​INVESTIGATIVE​
JOURNALIST.
RUSSIA AND UKRAINE
PUTIN'S PEACE ACCORD DESIGN THE MINSK AGREEMERNT.
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The final day of the General Assembly of the Kirk was as well attended as the first which does not always happen however, this set of commissioners have been faithful and diligent as the Church of Scotland would say. The week long annual meeting has dealt with many issues and made a number of more visionary plans for the future of the kirk .
The outgoing Moderator, Very Rev.. John Chalmers made his year in office one about peace and reconciliation and beauty out of brokeness. although the newly installed Moderator, Rt. Rev. Angus Morrison is yet to make his mark or theme those in the assembly have been complimentary of his morning messages and the conduct of the worship during the assembly. His quiet approach has meant something of a calm assembly despite the difficult issues faced on two of the agendas related to the same issue of openly Gay Clergy.
It is an issue that has led to whole congregations leaving the Kirk over the past months and undoubtedly over the coming weeks there may be more divisions than reconciliations, unless the message from Very Rev. John Chalmers who will return to his role as Principal Clerk, is heeded that despite our differences of opinion we need to start working for the future of Jesus' Church, as a team. The head of the Kirk is Jesus Christ and although the monarch is invited to attend often in the guise of her selected Lord High Commissioner, It is the Ministers and commissioners who enter the aAssembly Hall first and then the Monarch's representative. however, the influence of government on this institution has grown over the years and none so much as the OSKR influence on this charity. Indeed one minister quipped to me " When I began as a young minister it was Jesus Christ who was head of the Church of Scotland, now it seems to be a geezer called OSKR!(Oscar!)
Moderator Angus Morrison and Lord Hope,
the Lord High Commissioner.
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The new moves to allow congregations to accept a minister who is openly gay is a step too far and too soon even for this broad kirk in some commissioners mind. The Church of Scotland is the other Established Church in the U.K. It has a responsibility to ensure the ordinances of worship reach each area of the country. Founded by John Knox the reformer friend of John Calvin in Geneva He formed a Kirk that was established but independent of the monarchy or government in matters Spiritual had the last word through its various courts. from local Kirk Sessions to Presbytery and then on to Synods, which were abolished, and the supreme court being the General Assembluy of the Church of Scotland. Its word was final on all matters within a moral and spiritual sphere.
There are nearly 900 delegates attend each year from all around Scotland and indeed from Europe, India, Asia and the Pacific. The majority are commissioners representing their Presbytery and thier own congregations and also from overseas There is a massive Presbytery of Europe whicwhich includes a Church in Bermuda, in Sri Lanka and elsewhere such as Malta and Rome.
The overseas guests also are extended the right to contribute to debates and share thier insights with the commissioners. The value of such an assembly must be more that just conducting business those who attend enjoy the fellowship of old and new friends as well as gleaning ideas tested around the world.
Doubtless the media will fixate on the Gay issue they will spin it in such a way it obfuscates the real moves made at Assembly. \As a friend of mine once said dont let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Conflict and drama are the lifeblood of the current bread and circuses media. The danger of being slightly longer winded and perhaps as a result explain better what really happened they go for the quick fix. Legions leave the Kirk as they vote to allow Gay minister. The current overture re an act could not be further from the truth.
The concern of the falling numbers becoming members and indeed the dwindling roll over the whole church is a concern the previous Moderator has thrown out a challenge. Let us find 100,000 new members over the coming years. The real shortage of Ministers and young people coming into the ministry too has exercised Assembly. The new decade for Ministry Launch will go some way towards an improvement in attracting young men and women to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament.
Just as the Kirk is not immune to mistakes neither is the General Assembly Some decisions may well end up being repealed after all the Jesus came to help sinners not angels! Tomorrow the Commissioners will wake up in thier parishes and back to the sharp end no doubt defending thier votes on contraversial issues as well as exciting the Kirk about the future and the information that the foreign delegates shared.
In another 365 days it will be deja vu! again atop the Mound.
The test of what happened atop the Mound will take several years before it is appreciated if it was good or bad decisions of those members of the Kirk who attended the 2015 General Assembly.h
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tTThe Ukraine seems to have disappeared from BBC and sky news I wonder why? The situation there has not gone away and the people are underfire. In phone calls yesterday to Anglel Merkle and to France's president Hollande President Vladimir Putin the architect of the Minsk peace accord remended the European Leaders
to uphold the agreement.
Official press release of the Presidents office states.
The three leaders discussed the crisis in Ukraine, stressing the need for the parties to the conflict in southeast Ukraine to implement in full the measures agreed under the Minsk Agreements of February 12, 2015. The three leaders noted the importance of strict compliance with the agreements on withdrawing heavy arms under OSCE monitoring and establishing demilitarised zones along the contact line.
Mr Putin expressed Russia’s concern over the increasingly frequent cases of Ukrainian forces firing at civilian sites, which has led civilian losses.
The three leaders exchanged views on possible further measures to ensure strict compliance with the ceasefire and de-escalate the tension.
The work done by the four working sub-groups within the Contact Group was the subject of particular attention. The three leaders agreed to continue efforts at various levels The west continues to seem to allow the Nazi fighters in Donetsk and the east to fire at will at civilians. This is not what the agreement was about and this info came to me from a contact in Donetsk.
It is time for the media to stop being the puppet of the elite behind the scenes. Why has it taken seventeen years for the FBI who claim to be watching the money trail of FIFA, to come to the conclusion there is corruption, just look at the Salt Lake City Olympics people there got their kids through school paid for for votes in the committee and persuasion of others to back them!
There are far too many confilicts which if tracked back go to the elite in USA TURKEY QATAR and Saudi Arabia. After all it was only after Erdogan persuaded Bashir Assad to demine the border that Isis appeared in Syria coincidence???????
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