One Glorious Proclamation!

 And so the scientists have spoken, our Government ministers have listened to them. No, the present one-size-fits-all national lockdown wasn't enough, according to these great academics. And that despite the Coronavirus infection rate is falling just about everywhere, which had started doing before the start of the lockdown. When this lockdown ends in the middle of the coming week, instead of breathing a sigh of relief and celebrating the return of something resembling normality, instead, the whole of England - except for Cornwall and a couple of offshore islands - will enter the 2nd and 3rd tier restrictions. This is just another lockdown but with a different name.

London under lockdown - Westminster Bridge.

Never mind the high probability that those who live in the neighbouring Devon city of Plymouth could cross the River Tamar into Cornwall for a drink at the first pub they come across - unless border controls resembling the old Checkpoint Charlie of the East/West Berlin frontier will be installed, complete with barbed wire and soldiers patrolling with guns - the ease with which the crossing is made could tempt anyone who has a car or even a cheap train ticket to make the crossing. After all, the view from the two bridges over the river is quite spectacular.

Then there will be cases of a small, isolated village trapped into Tier Three, the band with the severest restrictions, simply because it would be lumped with cities such as Manchester, some 25 miles away. At the same time, London gets away with Tier Two, a lesser restrictive band. After all, these City executives and slickers must be given all priorities to go about their business. After all, the entire British economy rests on their shoulders, does it not? Never mind that the virus could have a field day in a busy office, a crowded underground train or coffee bar.

All this makes me wonder whether wearing a facemask in enclosed public spaces such as a shop, train, taxi or bus, had really been a valuable asset. According to my observations, whenever I'm out and about, to take a glimpse of someone without a mask in an enclosed space is so rare, that I have a greater chance of being struck by lightning than seeing a maskless face. At least all this is where I live, in the Bracknell Forest area. Maybe there are other towns and cities where mask-wearing hadn't taken such a hold, hence allowing the virus to spread.

If there are any cries of protest going on, then the deafening silence I find overwhelming! Then again, this is Britain, the land of stoicism and submissive obedience - even to the point of banning hugs, handshakes, and yes, board games on Christmas Day, and the encouragement to wear a facemask whilst over the cooking stove or watching TV, while at the dinner table, each one should be given a place name and sit at his assigned seat, well away from the next person. If the large table happens to resemble the outline of Great Britain - something you see every day, of course - then sitting at coastal towns such as Brighton, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Blackpool, or Skegness would all be feasible. But trying to sit at inland places such as Birmingham, Manchester or even London could present a problem - the latter which not even the Thames Estuary would be able to solve!

Am I making all this up? Er - No. This seating arrangement according to geographical locations was a proposal put forward by one of the Government's scientists, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if our ministers look upon such a proposal with favour. After all, we must all play our part in keeping the virus from spreading. Not to mention the pro-lockdown crowd who accuse the rest of us as wimps, and feel obliged to compare the loss of our freedoms to our grandfather's compulsory call up to fight in World War II more than eighty years previously.

I sit and rest my head in my open palms. How much longer will this insanity go on? Until the Spring next year? Here I should make myself clear. I could be referred at as a Lockdown Sceptic, or if you like, a Covidiot. However, that is quite different from a Covid Sceptic, one who believes the virus doesn't exist. Rather, I'm fully aware that it does exist. Oh, I know that our ministers mean well. Personally, I'm sure that Boris Johnson, our Prime Minister, imposes such rules with a heavy, reluctant heart. It's the scientists who dream up all these rules and proposes them, to whom the onus ought to fall.

And so, to add to the stress, within the last two weeks, my wife and I had to pay for a taxi ride to an out-of-hours GP surgery for her to submit to a blood test. Her sample was sent to a hospital lab for analysis to see whether she can receive a special medicine through an intravenous dose - Zoledronic Acid. The benefit of this clear fluid is to strengthen her bones which might have been weakened by her cancer tumour. Zoledronic Acid can have some severe side-effects, which her neurological condition could well amplify, that is, intense muscle pain, possibly with flu-like symptoms.

Therefore I had a very heavy heart at the thought of her taking the dose, fearing the possible consequence. Listening to her scream in agonising pain is no novelty, such as happened in the past, yet I need to go with the flow. Therefore, with a reluctant heart, Alex and I took another taxi to Frimley Park Hospital, where, in a large ward-like room filled with other patients, all receiving the same treatment, Alex settled in. No sooner had the catheter had been inserted into her arm and the drip-feed began when her back flared up into intense pain, causing quite a scene in the otherwise quiet but busy ward.

Doctors and nurses flocked around my beloved, and I was questioned about her medical past. Her procedure was aborted, and while she afterwards lay on the bed within a side room, the doctors will have to decide the next move, to discuss whether she is still suitable for the dose. If so, then she would be called back in due course for a second attempt.

A catheter.

