Our man in Japan

In understanding be mature .. 1 Corinthians 14:20 So my wife was watching TV last night. I noticed the channel was portraying Japan's 6 point win over Samoa as a great national triumph. It's what Japanese TV does- it makes money by whipping up nationalistic sentiment.  Actually it was a pyrrhic victory at best, & here's why: Samoa has a population of 225,000 or so. Much less than one million people.  Japan has over 100 million people. And you Japanese, with a considerable assist from the foreigners on the team, of which there are many (over a third of the starting squad) barely beat them. So if anyone deserves kudos here, it's the Christian people of Samoa, who took on a much larger, much more powerful, much richer country, and nearly beat them.  Shame on you for suggesting otherwise. 

The old man which grows corrupt..  Ephesians 4:22 Nikki Haley is right: we need a new generation of leaders in America & Japan..

Alienated from the life of God.. Ephesians 4:18 So it's looking like fatal stabbing number 2?? in Croydon is by a 17 year old youth of a 15 year old girl.  What is going on in that lad's heart? Is he so afraid of being disrespected he needed to kill a little girl? 

I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.. John 12:32 The Middle East /North Africa, (particularly Algeria & Somalia), is the region with the smallest % of Christians. State compulsion continues to play an important role in this. But Jesus' words will come true. Actually Muslims do recognize Jesus as a great Prophet, even if they reject His Divinity, so in that sense they are better off than many kids in Japan. 

Fellow citizens with the saints .. Ephesians 2:19 The most important country to be a part of is the Kingdom of Heaven. 

By nature children of wrath.. Ephesians 2:3 Liberalism & socialism are fatally flawed because they take too positive a view of human nature, which is corrupt. 

Eat whatever is sold in the meat market.. 1 Corinthians 10:25 Vegetarianism is unnecessary. Animals suffer & die regardless of whether we eat them or not. So you might as well enjoy that 🍗🐔 chicken- he's not going to live forever. Sparing him old age is a kindness. 

The mystery of His will.. Ephesians 1:9 Some things that God allows are hard to understand.. 

Has done great things... Luke 1:49 So Sunak says he still believes in Green Orthodoxy, just is concerned about how it is going with the public. I kind of wish he was willing to challenge it directly. But even so, it is clear blue water from Labour, & hopefully it will pay off for him. Sunak is a numbers guy, & unlike Boris & Kier he understands how much Greenism is hurting the economy. 

God is not mocked.. Galatians 6:7 Chris Hitchins, an atheist who wrote some nasty things about God, died in a very unpleasant way. 

Flesh lusts against the Spirit.. Galatians 5:17 Whose side are you on? 

You ran well.. Galatians 5:7 So having watched the full match, it wasn't a quit issue. Japan were slightly lighter, slightly shorter, & maybe slightly older. More of a puff issue than a quit issue. It remains to be seen how far either team will go in the tourney.. Japan now have to face Samoa to get out of the group.  

The hands of sinful men.. Luke 24:7  Most feminists are far too quick to write off Christianity or the Bible as misogynistic & patriarchal. St Luke has Jesus here quite clearly gendering His enemies- and it isn't women. 

Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?  Galatians 4:16 I can't help feeling that the gaijin who are the most materially successful in Japan are the one who are willing to say what the Japanese want to hear..

A quiet and peaceable life .. 1 Tim 2:2 We all want to live in peace. Well almost all. Armies and self defence forces have a professional interest in war. I hope these new people Kishida has appointed don't get us into more trouble..

By the hand of a mediator.. Galatians 3:19 God is Holy. We are not. That's why we need Christ as a go-between. 

Who has bewitched you..?  Galatians 3:1 So it is that time of year again. The Halloween 👻🎃 goods are in the shops & eikaiwa are focusing their efforts on words like 'pumpkin' & 'broomstick'. Even today on Japanese TV I caught a reference to "white" witches- though admittedly that was from an English programme. I don't know when exactly witchery become cool amongst foolish folk, I suspect the 60s(?) TV show might have had something to do with it,  (& Harry Potter more recently) but for a slightly more realistic portrayal I suggest you read or watch the great tragedy from Shakespeare, Macbeth. Witches are never the good guys in reality. I should know- I've met one, & I'm not talking about online on Instagram. In Bristol, actually, back around 1991 or so. A rather messed up Welsh gay guy searching for a spirituality that he didn't feel condemned by. What he failed to understand is that you can't change God's rules to suit...

Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter .. Matthew 14:8 Salome - the first Goth girl, or a relatively innocent pawn in a palace intrigue she doesn't understand? One thing we can be sure of- sometimes it is a really bad idea to listen to your mother. 

In My Name..they will hands on the sick, & they will recover .. Mark 16:18 There is power in the Most Holy Name of Jesus. 

He has regarded the lowly .. Luke 1:48 God didn't choose a feminist or a "self empowered" woman for the mother of His Son. 

This present evil age .. Galatians 1:4 It's really disappointing that so many on the left & right are keen to justify this appalling war in Ukraine. We see the inflation caused by it destroying small businesses here in Japan, but NHK seems keen not to blame Kishida for his pro war policies. Why is that? The Japanese media also seems keen to label any questioning of the Fukushima Pacific Dumping as unpatriotic disinformation. Japan is rapidly deserving the new name: Land of the Rising Filth. 

We can do nothing against the truth .. 2 Corinthians 13:8 Birmingham City was locked in a battle recently against Muslim & Christian parents who objected to school classes promoting gay lifestyles. Now Birmingham is more or less bankrupt. Maybe Labour should spend more time balancing the books than indoctrinating kids? 

Have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication & lewdness which they have practiced.. 2 Corinthians 12:21 Putin gets a very bad press in the corrupt liberal Western media, & some of it he deserves. I see today he is trying to do a deal with North Korea's Kim. But why so many of us on the right find him somewhat sympathetic is because of his Orthodox position on sexuality. So much of the West, especially Biden's administration, has COMPLETELY lost its way on sexual morality. I myself as a lad was corrupted by English social permissiveness, growing up in the 1970s, the decade after the "swinging" 60s, and things have only gotten worse, with even the so called 'Conservative' Party in the UK actively undermining conservative morality for the last decade or so, something it rarely did under Thatcher, a greater Prime Minister than anyone since. Living in sin- "cohabitation" before marriage - has almost completely been normalized even in conserva...

When I am weak .. 2 Corinthians 12:10 A long time ago, it seemed like a idea to shave my eyebrows. The eyebrows that God had given me. Nowadays on really hot days I can barely see for all the sweat running in my eyes, which never happened before I shaved them. So my advice is don't fix what isn't broken. 

God knows!  2 Corinthians 11:11 Worried about 2024? I suggest you check in with the only Person who truly understands what will happen next year- God Himself!