ELECTIONS 1997

May 1997 saw a series of electoral disasters for the people of the United Kingdom and of Ulster in particular.

The landslide victory by New Labour, which gave them a massive majority in Parliament and possibly ten years of rule, can only lead to the further break-up of the U.K. New Labour`s plans for Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and the dividing of England into regional zones, their plans to abolish the House of Lords and the fact that they are not expected to resist further moves to European Unity and a common currency, all bode ill for our future. In Ulster the electoral gains made by Sinn Fein/IRA where they captured two Westminster seats, and in the Local Government Elections which saw them increase their percentage vote and number of elected councillors, are not good news. They are now the largest party at Belfast City Hall, and we are faced with the prospect of the first ever Roman Catholic/Nationalist Lord Mayor in our city`s history.

Protestants lost control of all councils west of the River Bann. Truly we have come to that era in our history which Bible Prophecy calls:

" THE SCATTERING OF THE POWER OF THE HOLY PEOPLE " - Daniel 12 v7

SOME VIEWS ON FLUORIDE

"The fluoridation of the US public water supplies is absolutely unsafe. It is causing more destruction to human health than any other single substance added compulsorily or inadvertently to the water supply. We are talking about 35,000 excess deaths a year - 10,000 cancer deaths a year."

Dr. John Yiamouyiannis, leading US anti-fluoridationist

FLUORIDE GETS A KICK IN THE TEETH

Leading British supermarket chain, Sainsbury`s, could soon introduce fluoride-free toothpaste, and add warnings to toothpaste containing fluoride, amid fears from parents that the chemical is discolouring their children`s teeth. Rival groups, Safeway and Boots, are closely monitoring the situation.

The Sunday Telegraph (London) has learned of research, kept hidden in America for fifty years, suggesting fluoride could damage the nervous system and teeth. The British Dental Association has warned against swallowing fluoride.

Johannesburg Sunday Times (8/12/96)

PERNICIOUS INDUSTRIAL WASTE

Fluoride is a potent tranquilliser. The Soviets used it to keep their POWs and Gulag inmates from resisting. They imported large quantities from the US during WWII.

I am happy to say that this pernicious industrial waste is not allowed to be added to the water in Austria. The same is true of several other European countries: Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Greece and Spain.

If you have the misfortune to be supplied with fluoridated tap water, you can remove most of the fluoride by means of reverse osmosis or distillation.

The Fortune Newsletter (Jan. 1997) Windmuhlglasse 7/1/19, 1060 Vienna, Austria

WE ARE GLAD TO REPORT THAT ONCE AGAIN THE PLANS TO PUT FLUORIDE IN ULSTER`S WATER SUPPLY HAVE BEEN DEFEATED. AN ANSWER TO PRAYER. A VICTORY FOR THE PEOPLE.

RESISTANCE TO ROME

At a time when so many voices in our land are calling on Protestants to capitulate, negotiate, compromise and surrender, we would do well to remember the following true story of one brave Christian woman who resisted all the power of Rome.

Marie Durand was imprisoned for thirty-eight years for no other reason than that she was a Huguenot (a French Protestant). Marie was fifteen years old when she crossed the deep moat that led to her prison cell in the massive tower of the ancient fortress that still stands. The walls are eighteen feet thick. They have no windows, and narrow slits in the massive masonry permit little light but much wind and cold to enter. In the middle of the floor of the circular room is an opening covered with a heavy iron grating through which guards could pass food.

Marie Durand was confined in this tower from 1730 until 1768. On any day of those thirty-eight years she could have had her freedom by saying two words, "I recant". Can you imagine the temptation to say them? Why waste your youth behind these grim walls? Outside you will see sunshine, hear the happy laughter of children, find the love of friends and the comforts of home. No doubt she visualised herself in a courtship and marriage, and as a happy mother caring for a helpless baby and being rewarded by its sweet smiles. But she resisted all seductions to purchase liberty at the price of compromise. Into the masonry of her prison cell she scratched the word " RESIST".

One of Marie`s letters, preserved in the Paris Protestant Library, contains the following sentences: "I am in this awful prison thirty-three years…..We must not be Judases by betraying our own consciences…..Your humble servant, Marie Durand."

