Prisoners Voting Rights

The current debate about whether prisoners should be allowed to vote is very evocative one. It raises all sorts of issues about fairness and whether sentencing for crimes should be punitive or remedial. The question is, are we putting convicted persons in prison to reform them or to punish them? Depending on what their crime is there must be an element of both. As a regular visitor to prison (in a pastoral role!) I am very aware of how prison affects the individual.

Essentially they are in prison because they are guilty. Breaking the law has consequences and a withdrawal of privileges is part of that. Our society has chosen to restrict a person's liberties by taking them out of society and housing them in prison. Have we become so soft on reality that we cannot see that the rights of the individual were forfeited by them when they committed their crime? I am not suggesting for a moment that a person cannot be reformed or forgiven. I believe as a Christian very strongly in the doctrine of redemption. But I believe that to enjoy forgiveness the consequences of wrong must be faced and accounted for. Personally God has provided a basis for our forgiveness through the death of his Son, Jesus.

As a society we have responsibilities to both the general public and to the offenders. For the benefit of all we must ensure that the penalty for each crime is appropriate. We must ensure that when an individual has served their sentence that the result is that they have been educated to once again enjoy the liberties of life in the community. But in all of this we should not confuse fairness to the criminal with just punishment for crimes committed.

Feel free to download my latest podcast from seekthetruth.org.uk. Why me? is the latest talk. Why is life so hard for some and not for others? Is it fair? Have a listen, see what you think.

Flooding and decisions

Louise Jones won Channel 4 News best young blogger competition, in November, when you read the following extracts from her article about Jordan Rice you will understand why.

‘I've lost count of the amount of times I've rambled on about teenagers being viewed negatively in the press, with stories of truancy, crime, killings, drugs, alcohol, pregnancies, Do you know who Jordan Rice is? I don't suspect you do. Jordan Rice is 13 years old and comes from Toowoomba, Australia. Jordan Rice lives with his mum, dad and 10 year old brother Blake and went to buy his school uniform earlier this week. At around 2pm on Monday Jordan, Blake and his mother are in the car on the way back from the shops.

The Australian floods have caused destruction this past week, with people dead and areas the size of France extinct under tonnes of water. Toowoomba clearly seemed unaffected and not at risk from this scene, until water started to rise around the Rice family's car. Usually when there's a small flood on a road, driving through it is AMAZING. The water sprays up in a wave against the car and you feel like Moses parting the Red Sea. But what if the water kept rising? Rising enough to cut your engine out? Stranded in a lake of dirty murderous water? It's not stopping. It's half way up your car door now. If you're not careful you won't be able to get out. Not so fun now is it? Your mum's panicking. She's called the emergency services who have told her to stay in the car. Stay in the car?! The water's rising faster now and it's coming into the car. You have no choice but to escape onto the roof.

No one tried to help this little family….. But one old man grabbed a rope, tied it around himself and jumped into the flood. If you think the situation couldn't get worse and seems to be getting better, think again. Jordan is petrified of water and can't swim. Jordan wants to get on dry land as fast as possible because this is his worse nightmare. Hope is swimming towards him though - the old man is going to save him, right? Jordan refused to be rescued until his little brother was safe. He was willing to risk death to save Blake. What's your relationship with your siblings like? Quarrel a lot? Fight? Compete for attention? At 13 these features of sibling rivalry are likely to be at its highest point. Now think about YOU being in this situation. You could be swept away in a torrent of violent floods at any moment, it's instinct to find a way of survival FAST. You don't think of anyone else but yourself. Selfish? Possibly. But it's your life and something inside tells you to do anything to live it. So if at 13 years old someone was there in front of you, willing to save you at that very moment and take you to safety, would you say no? Even if others close to you were there too? If your mother was saying "Go! Go with the nice man!" Or would you say no and save your little brother first?

The old man didn't have time to argue. The rope was fraying and water was still rising, so he tied the rope around Blake and took him to land. He swam back out to save the other two, there was time, he could do it. But the rope broke. It couldn't take the strain of the flood and the weight of the people. Jordan and his mother had no hope. They were gone. Taken by the churning torrent of brown water they were swept away, but managed to cling to a tree...before they loosened their grip and accepted their fate. Blake was left the only survivor… Reunited with his father to become a family of 2.’

The Promised Land

Louise likened the parting of the waters to that of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea, she could of course have quoted Joshua and the parting of the River Jordan when the children of Israel entered Canaan. Joshua ch’s 3 and 4 give the details of this event. “And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.” They were commanded to take twelve stones from the midst of Jordan and erect them as a memorial to this act of deliverance.

Taken to Heaven

The waters of Jordan parted again when Elijah and Elisha went t over on dry ground, “And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground…… And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

In 2Kings ch.5 Elisha sent the leper Naaman to Jordan to dip seven times. He believed and obeyed, and was healed.

Voice from Heaven

Many years later the feet of Jesus stood in the Jordan when John baptized him. It was not the waters that were opened that day but Heaven itself “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” From that time Christ’s public ministry began, culminating at Calvary, dying for sinners such as us. Remember Christ’s love and sacrifice and Jordan’s too! God bless.