Did I have a premonition that something was about to go wrong? I was very unhappy about the dose of Zoledronic Acid, a feeling I did not have for any of her other treatments - the mastectomy itself, followed by a course of chemotherapy, then by her radiotherapy course and the daily transport problems which came with it. Neither any doubt about the hormone pills she presently takes. By the time all these were behind us, I felt hopeless, powerless and adrift in spirit. The next morning I joined a Zoom prayer meeting with other members of Ascot Life Church and I shared with them everything which occurred on the previous day. One of the Elders suggested that for some reason we are not aware of, God had interceded by causing her back to flare up and so, abort the dose.

I guess it's the Romans 8:28 ethic - which we know that all things work for good for those who love God and is called according to his purpose - all things, not just good things. Her sudden back pain might have saved her from a much worse condition which might have demanded hospitalisation for heaven knows how long.

We had a TV-free evening on that day and so we tuned into YouTube. We came across some videos under the title Our Daily Bread, and one series was presented by Dr Con Campbell, a devout Christian. He shot a series of videos tracing the life and journeys of the apostle Paul. It was essentially a Travel series, detailing some of the cities Paul stopped at, including Ephesus, with the ruin of its classic library, along with the Greek amphitheatre where a riot took place as a result of Paul's crusade. Both are still reasonably intact. As for the great Temple of Artemis, one of the largest in the ancient world, only one lonely column remains standing on swampy ground. The rest of the temple had vanished. Being into Travel myself, this series I found to be very edifying, as he diverts his devotion from the life of the apostle to Jesus Christ himself, with the Gospel of salvation thrown into his narration from time to time.

It was after the video had finished and Alex went upstairs to bed, by clicking onto the home page, a short extract from the atheist Alex O'Connor came up. The short clip, lasting about seven minutes, was about his denial of the Resurrection as history. O'Connor, or Cosmic Skeptic by username, was the highly successful graduate and full-time YouTuber with whom I had the privilege to meet in person and talk to in Oxford back in February. 

I checked through his comment forum under his video, There were many comments, but all of them fully agreeing with him in his stance against Christ and the Gospel. What a contrast between O'Connor and Dr Campbell! But I didn't allow the atheist's reasoning to bother me. Instead, I added my own comment to the forum:

Jesus of Nazareth: He has risen. HE HAS RISEN INDEED!

I went into the kitchen feeling jubilant, a vivid contrast to how I felt throughout the week. Jesus is alive. He has risen from the dead, proving He is the Christ and guaranteeing my salvation. I called out, Jesus has risen! Jesus has risen! Jesus has risen! Suddenly, I felt some kind of release from my fears, worries and anxieties. Jesus has risen. That is the centre point of everything in life.

Bringing the reality of Christ's Resurrection into daily reality is helping me cope better with our present Coronavirus situation and with our health as well. Yes, living with heart failure means trips for me to the hospital as well, like next week's visit for a cardio scan. But knowing the Resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I found to be a boost for morale.

But does that mean that I didn't believe in the Resurrection before then? Yes, of course, I did, as faith in the Resurrection is absolutely vital for a rebirth of the spirit. But this was a reminder as if God was saying, look, I'm here. My Son Jesus of Nazareth is alive, and this must be central to everything in your life.

Well at least someone read my comment, for he replied with the words:

HE HAS RISEN INDEAD.

It just goes to show how O'Connor and his follower's embracing of Darwin's evolutionary theories is absolutely exclusive with faith in Jesus Christ. As one who is wholehearted committed to Divine Creation as described in the first two chapters of Genesis, how easy this fits in with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The very proof of Him being God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. The Jewish Messiah, the one who came to fulfil the Promise made by God to our first parents as well as the expectation of the Jews. And here is something of a mystery for all who deny the reality. That is, close to two thousand years after the event, we are still talking about it. Surely, had it never happened, such an issue would never have arisen.

Indeed, as one example, at least I'm aware that Pythagoras existed and he was the one who worked out that the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the square root of the other two sides added together, eg, if side A is 4cm, side B is 3cm, then (4x4)+(3x3)= √25=5cm. This brilliant Greek discovered that regardless of the size of the right-angled triangle, the theorem is always the same. Another example, let's say, side A is 12cm, side B is 8cm, therefore the hypotenuse is (12x12)+(8x8)= √208=14.42cm approx.

The longest side is the Hypotenuse.

Pythagoras' theorem works well, indeed, professions such as architects and engineers can benefit well by using it, but no temples, churches or shrines were ever built to honour or worship him. Yet he died and has been dead for the last 2,500 years, yet we know about him to this day. So far, like all other humans deceased, he's still awaiting his resurrection. The very fact that a church building is easily found across the Western World (including Israel) testifies that something special must be attributed to Jesus of Nazareth. So far, He's the only human to have risen physically from the dead. So far, nobody else ever had, and I take it that after two millennia, we are still celebrating the event every Spring. How can the atheist be so blind?

Maybe as a lockdown sceptic, I'm asking whether this two-tier restriction farce is sensible. Maybe I'm as blind to Science, especially in virology, as the atheist is blind to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.