RESISTANCE TO TYRANNY IS OBEDIENCE TO GOD

SOME THOUGHTS ON PRAYER

When George Muller arrived at the twilight of his life, God, he estimated, had answered over fifty thousand of his prayers, many thousands of which were answered on the day he made them and often before he arose from his knees. Some of his petitions, however, lingered across the decades. Here is a sample of such asking: "In November, 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land or on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second and prayed on for the other three. Day by day I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three, and went on praying for the other two. These two remain unconverted. The man to whom God in the riches of His Grace has given tens of thousands of answers to prayer in the self-same hour of the day in which they were offered, has been praying day by day for nearly thirty-six years for the conversion of these individuals, and yet they remain unconverted. But I hope in God, I pray on, and look yet for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be" - end quote. This was the faith that carried him through every straitened place. He met emergencies by asking and in due time God supplied whatever the need might be. Those prayers? you ask. In 1897, those two men, sons of a friend of Mr. Muller`s youth, were not converted after he had entreated God on their behalf for fifty-two years daily. But after his death God brought them into the fold! Such was this man`s triumphant faith, whatever the difficulty.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

CAREY URGES UNITED FRONT WITH HINDUS

Worshipping Becket`s Shirt

1997 is the 1400^th anniversary of the arrival of Augustine`s mission from Rome in 597 A.D. Services, celebrations, lectures, exhibitions and pilgrimages both to and from Rome are planned to mark what to Bible Christians is a sad day in English history. We hope to publish an account of Augustine`s mission in the near future.

For some reason it has been thought appropriate to mark the occasion with an exhibition of St. Thomas Becket`s shirt together with fragments of his bones and brain which were transferred to Rome for safe keeping at the Reformation. Westminster Roman Catholic Cathedral has loaned his mitre. In response to an enquiry from the English Churchman as to whether these relics would be venerated, the press secretary sent the following statement, "The Dean and Chapter of Canterbury do not expect that visitors to the "Power to Inspire" Exhibition will necessarily venerate the shirt belonging to St. Thomas Becket which will be diplayed there. However, should people do so, it is not the policy of the Dean and Chapter to forbid devotional practices."

MIDDLE AGES

We seem to be back in the Middle Ages. Ryle states that in those times, "100,000 pilgrims visited the tomb of St. Thomas a Becket at Canterbury in one year in order to help their souls towards heaven. In one year at Canterbury Cathedral, there was offered at Christ`s altar £3 2s 6d; on the Virgin Mary`s £63 5s 6d; and on Thomas a Becket`s, £832 12s 3d."

Exodus 20 v 4&5

1637 AN EVENT TO REMEMBER 1997

JENNY GEDDES AND HER STOOL

An order was given by the King to introduce a new Service Book into the churches of Scotland, and this was to be done on the 23^rd of July, 1637. On that day a great concourse of people, including the Lord Chancellor and the Archbishop of St. Andrews, along with several members of the Privy Council, the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Magistrates of the City, and a great multitude of the citizens, assembled in the church of St. Giles, then called the "Great Church", to witness the ceremony. In the morning the usual prayers had been read from the old Book of Common Order. The Dean of Edinburgh, in his surplice, was to read the new service and the Bishop of Edinburgh was to preach. As soon as the Dean took his place in the reading-desk, and opened the obnoxious volume, a murmur arose in the congregation, and on his proceeding to announce the collect for the day, an old woman, named Janet Geddes, who kept a greengrocer`s stall in the High Street, is said to have exclaimed, - "Deil colick the wame o` thee, thou fause thief! Dost thou say mass at my lug(ear)?" and to have flung at the Dean`s head the stool on which she had been sitting. A scene of uproar and confusion immediately ensued. A crowd, consisting principally of women, rushed to the desk with loud menaces, and the Dean, in great alarm, threw off his surplice and fled. The Bishop of Edinburgh then ascended the pulpit and attempted to restore order, but without effect. A volley of sticks and other missiles was hurled at him, accompanied with cries of "A Pope! A Pope! Stone him! Stone him!" so that he could not be heard.

"The gentleman," says a contemporary writer, "did fall a-tearing(weeping), and crying that the mass was entered amongst them, and Baal in the church. There was a gentleman who was standing behind a pew and answering "amen" to what the Dean was reading. A she-zealot, hearing him, starts up in choler. "Traitor," says she, "dost thou say mass at my ear?" and with that struck him in the face with her bible in great indignation and fury." The rioters were at length expelled from the church, and the doors having been bolted, the Dean emerged from his hiding-place, and resumed the service. It was rendered almost inaudible, however, by the shouts of the mob without, who battered at the door , and shouted, "A Pope! A Pope! Antichrist! Pull him down!" and other exclamations of the same sort. At the close of the service, the Dean made his escape unnoticed; but the Bishop of Edinburgh, who was very unpopular, was threatened and assailed by the populace, and was with difficulty rescued from their hands.

TEN REASONS WHY I SWEAR

1. It pleases mother so much.
2. It is a fine mark of manliness.
3. It proves I have self control.
4. It indicates how clearly my mind operates.
5. It makes my conversation so pleasing to everybody.
6. It leaves no doubt in anyone`s mind as to my good breeding.
7. It is my way of honouring God who said, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."
8. It impresses people that I have more than ordinary education.
9. It is an unmistakeable sign of culture and refinement.
10. It makes me a very desirable personality among women and children and in respectable society.

Rudyard Kipling

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR