Jesus gave me mental freedom: Catherine’s testimony

To appreciate the full extent of Catherine’s transformation, this should be read in conjunction with her testimony on pages 3 and 20 of HEART AUG-SEPT 2017

Background

I struggled with mental health issues through all of my teenage years up until the age of 24.  Everything changed when I invited Jesus into my life and he began to to work a miracle in my life. He showed me that there was a way out of the downward spiral I was stuck in. Read More

Prophecies shaping prayer

Several strong prophecies have been circulated this summer, principally that of David Noakes given on 17 June at a meeting in East Grinstead.

Clifford Hill who writes in this paper had a prophecy at the end of  July; both his and David Noakes’s prophecies are printed on the Prophecy Today website. Read More

Christian scientist’s design showcased at Royal Society

Chain reaction: Creationist Professor Stuart Burgess (left), seen here with a colleague, was able to show his design for Team GB’s Olympic winning bikes to hundreds of visiting school pupils and teachers at the prestigious Royal Society.

From 3–8 July … Read More

C of E bans gay therapy and approves transgender baptisms

‘Worried’ conservative Anglicans have appointed their own bishop

The Church of England’s General Synod has voted against therapy for Christians with unwanted homosexual desires, and introduced ‘transgender baptisms’.

Christian Concern’s Andrea Williams warned that the Church is “giving a national platform to ideologies which want to destroy biblical Christianity”. Read More

Street preachers win cases

A victory for the street preachers whose case was HEART’s April 2017 cover story

Christian campaigners are celebrating court decisions in favour of three street preachers.

A victory for the street preachers whose case was HEART’s April 2017 cover story

Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell were arrested after preaching in Bristol city centre and fined in February, but Judge Picton overruled the conviction at Bristol Crown Court in July, saying he was “conscious of the right of freedom of speech and freedom of expression”. Read More

Inquiry: “Put British imams in charge of mosques”

But it’s 20 years too late, says Pakistani Christian leader

A report by charity Citizens UK has concluded that UK mosques should appoint British-born imams who speak fluent English and understand British culture.

The report suggests that such imams are more likely to help worshippers understand how to live as Muslims in British society – and avoid being misled by extremism.

Many imams working in the UK come from other countries and were trained abroad. Read More

‘Thousands’ find faith at Arsenal’s stadium

Black and white churches joined together as one to worship at the Emirates Stadium

“Mass evangelism reminds the world that the Church is not dead”

On the same day as the biggest ever London ‘Pride’ march, around 20,000 people gathered at Arsenal’s football stadium for the largest UK evangelistic event since Billy Graham’s missions.  Read More

At risk: West Bank converts

“I didn’t choose to be a Muslim…”
Meeting a secret believer

by Julia Fisher

Julia Fisher’s visits to the Holy Land are not the usual pilgrimage

As a broadcast journalist, for almost 20 years I have travelled frequently to Israel to record the stories of both Jewish and Arab/Palestinian believers, so Christians in the West can hear news of what God is doing despite political tensions in the region.

Recently I was taken to meet ‘A’, a recent convert from Islam. My friend, who lives in the area, understands the precautions necessary when arranging such sensitive and dangerous rendezvous. We cautiously drove to an area of ‘no man’s land’, pulled into the side of the road and ‘A’ slipped into the back of the car. We drove off thankfully; nobody had noticed and we weren’t being followed. Read More

It’s time to back Israel

Police holding the line against a sea of anti-Israel marchers
Picture: Christians United for Israel

Disaster awaits if we don’t stand with the Jewish nation

As Londoners are left reeling with shock at a succession of terrible tragedies, angry residents and pundits inevitably start looking for someone to blame.

At the rally following London’s Al Quds¹ march, the Iranian-inspired day calling for the destruction of Israel, one speaker perversely blamed the tragic West London fire on ‘Zionists’.²

And having failed to give a clear lead on so many ethical issues, the UK Government’s moral backbone is once more being tested – this time on the crucial issue of whether or not we will stand with Israel in her time of need. Read More

Praying against Terror

Intercessors for Britain’s Great Day of Prayer, 17 June, Regent’s Hall, London. Report by IFB Director David Borlase

We gathered again, around 250 of us throughout the day, for our annual Great Day of Prayer one year on from an amazing event the Saturday before the EU referendum, when God so mightily answered our prayers.  Read More

EDEN LADIES’ CONFERENCE

by Iris Watson

Life Church Folkstone’s ‘Eden’ event, ladies conference, was well attended and hosted some of God’s most amazing women, among them Rachel Hickson, Founding Director Heartcry For Change, the main event speaker, and Helen Azer, guest speaker,  who is also a Director of Heartcry.

