Preaching with a purpose

  There are several of you in Russia who have followed my blog for many years.   It amazes me that I am able to write for people all over the world.   When I was a child it would have been unthinkable.   I am making steady progress with my study of the Russian language.   The software I am using is free but very good although they do ask me quite often if I would like to upgrade and pay for the privilege!   I need to make more progress before I consider that.   The material to learn is split into small modules.   First you turn cards with a picture and the Russian word which is also spoken and with the English meaning given.   When you feel you can recognise these you go onto the next step when you see the Russian word and hear it spoken and you have to say what it means.   The card turns and you see if you had the right answer.   If you did you press “yes.” There is lots of repetition and wrongly answered words are displayed aga...

Well you can write about how you feel now that you can’t think what to write.   It is a whole huge topic in itself.   At one moment one’s head is full of ideas pressing upon one another to be the one honoured to be the topic chosen by the author to grace a piece of blank paper; and then one finds they have all slunk away and hidden in the deep recesses of the mind refusing to show themselves at all. However there is nothing like making a start in filling the blank page, as the writing process has a habit of loosening up those tightly hidden corners of the mind and popping out a topic.   Of course there is nothing like having a topic which makes your blood boil; that is the time when the words begin to flow freely.   And so let me tell you about a parish council meeting I went to a few months ago.   It was about new housing in our village.   Once it was a small village but from about forty years ago it expanded rapidly but still managed to keep its charmi...

How many hours does your teenager spend on computer games? Have you looked to see how gory these are?   Do you really want your child to be getting a taste for shooting people?   Well, of course it keeps him out of your hair and instead of you giving him the values your parents gave you he is getting a taste for murder. If he’s really good at it he might apply to be a drone pilot for the government and then he   can kill real human beings.   Then again perhaps your daughter is keener on the mystical type of game.   Your parents brought you up to love and revere God, but now your daughter is looking into the occult.   Mom and Dad it’s time you looked to your responsibilities for your kids instead of giving them over to these robotic child minders.

It seems great to have a home entertainment centre;   all sorts of things to amuse us and while away the time.   There is sport, there is drama, quiz shows and “reality T.V.” What could be better to watch in the comfort of our homes?   And it seems so important to keep up with world events, to be in the know about what our politicians are saying.   Would we invite a poisonous snake or a marauding bull into our homes among our family? The T.V. is not always, but often an open sewer flooding anti-God propaganda into our homes.   It tells us we need to be young and beautiful and spend a fortune on face creams and make-up. To put great effort into building up our bodies, if we are men, and slimming them down to a ridiculous, not to say unhealthy, tiny weight if we are women.   It tells us we should strive to be a pop singer, which if successful often leads to a lifestyle including drug taking. Evolution is anti-God and there is plenty about that on the T...

I am Thinking of Giving up Television. This evening I turned off the television and the computer and found the ensuing silence blissful.   I lived quite happily without a television when I first came to this apartment.   I only had a T.V. because it was given to me.   What would I miss?   Not a lot.   The News just splurges out war and mayhem without providing any answers.   I find all that misery makes me less sensitive to the great distress of many people in this world.   It drags your spirit down and one, either grows a tough shell and become impervious to everything, or you are greatly distressed by the scenes on the box.   There is so much that pushes forward the importance of sex and no thought of moderation. Sex really isn’t that important, but we have it flaunted before us in most programmes. People are expected to worship their partner.   Worship is for God alone and to put anyone else before Him is utterly wrong. I know all...