Our man in Japan

At that time you were without Christ.. Ephesians 2:12 So the police 🚓 finally have a guy for the quadruple murder in Idaho. A guy doing a PhD in criminal justice at Washington State, no less. What went wrong? Smart as hell, yet spiritually way way off course, it seems, if they have got the right man, which is to be hoped. 

We draw near to God.. Hebrews 7:19 Pelé is dead. Pope Benedict seems to be dying.

Without father, without mother .. Hebrews 7:3 Many kids these days lose a parent early on, to divorce rather than death. Both of my parents died before I was 30. I think that is worse than average, but clearly many have it worse than I did. If you are facing the New Year without a loved one, please remember that God is truly Our Father in Heaven, & He does care for us & wants to help us. He is a perfect parent, unlike our folks down here. 

Those who were once enlightened, & have tasted the heavenly gift .. Hebrews 5:4 Buddhists are wrong to see Buddha as completely enlightened. Any enlightenment he truly had was partial at best. Yes, he had the wisdom & sense to reject the Hinduism of his day, but his disciples see him as wiser than he was.  Similarly, historians who see the "Age of Enlightenment" starting with Descartes, Voltaire, Shelley & Paine are mistaken. Building a society on secular rationalism had led Europe & America to the sorry impasse where we are now. Even the Greens recognize the industrial revolution was a mixed blessing, bringing pollution in its wake. True enlightenment respects the Bible, learns from the Church, and doesn't reject Christ.  

The Word of God is living & powerful.. Hebrews 4:12 St John the Evangelist is celebrated today. His Gospel is one of the best & most influential books ever written. If you haven't read it yet, do yourself a favour & make sure you do in 2023. 

He who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 10:22 Depressed or lonely this Christmas? Well you've made it to the feast of St Stephen, let's at least make it to 2023. Please don't hurt yourself. 

Handle Me & see, for a spirit does not have flesh & bones as you see I have...  Luke 24:39 God becoming man. A wonderful, marvelous thing. God sharing in our humanity. The incarnation is the crux of Christian belief. I know Shintoists used to say the Emperor was divine, as did the ancient Romans, but these were just superstitions, not reality. Jesus proved who He is by the miracles, & the Resurrection.  Ignorant atheists tend to argue Jesus didn't exist, but that is a very uninformed view of the actual historical evidence. We have more evidence for Jesus than just about anyone else from that time period. 

The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory ... Ephesians 1:17 What else to talk about on Christmas Eve but Christ Himself, God's 🎁 gift to us each Christmas. 

Sees the wolf coming.. John 10:12 A tragedy in Scotland. Women's rights were betrayed & undermined yesterday with the approval of a pro trans 'Gender recognition' bill. Scottish women & girls are less safe today than they were yesterday. 

They profess to know God.. Titus 1:16 It is becoming clearer that the person most responsible for Jan 6 is Pelosi herself. No wonder she was so quick to blame Trump, no wonder she placed RINOs on the committee. The police 🚓 were begging for more staff. She was ultimately responsible for security that day. 

You also must beware of him.. 2 Tim 4:15 Britain is not in a good situation right now, but how will Kier's extreme plan to abolish the House of Lords make things any better for anyone? Tampering with a democracy that has worked well for centuries doesn't seem at all like a good plan to me. It is true that maybe other denominations deserve some democratic representation, so I for one even though I'm Anglican would accept some change to Anglican domination of the upper chamber. But abolishing the whole thing seems unwise and quite possibly dangerous in the long term. And I am not alone: the Commons Speaker, an important member of Kier's own party, agrees. The last thing we need is Labour getting to decide how the country should be run: we can rely on them to introduce ridiculous wokeness at every stage. Look at woke Stanford, now advising students to avoid the word 'grandfather'. Good grief! 

They will turn their ears away from the truth, & be turned aside to fables.. 2 Tim 3:4 Don T wasn't a perfect US president, far from it, but he did a lot better than the current Prez. Does he deserve a day in prison because of Jan 6th? Nope! The left are more interested in their own biased narratives than the truth. This is a political hit, meant to stop him beating Biden in 2024. It will probably succeed in denying him the GOP nomination, but I will be very surprised if he ever serves time. 

The thief does not come except to steal.. John 10:10 At Durrington High back in the early 80s I was in Fagin's gang as part of a school production of Oliver!, the musical version of a Dickensian classic. But in the news today kids in California almost the same age were taken out of merely watching the same show, mid-production, for fear such gin drinking etc would corrupt them. Sigh. I don't think Dickens glamorizes alcoholism. If they'd stayed till the end they'd see Sykes gets his comeuppance. It's actually one of my favorite musicals to this day. Crazy what is & isn't censored for kids these days. Drag shows ok, Dickens not ok? Bloody 'ell, gov'nor.  Somehow, probably through God's wonderful grace, I managed to avoid the life of a hardened criminal despite ACTING as one when I was 12. Did Dickens (or at least Bart's version of Dickens) corrupt me? Maybe. But Dickens is still regarded as a great London writer because he portrays London life...

Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, & have You not known the things which happened there?  Luke 24:18 Happy Christmas Japan! Hope you & your fam have a merry safe holiday. But remember, Christmas is not just about Santa-san & eating 🎂🍰 cake. It has to do with events in Israel, in Jerusalem & Bethlehem, further West. It is true Jerusalem is a heck of a long way from here, & most of us will never visit Israel in our lifetimes. But what happened there has undeniably affected the entire history of our planet. 

