Christmas Angel vs The Grinch

Well, it's Christmas - that time of year which either brings out the Christmas Angel or the Grinch in millions of people worldwide!

It's that time of year when you begin to suspect there's an invisible hole in your wallet. It's also when you might convince yourself that each of the people on your gift list would be overjoyed to benefit from the five- for- a -pound sock deal at Primark.

I don't know what Christmas means for you. Maybe it's long-awaited excuse to kick back and party... on the other hand, maybe it's just another reminder of how alone you feel, how materialistic the world around you has become, and how much you realize you remind yourself of Ebenzer Scrooge.

You know, this may surprise you, but Christmas never used to be about wasting money on useless gifts, or being stuffed with more Tesco mince pies then you could ever hope to digest, or standing in massive queues for hours on end waiting to see 'Santa Claus'.

Christmas was, and still is, a magical time! It's the birthday of Jesus and the anniversary of the day when love, hope, joy and peace walked the earth in human form. It's about the miracle of God's love for us, and about turning around and giving that love to others in whatever way you can!

Christmas is all about the heart! So many people still think they can buy Christmas, but the only way to really feel that magic which you've always heard of but perhaps never experienced is to give Christmas away!

Try something new and tell Jesus 'happy birthday'! Stop and think of some gifts which you can give Him - things like showing love to others, forgiving those who've hurt you, stepping out to help someone in need.

It may sound unheard-of or a little too simple... but you should try it all the same! I guarantee you that you'll discover the warmth and magic and peace of Christmas as you do it!

The Horsemen at the Hilton!

Our group (The Family) held a Christmas celebration at the Hilton Metropole hotel on Edgeware Road! It was also the official launch of the charity Touchstone Projects, which is comprised of various members of our group who perform for detention centres and prisons all over the UK!

It was a really amazing experience, but one of the greatest things about it was the fact that we got to perform our Four Horsemen play live for an audience of over 200 people! We were all a little nervous, especially since it was on stage and we had to pass microphones, which can get a little complicated - hah! But all in all, it was a roaring success! People loved it and we got a super good response from the crowd... especially when the newly-updated fight sequence got into sway and War (Dee Jay) was flipped head over heels by Jesus (Josh)!

I (Heather) had never actually seen the play live and have to personally say how impressed I was with it! When being interviewed, I made an appeal for sponsorship so that we can take the play on the road even m0re! It would be so awesome and having experienced the power of the play myself, I'm convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that everyone, everywhere needs to see it!

The Four Horsemen - by Heather

Jesus is definitely the winner of this round- in fact, it's awesome to remember that He already won 2,007 years ago when He died on the cross for the sins of mankind! Satan's just a sour loser in denial!

Death has no meaning to anyone who has received Jesus' free gift of salvation- He promises us eternal life, so even though our frail human bodies will someday die, our spirits will live on in Heaven enjoying Jesus' love and peace forever!

Some people slave for Money for years and years, and they think that once they reach a certain goal, buy that dream house and pay off the Mercedes that they'll be satisifed. It never happens. They just want more, and Money has them chasing a carrot on a stick that they'll never sink their teeth into. Jesus promises us freedom from this bondage- he says 'I will provide all your needs accordng to My riches'- imagine the size of that bank account!

I remember a quote from the film Troy- 'War is old men talking and young men dying'. War is even more then that. War and Money work hand in hand (of course, Death doesn't do too badly either), because it's always about who gets what. That's the bottom line- selfishness and greed. No matter how heroic and glorious the media try to paint it, War is hideous and cruel. I can't wait until Jesus comes back to rule the Earth! He promises that 'There will be War no more'! Think of how wonderful that will be :) !

Goodbye, Steve! - by Heather

It's farewell to Steve (Money) and his girlfriend Olivia as they have now officially 'flown the coop' to parts unknown...well actually, they've gone to Turkey for the moment and will heading off to a Family centre im Lebanon to join Steve's relatives there! So Sam (who played death) has now taken up the torch of Money for the time being! Changes, changes, changes!

