Honduras, the most murderous nation on earth

Until recently I knew very little about Honduras.  I did not know the name of its capital, currency or president.  I did know that it has a thriving textile industry and that my Y-fronts were manufactured in Honduras.  I knew that there was a great deal of poverty and people lived on very low wages.  I had no idea that, according to the National Commission for Human Rights, there is a violent death every 74 minutes.  Bodies are dumped frequently on the streets of Tegucigalpa, the capital.  Its Mayor, Ricardo Alvarez, started the People's Funeral Service, when he found that people were being buried in black garbage sacks and could not afford a decent funeral. Honduras has the world's highest murder rate.  The latest figures show that there are 86 homicides for every 1,000 of the population.  The situation seems to be getting worse.  There are murderous gangs, policemen and military officers.  Police and military corruption is widespread and they are evidently working with the gangs and cartels.  There is big money and influence in drugs.  It is estimated that 79 per cent of all cocaine flights from South America to the USA stop in Honduras.  Two thirds of the country live in poverty.

Yesterday an excellent BBC Radio 4 programme Crossing Continents: A Death in Honduras, reported on the horrendous situation in Honduras.  It is currently available on BBC iplayer and it will be broadcast again on Monday 7 May at 20:30 on Radio 4.


I thoroughly recommend the BBC news article by Linda Pressly
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17870673

I also visited the Compassion.com website for details of Christian aid work in Honduras and information about the country.
http://www.compassion.com/about/where/honduras.htm

Roy Hodgson is now in line to be England manager

Although Harry Redknapp had been widely tipped to be the next England football team manager, the Football Association has decided to appoint Roy Hodgson.  When Fabio Capello resigned and Harry Rednapp was acquitted of tax evasion offences, there was enormous support for Harry as the next manager.  Earlier this year the media, senior England players, fellow managers, pundits and fans were delighted with the prospect of Harry taking the job.  It seemed to be his destiny and well within his grasp. Some sports writers and pundits are still saying that Harry is the best man for the job. Some fear that the England job may turn out like the Anfield failure for Roy.

The FA has chosen a safer, easier and cheaper option.  Time will tell if it was a wise choice.  The England job may be a poisoned chalice at this point in time. Harry may be the best England manager we never had! Perhaps fans of Brian Clough would disagree. 

City were better than United in the Manchester derby

Manchester City beat United by just one goal in the tense derby yesterday evening.  City now go top of the Premiership and two wins would make them champions.  They were the better team and deserved to win, though United must be disappointed to lose from a set piece.  Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that United should not have conceded the goal, at this level, from a corner.  Smalling was clearly to blame by not keeping a good defensive position and by allowing Vincent Kompany to head in the winner.

Manchester City must now beat Newcastle away at St James's Park and beat Queen's Park Rangers at home at the Etihad Stadium to clinch the title. Newcastle are hoping to win in order to gain the fourth spot and Champions League football next season.  Queen Park Rangers are fighting to avoid regulation.  A great deal is hanging on these games.

Manchester United are expected to win their two remaining games: at home to Swansea and away at Sunderland.

The German team, Bayern Munich, win on penalties at the Bernabeu

After extra time, with the aggregate score level at 3-3 and both teams having one away goal, it is no surprise to see a German side win on penalties, even in the magnificent Bernabeu against the Galaticos.  Real Madrid thought it was going to be their year to win the Champions League.  Cristiano Ronaldo really believed it, but the resolute Bayern Munich team had other ideas.  Ronaldo scored two goals this evening, but he failed to score in the penalty shoot out. Sebastian Schweinsteiger scored the winning penalty to knock out mighty Madrid.  The Special One, Jose Mourinho, was hoping to achieve a record of three Champions League wins with three different clubs.  He had already won with Porto and Inter Milan.  But a win with Real Madrid in 2012 against his old club, Chelsea, was not to be.

Chelsea performed magnificently at Camp Nou

It was truly a sensational win for Chelsea tonight at Camp Nou when they knocked out the European Champions League holders.  Chelsea won the tie by three goals to two on aggregate, drawing 2-2 on the night.

 At half time Chelsea were a goal down, with the score at 2-1, and had only ten men on the pitch. After 43 minutes Chelsea had been two goals down, but Ramires scored a magnificent goal just before the half time whistle.  Chelsea captain John Terry had been sent off after receiving a straight red card. This dismissal came after 38 minutes of the game.  At the end of the second half Chelsea managed to score a killer goal, with only ten men.  Barcelona did not score at all in the second half. Amazing!