At midnight a cry was heard... Matthew 25:6 🤕 😳 Ouch! I seem to have knackered my knackers. Maybe it's time for the knacker's yard...

Those in Asia have turned away from me.. 2 Tim 1:15 Although St Paul is popular in the Philippines & South Korea, I would guess most people in Japan have never read any of his letters. They are worth reading. 

God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 1 Tim 6:17 Looking forward to a France v Argentina Final? I'm sticking with France. Vive la France! I dare say the Pope may have other ideas.. 

If anyone teaches otherwise & does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, & to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes & arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds & destitute of the truth.. 1 Tim 6:3-5 So the Cambridge dictionary people have given in to the trans lobby and redefined the word woman on an identity basis. Needless to say every sensible English teacher will still be using the old definition. Shame on you, Cambridge. 

Healing all kinds of sickness.. Matthew 4:23 I left a mental health nursing place at college to come to Japan. I sometimes wonder how it would have worked out. I don't think visiting Japan was a mistake but staying here probably was. 

She who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.. 1 Tim 5:6 A terrible tragedy in the West Midlands. Kids playing on a frozen lake fell through the ice. Looking like at least 2 will not survive. Wonder what the parents/grandparents were doing? I used to play in the park with my friends as a kid in London, unsupervised, but there were no lakes in Cranham to mess with. 

The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men.. Luke 24:7 I always knew Woke Harry would let us down sooner or later. Best of luck to France v Morocco. 

And returned to her house.. Luke 1:56 Maybe Brazil shouldn't have voted for Lula? 

Received with thanksgiving.. 1 Tim 4:4 I for one am happy Brittney G is back in America. It was a harsh sentence for a tiny amount of weed. Hopefully she will have a good Christmas & go forward a wiser young lady. 

If a man does not know how to rule his own house.. 1 Tim 3:5 I had my own house once. Well a flat. Out here in Japan, not so much. And to make matters worse, the city office tells my wife she is head of the household as I'm not Japanese, thus inverting the natural God ordained order. It undoubtedly went to her head. But it is common here for men to just surrender their wages to their wives. Clearly some men waste their wages on alcohol or gambling & their families suffer. But generally speaking I don't think it is good for men to go begging to their wives for pocket money. Feminists talk a lot of crap on this issue. According to my wife, anything I earn is hers, & anything she earns is hers. Consistent much? You can't have it both ways, but in real politic, (and never forget in feminism "the personal is political") neither logic nor morality matter, only the ability to enforce your will. Cf Machiavelli. This is why Christians should never marry outside the...

The woman being deceived, fell into transgression.. 1 Tim 1:14 Muslim countries get criticized for their treatment of women, and rightly so. However, in the West feminism has gradually been unravelling society for decades now. Is society better now there is much more divorce? Clearly not. St Paul in this chapter advocates a very traditional very conservative position for women, which most modern women reject, but are they happier? Working at a preschool as I did, every morning I saw a a very small child deeply distressed that mommy was leaving her there. It is true 5 minutes later she was happy, distracted by things, but can such distress on a daily basis really be good for kids ? Where are the social scientists who are actually prepared to do the research & follow wherever it leads rather than make left wing pro-feminist assumptions from the get go? Mental illness amongst kids is through the roof, everyone blames social media, but no one wants to criticize inadequate mothering, it...

Come to me, all who labour & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest.  Matthew 11:28 Before you judge Yoshida, try running around for 2 hours then taking a penalty. Denmark & Russia also went out this way to Croatia last tourney. Just give credit to a tiny Catholic country that continues to punch well above its weight. Those are seriously tough dudes.  And of course, a few prayers to Our Lady of Sinj don't seem to hurt.   

The Lord Jesus Christ, our hope.  1 Tim 1:1 Not saying the Quarter final v France is hopeless, but it is the first match this tourney where we will be the underdog. I was surprised we got past Senegal so easily. Maybe I don't have enough faith! But I have far more faith in Jesus than Southgate, bless him. Jesus never lets anyone down. Christ doesn't always give us what we ask for, but only for the best reasons. 

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.. Ephesians 4:3 One of the criticisms the left usually make of the World Cup that I haven't heard much this year, with all the criticisms of Qatar specifically, is that it encourages divisive nationalisms. There is some truth to this, obviously. In that spirit I'm not gonna gloat about the exit of the US & Oz. Both teams exceeded my expectations. The good thing is both will now be able to focus more on Advent instead of footie. Wishing all Australians & Americans a very Joyful Christmas & a very good New Year. That also extends to the Irish, Scottish, New Zealanders, Jamaicans & South Africans, my English speaking brethren that sadly weren't represented at the Cup this year. 

This present evil age.. Galatians 1:4 It seems pretty clear by now that COVID originated in a Wuhan lab, where safety levels were no higher than an average dental office, and Fauci knew and covered this up for quite a while, getting one of the leading British funders of virology research in on the cover up. 

Disorderly & not according to the tradition.. 2 Thessalonians 3:6 The ball looked out. But anyhow, the woke Germans are out, so I'm not complaining, though they might. Croatia next! 

That we may be delivered from unreasonable & wicked men.. 2 Thessalonians 3:2 The US Senate has passed a terrible law undermining religious liberty. Expect innocents to be jailed.