Oh yes! With Christmas coming up, the Horsemen team is going to adapting their play to 'suit the season' (which also means warmer costumes, hah!). We're also branching out to hopefully perform in various schools over Christmas, which makes for very exciting times, people!

But before I get carried away, let's remember to bid Steve a fond farewell and keep him in our prayers! We'll miss you, Steve! (Sniff, sniff)...

The XD Core! -- By Heather

Hey everybody! Thought you’d like to know the cause of our unexplained absence and blog inactivity over the last month. Well, a good chunk of our team was away attending… (drumroll) the XD Core!

Okay, so you’re probably wondering “what on earth is that?”! Well, the Xtreme Discipleship Core was a three week seminar that the Family International hosted in Italy for its members aged between 18 and 25. Its goal; to help us become better, more professional and committed missionaries and disciples of Jesus. There were classes, assignments, singing and dancing, activity nights, parties and of course…football (woo hoo!)

From our team, Tina, Steve, Josh, Heather (me), Olivia (Steve’s girlfriend) and Steven attended. It was a blast! We studied on all kinds of topics ranging from being more professional in our work to relationships and dating, telling others about Jesus, even about the economic system of today’s society and how a financial crash is pending if things continue at this rate. It was very eye-opening…and also a lot of fun!

The grounds were situated in the hills just outside of Rome, so we were surrounded by olive trees, khaki trees and wild boars. Wait a minute…did I just say wild boars? Yep, the local herds began prowling around our property when the water ran short, and some of the attendees had some close encounters of the hair-raising kind- myself included! (I heard what I thought was a wild boar grunting at me from behind the garbage bins one night. I turned and ran, tripped on a rock, saw my life flash before my eyes, before I got up and skedaddled to safety! I later discovered that my assailant wasn’t a ‘boar’ but a ‘bored’ pair of individuals with too much time on their hands who had been hiding out and scaring people…oh well, God’s justice prevailed and when they tried it on some of the guys, they got rocks thrown at them!.)

Anyway, it was a very exciting and growing experience to say the least! Included are some pictures of various game nights, singing, activities etc! Hope you laugh as much as we did! It's great to be back, guys! You Rock! God Bless you!

Photo captions:

(pics 1 and 2) This was a really hilarious game we played one evening. There was a girls team (left) and a boy's team (right)...don't we look ferocious, hah! The boys had to catch us before we could kiss the poor victim sitting on a chair inbetween the two teams! It was war!

(pic 3:) Lifting our arms in happiness and thanks to Jesus- the one who made it all possible!

(pic4:) Steve (Money- centre) showing off his football skills on the court.

(pic 5:) I couldn't resist posting this one :) It's Josh (Jesus) looking stern as he explains our beliefs to a mock crowd of lawyers in a professional application acitivity!

(pic:7:) Tina, Steve and Olivia digging in!

(pic 6:) Tina and me at a dress-up party! She's a tree and I'm a green peace activist- we match so perfectly :)

Heaven at last

here is a picture of heaven ..... our final destination!

looks nice doesn't it...

no more war.... (Micah 4:3)

no more politicians.... the government will be on His (Jesus') shoulder..... (Isaiah 9:6)

no more depression..... for in His presence is fulness of joy.. (Proverbs 16:11, Revelations 21:4)

no more need for drugs and drink.... for at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore... (Prov 16:11)

just lots of love and freedom and happiness ...apparently we can't even imagine how good it will be (1 Corinthians 2:9)

c u there !......

(we can also have a pretty good taste of heaven here so come and find out)

I little Update on what we been up to.......

Hey U all. Sorry about the Month long absent. The Four Horse Men went to a 3 week Seminar in Italy & a few went to visit them Folks for 2 weeks after that. Pictures will come stortly & a little write up on why we went to Italy & had an 3 week Christian Seminar in the Mountains of Italy...(awesome huh)

''Anyways today we did our last street show & FourHorseMen Videos flim. I don't think we will do it till next year, cause we have other things in mind for Christmas. ( U know the cold, wind etc, half of the Horse Men aren't dressed for the winter) We will do some something for Christmas but not sure yet. ''Will keep u posted on that''.

