From
2002
This year sees a change. "That your faith might
not be in the words of men but it the demonstration of the spirit
and power"!
When the
Spirit Falls with Power.
"Earnestly
desire the best gift.." 1Corinthians 12:31
For a nation with a very bad doubt problem what would
be the right gift of the Spirit to combat this malady? Surely the
"gift of faith"?....NO?
Then let us earnestly desire this gift in operation,
but not at conferences or in church social but out there
impacting society.!
Covent Gardens
The London team was
arrested in February this year. They were held under the”
breech of the peace" law. For some hours. As we had won the
case "Redmond-Bate Vs DPP",
we knew that the police were doing this illegally. But Westminster
police do not seem to have learned the law concerning these
matters or maybe, perhaps, just
ignored it, which is more serious. Anyway we challenged them in
this issue afterwards by writing to them through
own Christian lawyer .We have
found that there is wide spread lack of knowledge of this case,
especially amongst Christian circles.
Well the police have now
agreed that they were wrong and even financially compensated
the team (all of which will go to charity) for this unlawful
detention.
Praise the Lord.
MISSION
TO LONDON 2002
Preaching
started in London officially in September,
2001 when we were led to Oxford Street to a
Location opposite Marks and Spencer at the Tottenham Court Road
end of the Street. Later on we were led to a second
location near Debenhams and John Lewis’s at the opposite end
of the street. Around November we were instructed to move
further afield and we were given 6 locations (4 new ones).
Gillian
was not released to join the team permanently until November and
this was around the time that we found our third location in Leicester
Square. We began with the intention of working a
circuit but we then found ourselves in Leicester Square for a
period of 6 weeks before investigating site 4 in Covent Garden
where we are currently based.
We
were led supernaturally to a spot in Covent Garden at the
junction of King Street which is now the Saturday stand but we
are still visiting the other sites on a Wednesday.
The
team is currently split into two groups the Saturday group
being: Mrs. Bate, Gillian, Dawn Carol Wilkes and Heather
and the odd visitor and the Wednesday team.
Covent
Garden can best be described as Vanity Fair as portrayed in
Pilgrims Progress. It is largely an entertainment area and
is a spiritual stronghold. It is the very place that Jesus
would have visited and every form of depravity dwells there.
Hence between the tourists there are many people in very great
need and we have seen some tragic sights since we began to make
our stand.
Jesus
says, “All things are possible to those
that believe”.
The
area is international as depicted by the various shops in the
area and consequently their are visitors from all over the
world. Over the past year we have been engaged in much
spiritual warfare. There is great opposition from some of
the entertainers in the area, though others are respecting the
stand.
We
have been opposed by the Piazza Trust who own Covent Garden and
have a lot of wealth and influence in Westminster. They
have interests in many large Financial Institutions including the
Bank of Scotland and are currently taking us to Court for
allegedly breaking the bye laws regarding noise.
Then
There are the Arrests:
9th
February Mrs. Bate, Gillian, Heather and
Christine Shaw were arrested. This matter was contested by our
Solicitor since we have already won the right to preach and each
team member was awarded £500 compensation, which was given to an
Orphanage in Swaziland. (As are any compensations paid to us)
4th
May, Mrs. Bate was arrested again and this
matter is currently being dealt with by the Solicitor.
4th
October, Mrs. Bate was arrested a third
time. This time she was encouraging people to reach out for
miracles. She was preaching how Jairus got his miracle when he
went beyond the realm of his senses as opposed to the rest of his
family who had already nailed the lid of the coffin because they
were limited by what they could see, what they could feel, what
they could hear. She was to be charged with a Section 5
offence on the grounds that Mr. Hammond had lost his case at the
Crown Court when he was alleged to have harassed homosexuals and
Mrs. Bate was harassing the general public and frightening the
children.
Following
discussions between the Solicitor and the Chief Inspector at
Charring Cross Police Station Mrs. Bate was bailed to attend at
the Station on 16th
November to know whether she is to be
officially charged. In the meantime her file is being sent
to the C.P.S. for their ruling
.
In
order to eradicate preaching Westminster City Council have
accused the team of breaking a bye law for noise pollution where
the word is preached without any amplification in an area that
regularly holds live concerts and is full of musicians using
amplification to make themselves heard.
Mrs.
Bate and Gillian have been summonsed to appear at Horseferry Road
Magistrates Court on 4th
December, 2002 to answer the charges that
were made on the 20th
April. Mrs. Bate is charged twice and
Gillian once. The other bye law charges outstanding are as
follows:
11th
May, Mrs. Bate
Charged Again
and Off to Court
Wednesday 20th
November sees Mrs Bate once again in court at Bow
Street, London. Charged, once more, with section five offence for
a breech of the peace. Bow Street is where John Bunyan who wrote
“Pilgrim’s Progress”, was charged and sentenced to
prison for preaching in London without a license. He was held in
prison for 16 years and it does not seem that anything has
changed since those dark ages.
