were great. God bless them. 

Some of the evil men.. Acts 17:5 I'd never heard of Seth Smith until today. A brilliant economics student, completing his degree at Berkeley early, he was shot dead on a walk by a black dude who seems to have hated him simply because he was young, white & maybe privileged. I like going for walks. It is cheaper than joining a gym. Shame it isn't safe to go for a walk in some parts of Democratic California. The media of course buried this story because it was a black guy shooting a white guy. If a promising young black student was shot dead by a 60 year old white guy you'd have never heard the end of it. 

Did not know that it was Jesus.. John 20:14 So much violence in the world could be prevented if people remembered that our enemies are made in the image of God & we are called to love them. 

See how they are doing.. Acts 15:36 Many an atheist will tell you about how the move away from religion in the West has made our lives better. I don't see it. To me, the age we live in is a Dark Age- look at today's paper, 16 year old stabbed to death by three lads in Manchester, how is 2022 any kind of golden age? 

Abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality.. Acts 15:20 So much killing in the US, so many boys without fathers. In the debate about guns, the Democrats seem unwilling to admit that they themselves advocate the killing of small children under certain circumstances. How is a boy to become a righteous man when he isn't taught what is true or righteous, but only what is utilitarian? 

We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22 If the answer to violence in Texas is less guns, why is Biden convinced the answer to violence in Ukraine is more guns? 

They do not know the voice of strangers.. John 10:5 A 14 year old boy (unnamed by the media) has been found guilty of murdering a 12 year old girl in Liverpool. Stabbed her to death: God rest little Ava's soul. This is not the first time kids have been found guilty of killing kids on Merseyside. I used to teach kids in that city, as a student teacher. I remember being troubled that a lad in the class I was working with saw Mike Tyson as a hero even though Tyson had been found guilty of rape. Britain, and the West in general, is raising a generation of kids to whom Jesus, and the 10 commandments, have become strangers. This is not good at all for society. 

The thief does not come except to steal, & kill, & destroy. John 10:10 Before you worship at a Shinto shrine, read a little history. 

Feed my lambs.. John 21:15 It's clear remoaners who aren't the sharpest tools in the box think Brexit is responsible for inflation in America... 🙄

As yet they did not know the Scripture.. John 20:9 Madonna the pop star is reaching out to Pope Francis. She tweeted to him recently. I hope she finds her way back to the Church. God bless her: she has done some bad things but so have we all. 

Jesus did not say to him that he would not die.. John 21:23 Our lives have an end point. It is no good planning for your retirement if you don't have a plan to avoid hell. 

The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.. Acts 10:44 The Holy Spirit is the 3rd Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Christian Godhead. He is a divine Person in His own right, but exactly how he relates to Christ & the Father is part of the divine mystery. Different groups within the Church tend to emphasize different aspects of the Holy Spirit's work. Pentecostals & charismatics, the fastest growing parts of the Christian church, stress the supernatural gifts, especially healing & speaking in new languages or tongues, while more traditional denominations tend to emphasize the fruit of the Holy Spirit, such as joy & peace evident in a Christian's life. See the letters of St Paul for more details, plus the Gospels of Luke, & John, and the book I quote above, Acts of the Apostles. 

It is [Jesus] who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living & the dead. Acts 10:42 Nobody messes with the Jesus. 

Why are you doing these things? Acts 14:15 Sartre famously said: L'enfer c'est les autres. (Hell is other people). I think I would prefer to say: Others are a mystery. Only God knows fully why we do what we do. 

A just man, one who fears God & has a good reputation.. Acts 10:22 So it seems the Chinese nationalist that unjustly shot up the harmless Taiwanese church in California has no fear of God. Very unwise. How is that working out for him? It seems he will very likely die in prison, & then find something worse. Unless he repents. I hope he does. 

Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you.. Luke 6:22 Shenanigans up in Wakefield at the Labour Party selection for the by-election. It seems the local committee is being undemocratically shut out as Corbynites by Kier's NEC. I'm no Corbynite, far from it, but if the local party is extreme left, democracy means that they should win the selection. Labour doesn't deserve the seat. 

The One seated on the throne said, "See, I make all things new." Revelation 21:5 What will a New Japan look like? What change do you want to see? What change is God bringing about? 

They attempted to kill him.. Acts 9:29 Those Chinese communists have just arrested 90 year old Cardinal Zen. 