So in a week the flim will be up (Stay Tuned For That) & a little updated on the team & what we hope to do for the next 2 months''.

''Sadly, ''Money'', (Steve) will be leaving to Lebanon stortly with his Girl-Friend, to do some Voluntary work, but do not fear for we will fine a other Money''.
''Steve'' as the the past post said grew up in the Middle East Doing Voluntary Work & is going back cause he misses being there''

''So More Flims & Pictures Coming your way, so hang on to your Seats for there are lots to come.

''Roger Out''

The Missing Door-Knob!

(Well not all of us are gone so here are few things to think about!)
So many of you have asked Jesus into your heart…. Why do we do that ..why was it important for us that you did that?
Well this picture tells a story....
It was painted by a guy called Holman Hunt, and its called
"The light of the world." It is a painting of Jesus in a garden at midnight, holding a lantern in his left hand. With his right hand he is knocking on a door. When the painting was unveiled several critics were present. One critic detected what he thought was lacking, namely, a knob on the door.
He said, "You haven’t finished your work."
"It is finished," said the artist.
"But there is no knob on the door," protested the critic.
"Ah," said the artist," that is the door to the human heart. It can only be opened from the inside."

So we have choice..Jesus says "behold, I stand at the door (of your heart) and knock, if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and we will be together." Hey so you had a choice to shut Him out and say stay out or to ask Him in. Now you have Him, you can't ever lose Him and He is your ticket to heaven..yay!! where we can all be together! More about heaven later..... next post...!

Gone for 4 weeks but will be back.......

Ok we are going to be gone for about 4 weeks. The whole Four Horse Men team will be gone having a break in Italy. Well post pics of this Vacation when we come back..But until then God Bless U all & have a good Next few Weeks.........

Have you got heart problems?

This clip will have sound soon, but until then, "Enjoy".

Pics for all of U

These are all shots of a memorable day in Watford on September 15th. The sun was shining, we were all playing different roles (except for DJ). We had some memorable moments... Steve (as Jesus) picked up his sword and raised it above his head as he said " I am Jesus" at the end. He accidentally caught ahold of his robe and showed a good bit of leg to the surprised audience! Blooper compilation coming soon! A dying DJ (War) also landed smack on Sam (Money) to the horror of Death!

Well it all ended well as we prayed with over 90 people to receive Jesus. WOW! What a day. its hard to put into words what that means to us..... but on the Sunday I read this true story and I thought..yes thats what it means..

"I was in a little town in Denmark giving out tracts. A beautiful girl came my way . I offered her a tract. She stopped , received the paper and reached in her pocket for a coin.

I asked her if she believed in God and she said no. i then asked her if she believed in love. At that she brightened up and said she did.

I then explained that God is the very Spirit of love, and that with His Help we can live lives of love and fullness. She then humbly prayed with me, excused herself and went on her way.

I thought of this girl a few times as the encounter had been so brief and yet so vibrant.

Two weeks later I received an envelope in my mailbox. Inside were two letters - one from the girls mother and one from the girl. Her mom said,"It was my daughters last wish for me to send this letter from her to you. My daughter is now dead, but she wanted to let you know how much meeting you had meant to her. "

In her letter the girl said "I am now entering the darkness but it is with the knowledge that love is real and that there is a great Light awaiting me. Before i met you I was afraid to die, but now I am at peace."

Her note brought me to tears as I had no idea she was in the critical stages of an illness. "

Somebody Loves You!

Here is something to read ..I guess its just a beautiful message one of our friends wrote about what we really believe in and are doing our best to live ..ENJOY!

SOMEBODY LOVES YOU!

Somebody loves you & wants you to know,
Longs to be with you wherever you go.
Somebody loves you & right from the start,
Somebody wants to come into your heart!