The whole London team are in
court on the 4th
December with offences against the London city council
for breaking bye laws….for preaching of
course…..outlawed here in UK….it seems. (This was
postponed time and again until June 19th 2003)
Meanwhile all the teams go out
each week ministering healing; deliverance; salvation and
preaching the word of truth from heaven as God’s Holy Spirit
leads them to do so….not allowing the interruptions of
doubting believers to stop them nor the laws of the land. Even
though we have won the case in the Queen’s bench court, yet
still the harassment continues unabated. For the decision of the
Queens bench court please see:-
http://www.fpp.co.uk/Legal/Penguin/Appeal/SedleyLJ/DTel240899.html
.
Anyway we continue week by week, as the Lord has shown
us to, preaching and boldly proclaiming the truth that Jesus
gives us to proclaim in London as well as in Wakefield, Leeds,
Halifax, Huddersfield, York and other cities each week.
Police Pay
Compensation for Wrongful Arrest
The year 2003 sees new aspects added to the fight for
Christ. The metropolitan police have tried, unsuccessfully to go
against the law and have charged us with breech of peace, but
when challenged in the courts, they back down (just trying it on)
and comply with their own laws for a change. Paying us
compensation to boot. (which is sent entirely to the orphanage)
However, changing tactics they now serve us with bye
law breeches and this court hearing has still to be heard,
beginning on the 24th February 2003. (the same charge that John
Bunyan got hundreds of years previously and was arrested in the
same area. and charged at the same court house)
24th February 2003
The police forgot their notebooks and so the pre-trial
review, after travelling to London, was once more postponed.
8th March 2003
Then now it has been set this week for the 19th June,
2003 at Horseferry Magistrates Court. This court case is
essentially the bye-laws verses human rights to preach....in the
centre of London.
We are now pursuing the suing of the criminal law
enforcement agencies in the land of United Kingdom. For all the
back offences they have caused. Our motive for this is simple. We
want reform. Our motive for preaching was the best in the world
and we get thrown into prison and treated with curses, what about
the real person with real faults? If they do this to us, what
will they do to those who deserve castigation?
Every day we see errors and wrongs done by
authorities. Should we sit by and do nothing? I think not. We
invoke the name of our God to do something, to change things and
make things better. For society's sake.
THEN
CAME HARVEST TIME
On the night of April 23rd 2003 the Lord spoke and
said it is harvest time prepare for it. We did and He poured out
His spirit of compassion, healing and power over Covent Garden
and throughout the mission starting the very next Saturday. More
than 100 people ministered to by the Holy Spirit as Jesus came
and walked amongst us with signs following. Some spoke in
tongues, others healed, others lifted up.
This continued every week from this time onwards and
gathered momentum by happening in the other cities as well.
Crowds gathered, often totally supernaturally. These crowds all
received ministry, healing, restored hope, depressions
alleviated, blessings from God and virtue from heaven. The
harvest had come and we expect now the fires of heaven to be
ignited everywhere..
Arrested in London on
23rd April 2005 Homosexuality Called a Sin!
After preaching in Brixton
the London team made its way down to Covent Garden where Barbara
began to preach and drew a crowd of people most of which were
hell bent to attack her for her preaching. Many threw missiles
and stuck labels on her coat and made a mockery of her but she
carried on preaching. Police ignore them in the general ways of
"feed the christian to the lions"
Shortly
after this I noticed some Police Officers making there way
through the crowd. Mrs. Marshall was coming to the end of her
word and was then stopped and told that she could not continue
and that we must leave. We were told that they had received 5
complaints from the general public and that we were slagging off
homosexuals.
I drew the officers attention to the fact that Mrs. Marshall was
the one who had been abused and pointed to the water that was on
her jacket. I also advised him that she had been preaching a word
that at one point had
mentioned homosexuality as recorded in the Bible but it was only
in and amongst many other topics that she was addressing.
The Police Officer told me that homosexuality was not mentioned
in the Bible and so I opened my Bible to Romans 1 to show him. By
this time Barbara was standing next to me and one of the other
Officers made the same remark to her. She just opened her Bible
and it fell open on 1 Corinthians 6 and so there were two
confirmations. The older Officer was surprised and said that
actually he was not against what we were doing but we must stop.
The young black Officer was not happy and the woman Officer was
also shocked by the Word. Barbara closed her Bible and opened it
again on the same scripture. However, the Officer was still
insistent that we stop. Barbara had completed her word and had
nothing more to give but I was waiting to preach and we had done
nothing other than to police the situation most of the afternoon.
I was prepared to wait a few minutes.
