Andrew Owen
Dear friends,
Re: My response to the article in The Times and the Glasgow evening times (by M. Horne)
“Trump’s Twitter ban heralds end times” Tuesday 19th January ’21
We wish to thank Marc Horne for his ongoing interest in Destiny churches, and to the editors of these various newspapers for thinking his article newsworthy enough to print.
Whilst the heading has been sensationalised and is an inaccurate representation of my eNews article, it rightly points out major concerns that I and many others have at this present time. The real story here is not the American election, but the fierce fight for the freedom of speech.
My eNews article to which Marc Horne refers is printed in full below together with my tweets linking articles from respected media outlets in the USA.
Within my article, I comment on my concern with the CEOs of Social Media companies now censoring public conversation.
These unelected oligarchs have become self-anointed and self-appointed rulers of the free world.
Not forgetting that they are using our data to make their billions.
Twitter’s double standards are apparent for all to see when they leave up the Ayatollah Khomeini’s constant death and destruction threats to the nation of Israel or allow “hangmikepence” to trend, whilst denouncing others for stirring strife.
Recently Jack Dorsey of Twitter was caught on camera at his staff meeting saying that Trump and the thousands of others he took down were just the start of a major cull of people he did not agree with. Will you be next?
It was Eisenhower who said, public debate is the oxygen of democracy. And our democracy is being suffocated right now on many levels.
Whilst Marc Horne makes effort to mark me out as ‘weird’, I am not alone in my concern. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Macron of France and many other world leaders have expressed the same concern over this censorship, with Poland now moving ahead with legislation to protect free speech and their people from big tech censorship. They more than most understand the dangers of the present trends, they know what it’s like to be occupied by both Nazis and communists within living memory. Both of whom did what big tech is now doing, silencing free speech and controlling the narrative.
I was told by my university lecturer many years ago that He who controls the story controls the world.
Sadly, much of our UK mainline media also knows this and is abandoning real journalism for ‘spin’ and ‘propaganda’. We no longer get the news, but their version of it and then their opinion on their own report.
In their own defence, some of the social media companies say they have appointed independent ‘fact-checkers’ on various posts. But who checks the ‘fact-checkers?’ Many have been found of late to be activists with their own political agendas.
Responding to this trend, plus a global pandemic, Christians the world over, who believe in the Holy scriptures and hold the Bible in high regard, recognise in these world events clear signs.
There are many written prophetic indicators of the end of times.
We have a huge hope that Jesus will one day return as the rightful Lord and Saviour of this world. And before Marc Horne takes another swipe at Christians for believing such things, he should note that Islam also has it’s end of days doctrine and understanding.
Many people are very fearful over this global pandemic and emerging future trends, and rightly they ask questions. Questions that no newspaper that I can see is even acknowledging never mind answering. Pretending that people don’t have these concerns and questions will not help the situation. But these are questions I hear all the time as a pastor. Questions on free speech, vaccines, money, mental health amongst our students and fear and isolation amongst the most vulnerable in our society.
The truth is God loves people, and God loves you. He does have a plan for your life, a destiny that is to be yours. A future includes the peace of mind and peace of heart. 365 times the Bible says ‘Fear not’. Once for each day of the year.
Why not reach out? I promise we will reach right back.
Life with God can be so different from the one you know at the moment.
There is hope.
Thanks for reading.
Best wishes,
Andrew Owen
LINKED ARTICLES:
“Polling Indicates if News Media Had Been Fair and Balanced, Biden Would Have Lost“, (24th November ’20), CBN
“Chinese Parts”, (15th November ’20), @andrewdestiny, Twitter
eNews “Free To Share“, (15th January ’21), Andrew Owen – added in full below
OTHER PRESS:
“Trump’s Twitter ban heralds end times, claims Christian evangelist Andrew Owen“, (19th January ’21), M. Horne, The Times
“Glasgow church leader claims Donald Trump’s Twitter ban heralds end times“, (19th January ’21), J. Hagh, Glasgow Evening Times
“Big Tech may soon ban Christians, church leader warns“, (20th January ’21), Christian Today
“Scottish pastor says banning of Trump’s Twitter account signals ‘end times‘”, (19th January ’21), Premier Christian News
eNews “Free To Share“, (15th January ’21)
Dear e-News friends, church members, and partners,
Free To Share
Nearly everyone who gets this e-news has a huge privilege and opportunity, which is the FREEDOM to share their faith, thoughts, and convictions.
A few of our family in some parts of the world are already seriously restricted in things that they can or can’t say.
We have all missed our ‘taken for granted’ liberty of meeting together and enjoying church meetings as and when we wanted, but all of this may change sooner than we think, and I’m not talking about the virus.
This last week the world went through a seismic shift.
For the first time, we saw the big tech giants (Google,Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon…) decide that some people’s thoughts, ideas, and opinions were not to be shared with the wider world, and blocked tens of thousands of accounts, closing many of them permanently.
Most people I know had dozens or even hundreds of their Twitter followers deleted as this global politicking had its knock-on effects.
Since then the monetary value of both Twitter and Facebook has plummeted by billions of dollars, and we will yet see how much they are willing to lose in support of their ideas, or how much longer their shareholders will put up with it.
This week the House of Lords in the UK is asking for people to involve with a public consultation on the issue. Germany’s Angela Merkel, with France’s Macron have spoken out with deep concern, and Poland is passing laws to prevent the big tech companies from stealing their freedoms, and they should know having been occupied by both Nazis’ and communists in living memory.
A former British Prime Minister once said, ‘ideas ruled the world’, and currently, an anti-God ideology is taking a very firm hold on our planet, and shutting many people, including Christians out of the public arena. The cancel culture of too many universities has now reached you and me.
Ultimately this is not about your political preference but about your core beliefs.
Are you going to be PC or BC – politically correct or biblically correct? These values are on a collision course.
We have made the most of church online during these lockdowns, but it’s now a real possibility that perhaps a year or two from now, Facebook, YouTube, and others may prohibit church online and ban any Christian content.
So, what are we to do?
Stay positive. I have been asked so many times of late, are these things plus a global pandemic the signs of the end of the times. The answer is it’s the countdown to the end, but Jesus said the real sign of the end will be a global revival, the gospel will be preached with huge success to the ends of the earth. Therefore, the real signs of the times will not be found at Google Head Quarters, but at the church – what are we doing with all Jesus said?
Maximise your opportunity now. We still have basic freedoms, we can still tell people we identify as Christian, we can still tell people about Jesus and we can still invite people to church online, let’s not waste it, speak up, invite in, bring someone with you.
Be courageous. I’m teaching on Sunday in our brand-new season on Thriving under this heading: “Fear Not!” That phrase occurs in some English Bibles 365 times, one for every day of the year. Don’t worry what they think, whilst showing people genuine love and concern at the same time.
Get God involved with everything you do every day. This will lead to good decisions, blessed activities, and God-given opportunities. Simply pray the simplest prayer, ‘God lead me today’, or ‘Holy Spirit speak to me and let me know and discern your voice, then give me the courage to act’
Did you know that the most popular podcast in the world at the moment is ‘The Bible in a year’ by a catholic priest, Father Michael Schmitz? That shows people are open and hungry like never before.
The world is getting darker – but our world is to get brighter by the moment.
Bring some sunshine into someone’s life today.
Love you guys.
See you at the weekend,
Andrew