Yes, Somebody loves you, & for that reason has just given you this little message! Somebody loves you & really wants to make you happy! I love you too! We all want to be loved & we all want to love someone, & Love is the greatest thing on Earth to most of us! Most sadness on Earth is due to a lack of love, for if everyone loved everyone, there would be no more wars or violence or poverty.
But amidst all of the pain & suffering caused by our lack of love for each other, if we will open our eyes & look around, we'll see that the World is also full of love & beauty & wondrous life, the beauties of all Creation put here because of Love!--The grass, the trees, the flowers, the glorious sunsets, the romantic moonlit starry nights, the wonderful animals, the love of pets & their need for love. Even our animals understand love. Our pets understand love & cannot really live without love, & sometimes even die of grief.
We too desperately need love, we too are sometimes dying of grief without love, because we all need love & need to love someone. That's why we were put here, that's what we're here for--to love & be loved--& we've been given all the pleasures of sight for beauty, sound for music, taste for the deliciousness of food, & touch for the pleasures of feeling & loving & being loved. All the pleasures of life were put here for our good & enjoyment because Somebody loves us & wants us to be happy, & wants us to love & be loved, wants us to enjoy all of the pleasures in life, all of the good things, & wants us to have enough of everything, & intended for it to be Heaven on Earth as in the Beginning!
But why is there so much hate & violence & evil, so much sadness & suffering in the World? Why must the World be like this, such a contrast between good & evil, between beauty & ugliness, between pleasure & hardship, between life & death? Why can't it all be wonderful & beautiful & good & pleasant & pleasurable?
Well, it was all made to be that way in the Beginning. But we chose to be selfish, we chose to have our own way, we chose to be unloving & unkind to others, we chose to break the rules that were designed for our happiness & our health & our pleasure, & went our own way, far from the Paradise of our original Creation.--This has brought so much sin & suffering into the World because of the lack of love amongst ourselves & a lack of gratitude & thankfulness to our Creator.
So we have each had a part in bringing all this misery into the World. Don't blame God! His archenemy Satan has caused it, & we have too, because most have chosen to follow evil instead of goodness. Let's face it, isn't that mostly the reason for your own misery, for your own griefs, sorrows, regrets & guilt complexes, because of the mistakes you've made, the wrongs you've done, the lack of love that you've had for others, your failure to respond to their love, the hurt that you caused them & the hurt you have suffered from others?
Let's be honest. Haven't we all been bad sometimes? Haven't we all done things that we know are wrong, & that we now can't undo? We can only regret them & be sorry for them & wish we hadn't done them, but now it's too late, the time is gone.
The whole World seems to have been turned upside-down through lack of love, whereas love could have healed so many wounds, restored so many hearts to happiness, eased so much pain & suffering, & averted so much death! But selfishness, greed, thoughtlessness, stubbornness & rebelliousness have constantly caused most of the sorrows of the World, including your own.
But there is Someone who loves you!--And wants to save you, Who even loved you so much & had such great Love that He gave His Life to save yours! "There's no greater Love than this, that a Man lay down His life for His friends!"--John 15:13. And He did that for you, to pay for your sins & give you His grace & His Love & His forgiveness, if you'll just turn to Him & love Him & thank Him for His Love & His forgiveness & His salvation.
Do you love Him? If not, turn to Him today, because He loves you! Just ask Him to come into your heart, this wonderful Somebody who loves you, & He will wipe away your tears & cause your pains to cease & give you a loving, wonderful, beautiful life of Love that lasts Forever!

Somebody loves you & wants you to know,
Longs to be with you wherever you go.
Somebody loves you & right from the start,
Somebody wants to come into your heart!