Even though they found no charge against him that deserved death, they asked Pilate to have him executed.. Acts 13:28 Nicola "Tiny MacWitch" Sturgeon, the leader of Scotland, has come out strongly in favour of abortion "rights". Whatever those are. Because every person should have the right to kill an innocent child if they feel like it? But for those of you on the left that actually buy this kind of language re abortion rights, let me quote one of your own: Ernesto Laclau, former Professor of Political Theory at Essex. He writes: "In order to assert the rights of people as human beings, we have to make an abstraction of differences of race, gender, status, and so on. Here again we have abstractions which produce concrete historical effects in so far as they are incarnated in institutions, codes, practices, & so forth. " (from Structure, History & the Political) The 'concrete historical effect' produced in Scotland (or any other country ) f...

Who had charge of all her treasury.. Acts 8:27 The LDP has been running Japan more or less uninterrupted for decades. 1960-80 probably they did a pretty reasonable job, by and large. Japan became rich. 1980-2022 not so much. Japan is now trillions in debt. Just this week under Kishida sama the debt swelled to the largest it has ever been. I hope you watched every hour of the Tokyo Olympics & the coronation of the Emperor because if you are a tax payer in Japan you will probably be paying for those things for the rest of your life. Which may be shorter than it has been in the past. 

Pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.. Acts 8:22 Tabloid newspapers often focus on horrific crimes & scandals. This week in the US a female prison boss ran off with an inmate, sadly killing herself before they were finally captured. Most of us don't end up in quite such a public tragedy. Many outwardly respectable people don't like to consider themselves sinners, & thus reject the Christian gospel. The Good News of Jesus saving us from our sins is only good news if you understand that you have sins. And this is where liberal secular humanism is so harmful. It lies to children, in telling them they are ok, & basically good, when the opposite is true. Imagine for one moment that lady I mentioned earlier: don't you think, the day before she somehow crossed the line & started 'falling in love' with a hardened criminal, she probably considered herself one of the respectable..? In God's eyes, usually the sin starts much ear...

The Kingdom of God.. Acts 8:12 The Queen may be too old at 96 to open Parliament this year, God bless her, but the Kingdom of God never decays or wears out.

They stirred up the people.. Acts 6:12 Protesting outside the homes of conservative Supreme Court justices & publishing their addresses online is a new low for the left & is a clearly illegal attempt at intimidation, which should be prosecuted accordingly. 

He rebuked their unbelief & hardness of heart.. Mark 16:14 If you talk to a materialist about this passage, they will swiftly deny any symbolic or poetic use of heart language to describe the centre of human emotional intelligence & will, & insist that the heart is merely an organ that pumps blood. But even the most atheistic of heart surgeons will be forced to admit that hardening of the arteries is a real problem.

We ought to obey God rather than men. Acts 5:29 Very disappointed that leftist newspapers are characterizing moves to restrict abortion in America as "far right". When did saving the lives of small children ever become a priority for Hitler? 🙄 The common sense is with the Catholic position, & to disguise their own extremism feminists are reduced to a basic dishonesty. 

The very hairs of your head are all numbered.. Luke 12:7 Well, the numbers are coming in: it's still early yet but it's the Lib Dems that are the biggest winners so far. Do I prefer Davey to Starmer? To be honest, I don't know where Davey stands on a lot of things, but I definitely don't want Starmer ever to be PM. We will see. God is still in full control, and knows all the details far better than us..

Why did the nations rage, & the people plot vain things? Acts 4:25 So, local elections in Britain today. Is Britain in a mess? Yes. Is voting for more lefty councillors going to help? Nope. Not one iota. Giving the loonies on the left any more power at all is an extremely bad idea. I'm old enough to remember how Labour bankrupted a great city like Liverpool. If you want more of that, vote Labour! 

Uneducated & untrained.. Acts 4:13 Which is the bigger scandal? The fact that in Afganistan women are likely to be unable to access a decent high school education, or that in America many women after spending 10s of 1000s of $s on an expensive college education come out into the "real world" thinking killing girl children before they are born is somehow OK? 🤔😔

By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. Acts 4:10 Those who are inclined to regard Acts as anything less than factual have 2000 years of Christian healing miracles to explain away. Here in Japan only recently, the wife of a Shinto priest was healed by Christian prayer. The dude admitted he'd convert only he was worried about losing his job..

The wise took oil.. Matthew 25:4 Biden's first move as Prez was related to environmental idealism rather than any sort of pragmatic policy. Meanwhile Indonesia apparently is refusing to export Palm oil. Liberals may think shooting yourself in the foot makes sense, but the rest of the world doesn't. 

Disciples of all the nations.. Matthew 28:19 Are you good at languages? Enjoy exploring other cultures? On fire for God & His Church? Have you thought about being a missionary? Japan needs more Christian missionaries, but these days, so does Scotland!! Pray about it! 🤔