Australian cult: Anyone recognize this?
Date: October 03, 2007 04:13AM
JESUS CHRISTIANS NEWSLETTER #93, OCTOBER, 2007
CD'S GOING LIKE HOTCAKES
The Australian team distributed all of the first 10,000 "Survivor"
CDs in just a matter of weeks, and now has taken delivery of a second
run of 20,000 more CDs, which is not even expected to last them until
Christmas. They say that the German version of "Survivors" which
also appears on the CD, is especially popular amongst German tourists
in Sydney.
KENYA VOLUNTEERS
We have started having more regular meetings with the board that
oversees our work in Kenya, in the hope of getting more local Quakers
inspired about helping with the work. Most volunteers participating
in the work so far are non-Quakers (and a large percentage have been
coming from overseas), so we hope to adjust the balance through more
promotion within local Friends Churches.
THE READING PROGRAM
After a short retreat for much needed inreach during the school
holidays, the volunteers in Kenya have resumed the reading program in
ten local schools. A few schools have reached their first target,
which is to get ten percent of their students through the entire
program. Each school that has achieved that goal has been awarded
with a lunch party for the teachers and staff. They have until the
end of the year to make that goal. In the new year we will be
selecting ten new schools to help out.
There have been a number of requests from Catholic Schools in the
area for us to take the reading program to them as well, and the
board approved us doing this, which we are hopeful will promote much
goodwill between the two churches, which are the main two
denominations in Western Kenya.
Boni and Andrew, two friends of ours,continue to distribute over
2000 Easy English booksper weekto schools that are not in our area.
BASKETBALL
Joe recently arrived back from the U.S., and we have been finalising
the basketball court at a local school, whereJoe plans to teach the
sport to school children. With another holiday break coming up, we
are considering a special basketball camp as one option for holiday
activities.
A SUCCESSFUL FAITH OUTREACH
Casey, Giddy and Karl went out on a faith outreach to a neighbouring
village for a few days with outstanding success. They had a
wonderful time and learned a lot of good lessons about living by
faith and not relying on visible means of support. On the first day
of their outreach, they were sitting on the side of the road waiting
on God when two women approached them and said that they had seen one
of them in Nairobi (hundreds of miles south of there) and recognised
them. They invited the trio to come and stay with their family for
the duration of their outreach, and now one of the women is assisting
as a volunteer in the community center in Shinyalu.
Volunteers from overseas continue to come through, with a young woman
from South Korea arriving even as we have been typing this newsletter.
CASEY THE PREACHER!
Towards the end of the month, we were invited to preach at a church
in the local forest. Casey delivered a message on Amos8:11, which
says:
"The time is coming when I will send famine on the land. People
will be hungry, but not for bread; they will be thirsty, but not for
water. They will hunger and thirst for a message from the Lord" (TEV)
.
The sermon was received very well despite a brief interruption due to
heavy rains that deafened everyone under the corrugated iron sheet
roof. In appreciation for the message, we were bestowed with many
gifts in the form of food. We received bananas, plantains, sugar
cane, paw paw, avocados and other fruits.
PHANTOM RUNS
Joe won the ten-week phantom race competition this month, posting
some great times throughout the competition. Harro, a local Kenyan
volunteer, came in a close second, missing first place by only a few
points. Harro's best time this month was 10:51 for two miles, which
is phenomenal considering the altitude and conditions of the track we
run on in Kenya. Now that Joe is back in the thin air of Kenya, he
is going to find it much harder to maintain his reputation in the
next round of the competition.
SOME BAD NEWS...
We were saddened by the death of Ross' father, who has been suffering
from cancer for some time now. Ross was able to visit with him just
a few hours before he died, and is presently making funeral
arrangements along with other members of the family.
AUSTRALIAN QUAKERS
Trouble continues to brew amongst Friends, despite our efforts
(reported last month) to be co-operative with them. We took down all
reference to the secret list of grievances that they sent to us (and
our responses) from our web site. However, when reference was made
to this on the Quaker website, Dave was notified privately by the
acting regional meeting (state) clerk that he should not post there
either.
So, at the same time that a request has gone out for the Quaker web
site to be used to publicly dissociate the Society from the Jesus
Christians, they are trying to block the public from hearing the
official list of reasons that were given to us for doing this. We
believe that the list of complaints against us is, in itself,
incompatible with Quaker faith and practice. Obviously we would like
to be able to RESPOND to that list too, but I'm sure most Friends
would be shocked to hear the actual grounds that have been given for
stating categorically that much of what we believe is incompatible
with Quaker faith and practice!
In the meantime, a private investigator, spending a week in Sydney to
dig up dirt on ourselves, was accommodated at Friends House while he
went about his work. Part of his duties took him to an anti-cult
seminar in company with Kate Croft, Ash's mother, who is committed to
stopping Ash from donating a kidney anywhere in the world. This
private investigator (who also happens to be a Quaker) has intimated
that he has sent "thick dossiers" full of juicy dirt about ourselves
to Interpol, the FBI, immigration authorities in several countries,
the media, hospitals, yadda, yadda, yadda.
AND NOW THE GOOD NEWS...
The more people do to fight us, the more they actually end up
promoting us!
In the United Kingdom, it seems that whatever has been said, even by
our enemies, to the media about us being a controversial group, it is
resulting in the media taking even more interest in what we are doing
there. Plans are now underway for Jesus Christians to appear on TWO
MORE reality TV shows besides the dating one that Alf appeared on.
Oh, by the way, be prepared for some humorous surprises about the
woman they chose as Alf's date when that show is broadcast!