Will you ask Jesus to come into your heart today?--God's Son of Love, His personification of His Love, His Own Son sent to Earth to show us His Love, but whom evil people persecuted, hated & crucified! Do you believe in Him? Do you want to receive Him now so you can enjoy His forgiveness & so that He can save you from your sins & give you His wonderful salvation & a happy life of Love with Him now & Forever? There are many of us who love you, & you can have lots of Love if you'll just turn to Him & towards those who love you. You can do it right now by praying this little prayer:
"Dear Father , please forgive me for all the wrongs that I have done! I'm sorry, & I want to turn to You & receive You into my heart through the Love of Your Son, Jesus. Help me to love You & love others & live by the Words in Your Book, the Bible, so that I can be happy & make others happy. In the name of Jesus, Your Son, amen."
If you've said that prayer with sincerity & honesty, Jesus has come into your heart, because He's promised to do so! He said, "Behold, I stand at the door & knock, if anyone will open the door I will come in & have fellowship (or love) with them."--Revelation 3:20. If you haven't, do it now before it's too late! God bless & keep you & make you a blessing!

..well we love you too and perhaps this is the beginning of something new and special for you!... do you like this message? just click on the comment and say what you think...

Millennium Night! -- :D

(Dee (a friend), Aaron, DeeJay, Simon, Oli (another friend))

We had a great activity last night themed on The Millennium (you can read about this in Isaiah chapter 2, verse 4...and chapter 11, verses 7, 8 and 9 for a little info!-- well worth it!)! This is the time after the Jesus has returned and won the final battle..no more war...politicians....suffering...rat race.....depression...We all dressed up accordingly and had a lot of fun playing various charade games and watching some music videos our group made about the Millennium! Hope you enjoy the pic!

Getting started!

So after a few false starts, we are finally kicking off our blog for all of you young people out there who we've had so much fun meeting and getting to know. Hopefully it'll be fun for you to keep up with all we're getting up to and be a way of keeping in touch with you all! :D

About Us!

I was born and raised in the Family, my parents were both real believers and loved the lord. Though British by birth, I grew up in many countries mostly in Europe and the far East. I was happy growing up this way but when I got older I strayed for a while and did my own thing but like the saying goes...
There comes a time for each of us all to decide what and who we want to be....
For me it’s a question I never wanted to answer, never wanted to be put in a box or feel I had to be a certain way.

I ran away from the lord so many times and never wanted to feel I owed him anything. After all I could explain why everything was the way it was. Deep inside however you know there is something there. There is someone who cares and no matter how far I would run, he was there waiting when I changed my mind yet again and sought him out.
For me he’s not a certain way or a way I need to act like. But rather the Freedom to be any way and every way. To be happy about who I am and how I can be even better with him and act better through learning his ways and embracing them as my own.
Anyway I’m happy to be a part of The Four Horsemen it has been a wonderful way to meet and talk to people and make many friends. For myself I’m an active soul and love doing almost anything active and unusual. I’m of those types that you either really like or really dislike and I hope that it will be the former. Look forward to hearing from you....

From DeeJay, 24, Family Member, & the Red Horseman (WAR) of The Four Horsemen

Hi, I’m Sam. I’m 15 years old and I live in Luton. I grew up in The Family International and I’ve always been a missionary pretty much, but I enjoy it! It’s fun going out every weekend and talking to new people and dressing up, and what really spurs me on is that I'll see them all again in Heaven. So that’s my life story :P God bless you.








Hi! This is Steve. He hasn't put anything up yet but just to let you know that he has been in the Middle east for the last few years helping his Mum and Dad there who do relief work there...he is not really as serious as he looks... he is heading back to the Middle East soon..so we will miss him but it will mean we will have an extra spot so if if anyone wants to join us and do street theatre like we do.... get in touch. we need you!

Josh (19)...(he's gone right now so we're going to fill this in for him) alias Coconut Boy; from what we can gather, Josh grew up in the jungles of Madagascar and was rescued by missionaries and was brought here to be trained in the ways of a civilized world- he's doing quite well, don't you think? :D

Video of the 4 horse Men in Action

Plymouth!

Our first road trip...five days down at Plymouth! Everyone agrees it was an awesome time and we loved meeting all you guys down there- Richard, Ash, Kat, Little Ash, Mike, Sasha, Georgie, Natalie and everybody else!
You guys are the best and hope you get to see this and read our blog! :D