The early Roman Christians in the pagan Roman Empire were commanded to throw a pinch of incense on the altar to Caesar. If they refused, they were thrown to the lions, or crucified, or occasionally if a Roman citizen, beheaded. Just as they stood firm, we pray that our brothers and sisters in China will stand firm, and glorify the Lord Jesus, not Xi Jinping or the CCP. May we also have the strength when this kind of thing comes to our countries, as come it will before the 2nd Coming of our Lord.

3). Tge globslists, and big pharmaceutical companies have been Oreo Sri g for this for years, and they have combined with political forces to combine a vaccine with an implanted chip, or tracking device, that not only shows automatically in scanning that you have had the vaccine, but can also contain utter information as well, (rest of medical re odds, non-COVID related

While we in the West are embracing Marxist BLM demonstrators and rioters, and LGBTQI activists, and celebrating abortion and euthanasia, and worse our closed or no singing mask wearing churches are not even preaching the gospel, there is a deadly silence about our suffering brothers and sisters in these countries.

In another area, on the south coast, Poole, the local council tried to sneakily remove the statue of Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, but unfortunately for them, great stuff, a group of adult scouts, retired scouts and former scout leaders, went straight there and guarded the statue until the council hurriedly changed its mind!!!

There was some weak comment about “democratic procedures” as to what would replace it, so guess what. The local BLM took matters into their own hands, hurriedly commissioned a sympathetic local sculptor, and secretly without informing the local council, at about 5 in the morning, got a lorry and a team of people to take a statue of Jen Reid, with a black power salute, a leader of BLM, and accompanied by her in person, erected it on the plinth previously occupied by Edward Colston. Fait accompli!! No democratic consultation after all!!

This has reached ridiculous proportions with the famous church whose live-streams I listen to with two “live” congregations, an at present masked congregation forbidden to sing, who can only read the hymns mentally in paper hymn sheets to take away, and an invisible “recorded congregation” from pre-Covid19 days, that sings the recorded hymns at the same time!! I am glad I cannot see the humiliated masked congregation, but only hear the “invisible” one!

However, it is very wrong to say that Pentecostals are not saved. I had the privilege during my Pentecostal years of meeting and associating with some of the dear “old Pentecostal” brothers and sisters, who rejected aberrations such as the Prosperity Gospel, “New Apostolic Reformation”, (which is not new, apostolic or a reformation!!), CCM and the “Entertainment Gospel” and of course the now modern and popular Social Justice Movement. They were, despite faults in their theology, and overemphasis on spiritual gifts, men and women of the Bible, who believed in Holy living, purity of life, and preached a hard and strong gospel message. They cannot be tarred with the same brush as the very modern Pentecostals, and Charismatics.

The opening prayer by the pastor “God, thou seest our faces”. This is very true, even if the congregation is masked, but it seems very sad that the congregation have to worship wearing masks. In the main pastoral prayer, “Lord we thank Thee for the liberty that we have to meet and worship Thee”, but actually liberty with many restrictions. Before a hymn, “We will now sing hymn xxx, oh, we can’t sing, let us contemplate the words of hymn xxx”. But pastor, the congregation is masked!! Finally, the deputy pastor before a last hymn, lost the plot altogether, completely forgot “ We will now sing hymn xxx”. How strange, how dystopian, how sad!! Have things come to such a pass as this? May the Lord guide us in these strange times.

The Traditi

Thanks, for all who comment here, including, Jim, the excellent verses from Psalm 95, 1-4. Yes, Quiet Christian and John UK, sadly, “modern” Christianity does lack the solid doctrine and the courage of past Christian believers, and the CCM model which uses “professional”, but not very professional sounding musicians and worship leaders singing their emotional, often poo

When will this unwarranted intrusion by government in Christian worship on the excuse of “health energency” end? C H Spurgeon, and may I I say, the 19th century Reformed Bishop of Liverpool, J C Ryle, would be shocked by all this. During pandemics in the 16th to 18th centuries, churches were open, and ministers, often at the risk of their lives, and their church members were witnessing and ministering to the sick people, and to healthy people alik

Now online services are possible, the restrictions are so onerous and difficult, with pastors adding even stricter restrictions like compulsory mask wearing, and of course the complete ban on live singing, etc., that many churches have not opened up. One very large church I know where the elderly pastor recently retired, and had elders and visiting pastors before the lockdown, still has not reopened, and was not even doing online services, but just devotionals and old recorded sermons on its we