The older Policeman allowed me to carry on but said that they
would be listening from a distance. The word I had on my spirit
was 'Without a vision people perish'. I started with proclamation
and then I went on to teach about values and how in today’s
society we had turned against the value of God. When a Nation
turns against
God's word it always becomes week because it has nothing to tell
it what is right or wrong except what each person in Society
perceives as right and wrong. I then preached from 1 Corinthians
13 the principles of Love. Love waits, it does not impose itself,
it is patient, it is honouring, it shows respect, it trusts, it
thinks the best, etc... and spoke about the morality of the
Nation in terms of a love relationship which the Word of God
brings.
I was approached again by the same older Officer who advised me
that they had received another complaint and I must stop. I
explained that I had been preaching in Covent Garden for three
and a half years. During that time I had endured much and
actually gone to court for the right to preach. I also advised
him of the Divisional Court ruling whereupon he said that I was
not allowed to offend. I pointed out in the summing up Lord
Sedley had said that 'Freedom of Speech' included the offensive,
the controversial, etc. and that a freedom of speech where
everyone agreed was not worth having. I said that you may not
have the same opinion as your neighbour that doesn't mean that he
or you are wrong but both of you are entitled to air your views.
I said that I was not out to be offensive but to bring the truths
of God's word and that was what I was doing.
One of the Officers wanted time to research but he was not
willing to let us continue but I insisted that I was not breaking
any law and that all I and my colleague were doing was speaking
truth as contained in the Word. I pointed out that there was a
large group of people waiting to see what we were going to do and
I was not prepared after all that I had stood for to just walk
away giving the impression that I was acting contrary to the law
when I was within my rights and had done nothing wrong. He then
allowed me to continue if I did not cause a problem. Indeed there
were no missiles during my preach. In fact it was taking me all
my time remaining focussed on the word. As I started again I
again quoted the scripture, "Without a vision people
perish" and this time spoke about the power of a vision. In
the Victorian times there were many great inventions but they
only came about because the people had vision. I cited the
example of Alexander Graham Bell who had lived in abject poverty
because he believed he could create a communication system that
would revolutionise the world. I spoke about how he faced near
starvation on many occasions because people would not believe
that his invention was possible and yet it still burned within
him. Whilst in full flow the black Police Officer grabbed me by
the arm, advised me of my rights and led me to the police van
that was waiting. I was absolutely shocked.
Mrs. Marshall followed me to the van quite prepared to go with me
but the Officer refused to take her and I alone was taken to the
station whilst Mrs. Marshall who had very little knowledge of London
was left to find her own way back to the Station for the return
train.
It was 5 o' clock when I was arrested. I was taken to Charing
Cross Police Station I think. It was a longer journey than I
remember and I wondered at first whether I was going to be taken
to the Station and let out. However this was not to be and I was
dropped outside a building and taken up several flights of stairs
to a small office area to be booked in.
I read the Word whilst I was waiting and the older Police Officer
who then went back on duty came over to me and said that a lady
like myself should not be in this Police Station. After a wait I
was booked in the usual way. The desk Sergeant asked if my DNA
matched and was informed that it did and so there was no need for
further samples. I asked for my Solicitor and Pastor to be
informed but neither could be reached. This was partly due to my
taking the landline number rather than the mobile number which I
could not remember and my phone had been bagged up.
I was
then taken by the black Officer for fingerprinting which took a
little time and when complete I saw the words "Homophobic
remarks and inciting hatred". I was so taken back that I
laughed.
Next I was allowed my Bible, puzzle magazine, pen, glasses and a
cup of coffee and was taken to a cell while the Officer wrote up
his notes. I had advised the desk Sergeant that I was from Bradford
and that my train left at 6.30 and requested that if I was going
to miss the train could I please have a note that I had been
detained so that I could get another ticket.
Shortly after being locked up I was taken to a nurse for a
"Health Check". I was told that I had the right to have
a personal health check and that in any future arrests these
records would be given to the Officer and kept on file. I was
asked how I felt about that and so I asked if I had a choice. I
was advised that I could refuse and so I promptly refused as I am
extremely fit and the Lord looks after me. I did not want to
waste time. This over I was locked up again until 9 p.m. when I
was taken back to the desk to collect my belonging.
At this stage nobody still new where I was but just as I was
about to leave my husband got through to the station. Having been
detained until all the buses and trains had gone back to
Bradford, I was bail banned to the Police Station at Saville Row
until 21st May but not charged as the CPS have to consider the
charge and the likelihood of a conviction before the matter goes
further.
I was then shown to the door and directed to a tube station up
the road, turn left and keep walking. In the meantime Barbara had
been asking people for directions and making a long journey back
to Leeds. She arrived home shortly after I was released from the
cells.
As I took the underground to Earls Court to stay with Pastor
Zewdie I managed to preach to the carriage and by the time I
arrived at the station, everyone was in agreement with the stand
we were making.
The London Team.