Keystone magazine past interviews from 1977 - 2006 Pat Boone to Darlene Zschech

Keystone Magazine quote of the month
we love it, so we've left it for this month as well!

"Keystone is not your normal, lock-step, run-of-the-mill Christian magazine!

Ah, but what would you expect from a country whose toilet-water flushes backwards!"

From a regular reader, Elmer in Canada
Thanks Elmer, you're our kind of person! ED

The Mark of a
Christian?
Christians have not always presented a pretty picture to the world. Too often they have failed to show the beauty of love, the beauty of Christ, the holiness of God.
And the world has turned away.
Is there then no way to make the world look again — this time at true Christianity? Must Christians continue to stand with arms folded, going on in their old sweet ways, presenting to men a tarnished image of God — a shattered body of Christ?Read more

Burma Letter

We received the following letter today from our friends in Burma

Dear Friends,

On Friday night, a massive cyclone "Nargis" hit Myanmar ( Burma ). Latest estimates death toll increased now to 10,000 people, with thousands without water and food. World media also reported hundreds of thousands without shelter and many homes lost their roofs with little financial resources for repairs. And tens of thousands of people are missing. Everywhere you look people are homeless in the southern delta regions of the country. Outside help is greatly needed. Now, the government has requested for assistance to the United Nations.

Cyclone Nargis devastated major parts of Burma , including the country's largest city of Yangon ( Rangoon ) and throughout the Irrawaddy Delta region, and especially in the five regions, namely, Irrawaddy, Yangon and Bago (Pegu) Divisions, Karen and Mon States . Wind speeds of 120 mile per hour (190 Km/hr) and rain lashed the region from the night of May 2nd to the morning of May 3rd. During the Nargis cyclone, most of the houses in Rangoon were destroyed and many others lost their roofs. Suburbs in Rangoon , such as the townships of Hlaing Tharyar, Shwe Pyi Thar, Dagon Myothit North, and Dagon Myothit South were hardest hit. In Irrawaddy Division, two Townships of Kyaik Lat and Latputda were almost completely destroyed. On Heingyi Island , there are nearly 100,000 people without homes or shelter. In Pyinsi Village in Pyar Pone Township , out of 3,000 villagers, at least two thousand are missing. It is the deadliest disaster in the recent memory of Myanmar .

Marilyn (my wife) is going to Yangon this week and we planned to help the people in the Dagon Myothit North, where we have been helping a small Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) with assistance from many of you. ECDC is a center where children from many ethnic national groups of Myanmar ( Burma ) and from different religious background are attending the pre-school education as well as a day-care. We want to be pro-active and take this action quickly as there is an urgent need right now where people are without food, drinking water and living with no roofs above their homes.

We would greatly appreciate your earliest response on the pledge amount you would like to contribute so that I could give in advance on your behalf as Marilyn is going to Yangon before the end of this week.

Yours sincerely,

Thein Swe

Here at Keystone Magazine we have had a relationship with the folk from Burma since 1983. We work with the folk at the Karen Baptist Church in Chaing Mai. All funds will be sent to help our friends in Burma. Thank you.

Trippin the Sixties with
Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire's brand new site is up and after only 4 days it was getting over 1,000 hits a day - It's getting rave reviews from all over the World and quickly becoming the quintessential 60's site.

It has everything about Barry including a Blog which keeps you up to date with everything Barry.

Chuck Girard to Australia for the
Eighth time in four years

Venues to be posted next week. Chuck will be in travelling through Adelaide with Geoff Bullock, Ballarat, Ballina and Gold Coast

Chuck's new worship album will be released on this tour

Latest Update
6 May, 2008

Global food crisis looms as climate change and fuel shortages bite

Soaring crop prices and demand for biofuels raise fears of political instability Read full story

What used to be the Bread Basket of Africa millions now face Starvation in Zimbabwe

By Fergal Keane
BBC correspondent in Zimbabwe

Posing as tourists, we evaded President Robert Mugabe's police and his army of spies and found, hidden from the world, a nation's tragedy.
Hungry people queue for the meagre rations offered by church workers - their children's hair already changing colour from malnutrition.
The elderly too are beginning to suffer terribly - not much food and not much hope of it either.
Misrule, corruption and drought are combining to make a catastrophe.

