Annual Review Letter June 2016

Ministry Update Letter : January 2016 – June 2016

Ministry Update Letter : January 2016 – June 2016

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Dear praying friends and supporters of ‘Take Heed’,

Sincere greetings once more in His precious and worthy name. Another 6 months of ministry activity have almost passed and once again my time has been fully occupied seeking to alert God’s people to “Take Heed” and to be aware of the many “wolves” seeking to lead them astray. As ever the ministry web and YouTube sites continue to be very much at the forefront of ‘the battle’ and herewith are details of some of the articles etc that have been posted since the beginning of the year.

Pope Francis continues regularly to grab the headlines whether on his travels or at ‘home base’ in the Vatican and two articles were posted relating specifically to him. The first of these articles dealt with the Pope’s apparent promotion of ‘Syncretism’ – the view that the various ‘paths’ of competing religions (including Christianity i.e. Roman Catholicism) can harmoniously be blended and combined – a view that featured in a video of the Pope’s ‘prayer intentions’ and which was published by the Vatican in January. In it the Pope stated “In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: we are all children of God.” This article served as an opportunity to refute this and to publish online the text of the first ever booklet I wrote and published called ‘Syncretism: All roads leading to God?’

The second of these articles was an excellent and very revealing item by Shaun Willcock of Bible Based Ministries in South Africa and dealt with the Pope’s mystifying (to some) encouragement of the huge numbers of Muslim ‘migrants’ pouring into Europe. As always, Shaun pointed out that the Vatican has ‘long-term’ plans where world affairs are concerned and this certainly applies to what is happening all across Europe at present. Shaun posited 3 possible scenarios for what the Pope is doing and wrote at the conclusion of what he believes is the Pope’s preferred option – ‘Out of chaos, a new order. This is what the pope is hoping for. This is the outcome he desires for Europe, and this is why he is encouraging the Muslim invasion of Europe. For now’.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have stepped up their public outreach over the past few years and regularly have a stand in our local weekly outdoor market. In January Margaret brought home a copy of their ‘Awake’ magazine in which they tested people’s knowledge of them under a heading ‘What do you know about Jehovah’s Witnesses?’ In their article they listed 8 statements and readers were then invited to tick a box for either ‘True’ or ‘False’. Then on the next page they gave their answers and explanations. Needless to say many of their answers and explanations were deceitful, untrue and unbiblical and so in my article I listed the 8 statements, the JW answers and my own analysis and comments in 3 parallel columns and my hope is that this will be a helpful tool for any seeking to witness to Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The issue of so-called ‘Same-Sex Marriage’ is always rearing its ugly head in professing Christendom (one can think of the recent Church of Scotland approval for such within their ministerial ranks) and controversial figure, Steve Chalke, added further to his previous unscriptural views on the subject by announcing that his ‘Oasis Church’ would be applying for permission to perform such abominable ceremonies. In my article titled ‘Steve Chalke’s poisoned Oasis Church’ I gave a link to another article that quoted Steve Chalke as saying “We want to move away from an over simplistic, over literalistic, immature understanding over Biblical texts that dumps many but keeps the ones we want.” It seems to me that the only one ‘dumping’ easily understood Biblical texts prohibiting SSM is Steve Chalke himself.

From time to time I have over the years been asked for my views on ‘Alternative Healing Therapies’ and many of them were mentioned in a ‘New Age Movement’ article that I posted to the web site last year and that contained many links to videos on the ministry YouTube site. Early in May of this year I recorded a short (15 minutes) but very interesting radio programme in which a former avid and respected promoter of HOMEOPATHY explained why he had changed his mind and now disowns any belief whatsoever in the practice. I posted a short article to the web site and included a link to this interview that is now posted to the ministry YouTube site.

Another 4 articles have also been posted to the web site on an assortment of topics and perhaps I will be able to mention them in my end of year review letter (DV). For the statistically-minded these figures will hopefully be of interest and encouragement (Bracket figures for December 2015)

Ministry web site visits  – 962, 302 (782.553)

YouTube videos/audios – 173 (162)

YouTube viewings – 621,061 (462,309)

YouTube subscribers – 2238 (1718)

Over these months 24 speaking or preaching engagements have been fulfilled (including a 9-day preaching trip in early June to the Isle of Man) and in addition, two separate hour-long live radio interviews were given on a basically secular radio station that covers much of America (my interviewer was however a Christian and so liberty was given to testify and speak of the work of ‘Take Heed’.)

In closing I want to again record my sincere thanks for all your prayerful and practical support that enables, by His grace, the work of ‘Take Heed’ to continue.

Yours in Christ