The conference was hosted by the dynamic Virginia Maasbach, wife of Pastor Robert Maasbach, at Life Church, where Virginia was a very inspiring hostess and speaker herself.  Lots of teaching but also a lot of fun, laughter and confirmation along the way too.  The roomy, comfortable venue provided lots of spiritual food alongside non-stop tea, coffee, pastries and cold drinks, a buffet lunch and a great friendly, family atmosphere, as ladies across the region met and mingled.

Basing her day’s ministry on Proverbs 31, the freedom of women and how God wants women to be cloaked in his glory; cloaked in him, strong and steadfast, Helen Azer compared feminism to a strong woman of God, women’s rights vs a woman of God. Read More

Christian journalist shares the impact of his faith

Israel Focus meeting hosted by Jennifer Nevill, Longton Elim Church, Stoke on Trent, 22 June

Journalist and author Charles Gardner was on familiar ground when he was invited to speak to Christians about the impact of his faith on his career and his subsequent passion for Israel. Over 35 people attended, representing four local churches.

Originally from South Africa, he sensed the call of God on his life to become a journalist in his early twenties when he began working mainly in the secular media until his retirement a few years ago. Read More

“Time to engage with the bad guys” says Vicar of Baghdad

Canon Andrew White, St George’s Church of England Foundation School, Broadstairs, Kent,
4 June. Report by Iris Watson

The strong reputation of Iraq based, wheelchair-bound, Canon Andrew White (the ‘Vicar of Baghdad’) drew hundreds of Christians from several denominations.

He spoke of the vast number of slaughtered Christian friends he has personally lost and of the 100,000 Christians in prison in North Korea. One man, who had smuggled Bibles into North Korea, was executed; the barbaric cruelty that followed also took the lives of his family, while the remainder of his relatives, young and old, were imprisoned. Read More

Glory in the City Conference, Balham, London

by Iris Watson

Balham experienced a precious move of God as his glory swept among the four churches spreading the Gospel at their annual ‘Glory in the City’ event.

Meetings were open to everyone wanting to experience God in a fresh, new way.

The main speaker was Dr John Shiver (pronounced Shyver) who also ministered at a leaders’ and pastors’ breakfast on the Saturday morning following the previous evening’s powerful Word and Worship at Pastor Sam and Ruth Opong’s Oasis Church in Colliers Wood.

Dr Shiver, who recently returned from a crusade reaching over 7000 people in India to be at this year’s event, has so far made 39 trips to the UK.  Read More

Persecution Watch: Aug – Sept 2017

ISIS hold 100 Christians hostage in Philippines

Brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute, co-founders of the Maute Islamist terror group
Since an ISIS proxy terror group called the Maute group invaded Marawi on the island of Mindanao on 23 May, an estimated 350,000 people have run for their lives, a hundred Christians have been captured and many women have been forced into sex slavery.

Human shields

The government has recovered some areas of the city from Maute control, but the Philippine army has suffered severe losses. Christians have been taken as human shields as the fighting continues, and the desecration of a church was shown on ISIS media.

Martial law

The hostages include a Roman Catholic priest, Father Teresito Soganub, according to the Daily Mail. President Rodrigo Duterte has imposed martial law across the southern third of the country to tackle the crisis, and has vowed to destroy the extremists.

By early July, 70 government soldiers, 27 civilians and 290 militants had been killed in the conflict and many neighbourhoods reduced to rubble.

Pakistani family sold twice into slavery

A father of five children has been duped into signing away his family’s freedom and future. Read More

President at Prayer

President at prayer: This photo of evangelical leaders praying for Donald Trump in the Oval Offce attracted considerable social media comment. Johnnie Moore, president of the KAIROS Company and an attendee of a prayer meeting, snapped the photo of evangelical … Read More

Swedish Church forced into gay marriages

Swedish PM Stefan Löfven is imposing state policy on the Church of Sweden

Sweden’s Prime Minister has declared that the State Church cannot refuse to marry same-sex couples.

Stefan Löfven said: “No priest in the Swedish Church can refuse to marry same-sex couples.

“If you work as a midwife you must be able to perform abortions, otherwise you have to do something else. It is the same for priests who do not want to perform same-sex marriages,” he added. Read More

Google and Twitter pro-abortion bias exposed

US pro-life group Operation Rescue alleges that Google is downgrading a page on their website.

Until mid-May, their most visited page appeared in the top five when searching ‘abortions in US’. But then the search result was suddenly demoted to 25th.

Cheryl Sullenger, senior vice-president, claims that Google has been “burying our most popular page”. Read More

Trump’s travel ban

A leading US Christian campaign group has stated that President Trump’s ban on visitors from a number of mainly Muslim countries is not anti-Muslim but anti-terrorism. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice says the ban “is a massive victory for our national security”.