For full story click here

Mia Farrow and China Protests in Hong Kong

Internationally famed actress and activist Mia Farrow speaks during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press upon her arrival to Hong Kong, Thursday, May 1, 2008. Farrow is expected to speak to international media at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club on human rights issues in Darfur Friday, May 2, coinciding with Hong Kong's leg of the Olympic torch relay. Farrow said she hoped to light a symbolic torch honoring the victims of fighting in Darfur, but away from the Olympic torch relay. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

The top 20 essential Jesus Music albums

The Burma Watch
3 May 2008

Interest from Media Dies and turns towards Tibet

Like a lot of issues that rise up the issue of Burma has faded away. However the situation has not changed. Whole villages have been wiped out and nothing has changed. We are still in touch with many of our Burmese friends and are in the process of setting up a support organisation to support Christian Burmese students. These particular students have no assistance from anywhere. Burmese leaders feel the best thing we can do for the future is educate the young so here at Keystone we join with them to do just that. Please help us support them. We have undertaken to support a number of students at Payap University in Thailand. You can support them buy clicking on the donation button below. Thank you for your support for Burma.

You can help change Burma

As you read this, villages are being wiped out; people are being put into prison, beaten or killed.

How do we in the free world do anything about it? One Pastor from Burma told me recently, "Don, Christians watch and do nothing... they run away. We need your help to tell people what is really happening in our country". As a result we have decided that a military campaign is not going to work - it has to be education.

Through education, we can bring about change in Burma. It's a slow process but we have to do something.

We are working with a University and number of Burmese students to help them with their studies so they can help their own people - through education.

By helping us support the students you are helping what Christian leaders in Burma are asking us to do. Education is only way we are going to bring about effective changes in Burma. - Please consider helping make this world a better place.

Sadly, we can not show you the pictures of the students or show you the University. They live in fear. If their identity becomes known, their familles will be persecuted back in Burma. We can physically take you to meet them and you can hear their stories face to face. The pictures that I have been sent from Burma are so horrific I will not publish them.

Burma's leaders attack Western powers

Burma’s ruling military lashed out at Western powers and foreign media. Burma’s ruling military lashed out at Western powers and foreign media today for fomenting recent protests that were put down in a brutal crackdown.

The state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper described protesters, who continue to be hunted down in raids across the country, as "stooges of foreign countries putting on a play written by their foreign masters".
Read full report

10 October
Nelson Mandela supports Burma
Nelson Mandela has withdrawn an invitation to Gary Player, the former Open champion golfer, to host a charity fundraising tournament in the name of the ex-South African president because of his business ties to Burma.
Read full report

Burma activist dies under interrogation, says rights group

An active member of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party in Burma has died under interrogation, as the crackdown against last month's protests continues.

Win Shwe, a 42-year-old member of the National League for Democracy was arrested with five colleagues on September 26, the day the junta began to put down the demonstrations.Read full report

9th Oct
Message from Burma
received 10 minutes ago at 10. 38 pm 8 Oct (Aust) from a Burmese student in their own words.

"My parents have to hide otherwise all their families will be killed immediately. It is very hard to say. They are confronting the death. It happens now and real. The Government dares to kill every one including children to the very last one, all faiths. The news are closed and we do not know what happen deep inside the country, at the border, there are full of militaries' spies".

The Dirty List
Link to Companies doing business with the Military. To make an impact, email these comapnies and voice your concern. PEOPLE POWER! Find out more on our BURMA page

Burma 'orders Christians to be wiped out'

The military regime in Burma is intent on wiping out Christianity in the country, according to claims in a secret document believed to have been leaked from a government ministry.read press link

We need to raise funds to mount a major media campaign and support Burmese students studing in Thailand.

Support the people of Burma. Please. Do not let this be another Rwanda!

I have been to Burma and spent time with Christian leaders in the country it is time for change. What the Military have done to this wonderful country is a tragedy and the world should not sit by and just watch. - Don Gillespie Publisher

UPDATE SUNDAY
30th Seprember 2007
This weekend I have received the most disturbing photographs I have ever witnessed of what is taking place in Burma. Innocent people being murdered in cold blood. I'm not even sure I want to post them on our site they are so horrible. They have not appeared in main stream media as far as I know. Christian leaders are appealing for International Intervention. Although difficult, we are continuing to communicate and will keep you informed.
Don Gillespie Publisher

NEXT MONTH

Why should you pay to sing in Church?
We take on CCLI - Everything you wanted to know about the church and copyright. Everything you hate about CCLI - all exposed!
We put the tough questions to CCLI!

Keystone Entertainment

Check out the latest Keystone videos on YouTube
Keystone Magazine on YouTube

Barry mCguire and Terry Talbot talk about their tour

Keystone Music Reviews

Check out their web site and do yourself a favour - GET this CD!
click here

THEY'RE
BACK

Parable have remastered their original albums
The recordings are as fresh as ever and who from the Jesus Movement days could forget "Maybe" or Peter James and John"

Keystone iT

Online and offline worlds merge

Google has launched a tool designed to make it easier for computer users to use online applications offline.
One of the key limitations of web services such as e-mail, word processing and calendars, is that they require a net connection to function.

Gears allows access to online data and applications inside the web browser when offline.

The tool was launched at Google's global developer day, with 5,000 coders attending seminars worldwide.