It was not pretty football but Chelsea's defence was resolute.  The whole team fought so well in one of the most remarkable games in the club's history.  Many critics had written Chelsea off.  Who would have believed that they would do so well in the second half with so many odds against them?  It was a remarkable result.  Barca were stunned.  Lionel Messi missed a penalty at the beginning of the second half, and he has never scored against Chelsea.  There has been an all Italian final and there has been an all English club Champions League final, but the anticipated first all Spanish final will not take place in 2012.  

The Three Ducks in Lovejoy

For those who follow the Lovejoy television series and wish to identify various locations, the public house in the episode Ducking and Diving, broadcast today, is in Pin Mill, Suffolk.  It is not The Three Ducks but Butt & Oyster, The Quay, Pin Mill, IP9 1JW. It is a CAMRA pub. You can find more information on the Heritage Pubs' website. 

A Tribute to Arthur Carver

As a tribute to the late Reverend Arthur Carver, I have decided to insert a passage from his book The Great Consummation.

This is from page 34 of chapter 4, The True Biblical Character of the Kingdom

SUMMARY OF OUR LORD'S TEACHING

We have seen that the Advent and its vast attendant happenings were no minor part of that ministry. Rather that Day was the grand climax to which a large part of his utterances were directed. He sets it before His hearers in a manner calculated to illumine the mind and solemnise the heart. We have seen that here a no darkly-veiled mysteries, but an embracive, detailed setting forth of the events connected with the Great Consummation, in language so clear and plain that "the wayfaring man need not err therein ".  To suggest that our Lord would speak otherwise betokens lack both of wisdom and reverence.

What, then, have we discovered?  If we adopt a dispensationalist point of attitude and look for "significant omissions", the result of our labour is clear.  There is no statement of a "pre-tribulation Rapture", no word about a "two phased Coming", no sentence about distinguishing between the "coming of the Lord" and the "coming of the Son of Man", no announcement of a series of resurrections and judgments, no mention of an earthly throne of David, no pointing to a thousand years' reign on earth, with a further Satanic outbreak; in fact NOTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE VERY THINGS DISPENSATIONALISTS ARE FOREVER TALKING ABOUT.
We put the obvious question: "If all these things, which form the marrow and substance of Futurism, are part of the Doctrine of Christ, why is it that they are nowhere to found reading of the Master's words?"  Can it be because they are, after all, only the innovations of mistaken men?

When we look at the positive side, the results are just as clear, and the conclusions equally destructive to the 19th Century prophetic theories. They can be summarised as follows:
There are only two Ages from the time of Messiah's Advent, "this age" and "the age to come"; The end of "this age" is accompanied by the severance of the righteous and the wicked to their eternal portion ( e.g. Matthew 13 ); The "age to come" is the age of "ever- lasting life", where there is no marriage, sin or death ( Luke 20:36 ), but the "righteous shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father" ( Matthew 13 ); The "end of the age" is attended by "The judgement", "The Throne of His Glory", and "the furnace of fire"; It is, indeed, "The Last Day" of Time for both saint and sinner; The only event. set before Christians, for which they are to watch is the Son of Man appearing in His Glory; There is but one appearing when He comes in the threefold glory of Himself, His Father and the holy angels; this Appearing will be as the Flood of Noah and the Sodom Judgement, bringing destruction to all the ungodly, but east and west enjoy everlasting bliss, "eating at His table" and reigning on thrones; From this Kingdom, every evil thing has been forever banished.

Such then, are the teachings of the Lord Jesus. There is no room in them for millennialism of any kind. It was the unanswerable challenge of this teaching that shattered the writer's traditional belief in the eschatology of Brethrenism, and showed an earthly millennium to be a useless mirage. We have pleasure in presenting the same challenge to the reader. All we ask is, that he should honestly endeavour to divest his mind of the theories he has been taught for years regarding the Coming of the Lord, and then come simply to the reading of the four Gospels. Let him listen to the Beloved Master; examine all He said on this momentous subject. We are confident that not one in ten thousand would ever discern there the intricate system of Comings, resurrections, judgements and Kingdoms which adorn the Temple of dispensationalism. This temple has been reared upon ideas as mistaken as filled the minds of the apostles in the Holy Mount; as for us, the voice from Heaven speaks once again: "This is My Beloved Son; hear ye Him."

The full text of Arthur Carver's book, The Great Consummation, is available from
http://www.stilltruth.com/2012/great-consumation

Please my blog of 31 March 2011 for further comments about Arthur.