Written by Stan Burditt for Stephen G Baker

PS another talk is just about to go on seekthetruth.org.uk Take time to listen. It will do you good.

We need more than food to survive!

It can be tempting to just see life as purely a physical thing and to ignore the other dimensions that we know in our heart exist. There are some people who would say that unless they can see something they do not believe it exists. This is quite a short sighted argument even on a basic level. I have never been to Australia but I know it exists because people whose judgement I trust have been there and described it to me.

I believe in God and I believe in a literal heaven (and hell to be honest). Now I have never seen God or been in heaven but I am persuaded that there must be a greater power, a designer and originator by the evidence I see in the physical world. However I would be totally in the dark as to what God and heaven are like if I did not have the record of the Bible and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Any thinking person will be need to be convinced that the Bible is a trustworthy document and that Jesus Christ was and is genuine in his character and claims before they will believe what they have to say. If you are reading this and are interested to discover the truth then have a look at the following websites josh.org or rzim.org (these are not wacky extremist websites but rational and logical explanations of the truth). Don't look at them if you have already decided what you believe and have a closed mind, they are only for people who really are prepared to face up to the truth.

May God bless you this week.

Stephen

If you would like to listen to my podcast at seekthetruth.org.uk I think you would find it interesting.

Global Warning

In 2008 the warning lights were flashing regarding a global economic meltdown. Big players in the financial market such as Lehman’s felt the full impact of the crash, filing the biggest bankruptcy in American History. People like Bernard Madoff and his Ponzi scheme were ruined as Stock Markets fell exposing the greatest fraud in American history. Wikipedia quotes ‘On December 10, 2008, he suggested to his sons, Mark and Andrew, that the firm pay out over 170 million dollars in bonuses two months ahead of schedule, from $200 million in assets that the firm still had.^[12] According to the complaint, Mark and Andrew, reportedly unaware of the firm's pending insolvency, confronted their father, asking him how the firm could pay bonuses to employees if it could not pay investors. Madoff then admitted that he was "finished", and that the asset management arm of the firm was in fact a Ponzi scheme. Mark and Andrew then reported him to the authorities.’ The authorities found him guilty and sent him to prison for 150 years and to pay $170 billion in restitution money. Warnings were ignored in the Banking world resulting in major Banks failing and national ecconomies floundering, calling for large bailout funds from the IMF. This mis-management has resulted in higher taxation and unemployment for many people.

Global Warming is another con to extract more money from the world’s populace, to service hairbrain schemes of politicians and scientists to control the enviroment. When will these folk acknowledge that the future well being of planet earth is in God’s hands and not mans’. Hebrews 1:3 says of Christ, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Evolutionists are mainly atheists so do not believe that God is in control. We have just celebrated Christmas, but many people do not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, or the fact that God became incarnate when Christ was born at Bethlehem. All of us are free to believe whatever we choose and as the choice is not a complicated multi-choice option but a straight forward either/or choice. I have long since realised that the choice to believe in the ‘Big Bang’ theory is not an intellectual choice but a moral choice. How anyone can believe that order came out of chaos by random selection (or chance), they need to get back to the drawing board to examine the blueprint again. Darwin used the expression, ‘the simple cell ’, which was a gross underestimation of the complexity of the building block of life. Our DNA chain is such a wonderful mechanism to maintain our bodies, with self repair functions built in and personal physical identifyable features, exclusively ours, yet carried from generation to generation. People do not want to acknowledge God as creator because it places them accountable to Him, so in the words of Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

Before the Saviour went to the cross He was in the Temple at Jerusalem with His disciples, and they were marveling at the magnificent structure. He said to them, “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” He warned them of what would happen in AD70 when Titus destroyed the Temple and raised it to the ground. They then proceeded to the Mount of Olives and Christ answered their questions, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

The Olivet Discourse is an outline of coming events that point to the return of the Lord to earth to establish His thousand-year reign, commonly known as the Millennial Kingdom. He told them warnings that are global in affect, things that affect the universe, the atmospheric heavens, the earth and its nations, earthquakes and famines etc. These are not going to be brought about by global warming, but are global warnings, the preludes of coming judgement culminating in the Great Tribulation, Matt.24:21 reads, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Noah’s flood is mentioned in the chapter, reminding them of social conditions of that day, which will be present, prior to, and through that seven-year period. Three verses warn of individuals opposed to God, v.5 says, “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Then in v.11 “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many,” and v.15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” These quotes point to the arising of a person who is described under different names. He is the ‘man of sin’ of 2Thess. 2:3, the ‘beast out of the sea’ in Revelation 13. This person will take control of the world’s finances, pointing to a world bank where no one can buy or sell without his mark upon their person. He also will propagate the lie that the natural disasters taking place, prophesied in Revelation ch’s 6 to 19 are the consequences of global warming, and not the foretold judgements of God.

The gospel message can produce global warming of a different kind. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Believing and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as one’s Saviour brings warmth that cannot be equaled, the Love of God resident in one’s life. Contrasted to that is the ultimate in global warnings, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” To refuse Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is the greatest folly, because that soul will spend eternity in Hell. A final warning from the Mount of Olives for you to heed, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

Written by Stan Burditt for Stephen Baker