However, there have been protests by church groups concerned that Chaldean Christians are being deported to Iraq where they are in danger from Isis. A group of evangelical Christian organisations and others signed a letter in June to Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly expressing their “grave concern that Christians will be removed from the United States to face potential persecution, and even death, in the Middle East.” Read More

Child expert says transgender ideology is ‘child abuse’

A senior US paediatrician says her profession has been “infiltrated” by transgender dogma which is resulting in “large scale child abuse”.

Top paediatrician Michelle Cretella condemns transgender propaganda
Credit: YouTube

Michelle Cretella, president of the American College of Paediatricians, complains: “Transgender ideology is not just infecting our laws. It is intruding into the lives of the most innocent among us — children — and with the apparent growing support of the professional medical community.” Read More

Ontario law threatens families over transgenderism

Parents in Ontario, Canada, face having their children taken away if they do not accept their child’s chosen gender.

Bill 89, which the Queen signed into law this June, is seen by Christians as threatening parental rights because parents who oppose or criticise the LGBT agenda may be considered potential “child abusers.” As a result, their child “can be removed from that environment and placed into protection.” Read More

Trump ‘has done more to protect babies than any other President’

While many of President Trump’s controversial decisions and tweets dominate the media, TV news programmes and the national press have so far been fairly silent on Trump’s pro-life successes. However, it is being claimed that Trump’s policies have saved more babies in the womb any other president.

President Donald Trump

US pro-life leader Cheryl Sullenger says: “Even Reagan did nothing substantial to move the ball down the field. Trump’s been great. The only reason he hasn’t done better is that he’s met with resistance in Congress… There’s been no other president who has done more to protect babies from the death industry.” Read More

Taking the stress out of evangelism

As churches plan their summer outreaches, evangelist Tony Anthony says there’s nothing to fear. Just don’t call your ‘outreach’ evangelism unless you’ve clearly shared the Gospel Good News.

Here he offers HEART readers some highlights of his ‘evangelism masterclass’ which were shared at the ‘Engage’ conference put on by the Great Commission Society (GCS) this June, of which he is chairman. The GCS works in 130 countries and one of its main leaders is Sussex-based former gangster John Lawson whose book ‘If a Wicked Man’ featured previously in HEART Read More

Letters: August – September 2017

Falsified history

In response to How the Past Explains Where We Are by Jeremy Thomas (June-July books page). I have just re-read True Science Agrees With The Bible by Malcolm Bowden. Here he shows how history has been falsified to hide the Christian history of this island since the times of the apostles onwards.

Where Jesus tells us to watch and pray, surely seeing how we have been misled about our own history, and the reason Britain has been used in the past, helps us to pray with more clarity and assurance.

Rowena Osmond

Belvedere, Kent

Gross national sin

The day after the BMA voted to support the decriminalisation of abortion up to birth, I awoke pondering the madness of a country that seeks to kill its unborn children up to birth, with no repercussions. Read More

Child’s play

If you have youngsters to amuse this summer, try these books road-tested by primary teacher Biddy Hooper with her daughter, 5, and son, 4

Read More

Shame of Church’s silence after 50 years of abortion

By Andrew Halloway

David Borlase says ‘barbaric’ abortion will only be reversed if the Church stands up for the unborn

Prayer leader David Borlase is lamenting the Church’s apathy in the fight against abortion, as the 50th anniversary of the legalisation of abortion looms.

The Director of the Intercessors for Britain prayer alliance told HEART: “The 50th anniversary of the passing of the Abortion Act in October this year stands as one of the biggest stains on our nation’s history. Why is it that governments have been and are considering extending abortion rather than restricting it? Because the nation’s moral conscience – the Church – has been silent on the issue! Read More

Charlie Gard dilemma attracts global attention

Pro-life supporters across the world were praying for Charlie Gard, the terminally ill baby who hit the headlines this summer.

The decision to switch off Charlie’s life support was delayed when international experts were given permission to examine the sick baby. The President and Vice President of the USA both expressed their support for the little boy, and the Pope said he had prayed for him and offered a place at the Vatican’s hospital.  Read More

Lindfield Evangelical Free Church 1861 – now

Partner ministry profile

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“Our weekly Bible study or prayer meetings are attended by more than half the church”

Lindfield Evangelical Free Church started in 1861 as a house church and then continued meeting in the Sewell Memorial Mission Hall in 1866, with the first pastor Arthur Ellem starting in 1911. The Church has had 14 pastors in its lifetime with some ups and downs on its way. Read More