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.

Let Him Who Is Without Sin...

Jesus was sitting at the Temple grounds, teaching the crowds surrounding him. Presently there was a disturbance as a group of Pharisees were dragging a desperate woman towards him, kicking and shouting as she struggled to break free.

Jesus probably glanced upwards with the thought, Oh dear, here we go again - and began to write on the dust. What he was writing, nobody knows, and we still don't know to this day, as the Holy Spirit did not feel it was necessary to tell us. The group then stood before Jesus as he sat there with his finger continuing to write. Then one of the Pharisees, sensing the Lord's apparent apathy or disinterest, began to present his case with urgency, accusing her on how she was caught in the very act of adultery, and asking whether she should be put to death, as the Scripture says. The rest of the crowd who was listening to Jesus turned with anticipated excitement combined with a sense of shock of certain execution taking place right in their midst.

Instead, Jesus kept on disregarding the woman's accusers as he kept on writing (or maybe, doodling.) As the leading Pharisee kept up with his accusations, Jesus could have asked about the whereabouts of the male lover, if she was caught in the act, and why he wasn't with them, being dragged alongside with her. After all, it takes two to tango. And I wished he had asked that! It would have been interesting if the accuser had to answer. Thus, the story was lacking much for it to make proper sense. 

The accusing Pharisee still had a valid point. He was referring to Leviticus 20:10, where it says that if a man lies with another man's wife, then both must be stoned to death. Therefore, where was he?

And after a period of provocation by the accusers, Jesus finally looks up and answers:

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

This story is recorded in the first eleven verses of John, chapter eight. In the KJV, it's included in the normal flow of the script without any gaps or comments. In the NIV, a note is inserted in the interruption preceding the text, explaining that the earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not contain this portion, followed by a lined space preceding verse 12. The RSV goes even further, omitting the story altogether and inserting it as a page footer with a suggestion that it might have been a fragment taken from Luke's Gospel. 

But whatever its origin, the inspiration behind the story is obvious enough. It's history, on the same level of truthfulness as the Crucifixion itself. And within the last few weeks, more than once have I seen the answer Jesus gave to justify the deeds done by our political leaders.

It can be controversial, this idea of letting anyone who is without sin to throw the first stone, that is, to execute judgement. Really, how far can this be taken? Yet I have had those words thrown at me on Facebook whenever an issue was raised. Yet, if I was to take the Lord's words literally on all levels, then would our Law Courts cease to exist? Would all inmates be freed and all prisons closed? One night a burglar breaks into a house and makes off with jewellery which has sentimental connections as well as a high value in price. The victim goes to the Police to report the crime and to get justice. Only to be told that the Law will only act on his behalf if the victim can prove that he's without sin.

Doesn't make sense, does it? At first, this looks totally unjustifiable. The householder whose jewels were precious to him suffers a terrible loss, while some stranger is going to sell the stolen items for personal profit. Indeed, any reader would instantly comment that the two offences are beyond comparison. But are they really that incompatible? 

A woman commits adultery. If the punishment for this offence is taken from Old Testament justice such as Leviticus 20:10, then the woman was already married to someone else, hence the seriousness of the sin. Her husband would have felt cheated, and now has to endure a terrible loss and enforced widowhood. The loss felt by the husband of his beloved would have been just as intense as the loss of precious jewellery, maybe more so, as the wife is of one flesh with the husband and close to his heart. I could even go as far as the possibility of him ready to forgive, as was the case of the Old Testament prophet Hosea, who brought back home his wayward wife, but the original letter of the law forbids this. Instead, she has to die, along with her lover. And in this case, with Jesus, the lover must have either done a runner or was told to escape.

But the chance of the cheated husband feeling enraged could have been equally possible, and his wishing for an act of quick revenge would have remained unfulfilled with the Lord's willingness to forgive. It may not have been the loss of jewellery irritating him, but having been cheated, the loss of justice and the greater likelihood of forbidding her to return home. On the other hand, by recognising who Jesus is, he might have also forgiven her and took her back in.

With such complications surrounding the incident, I have come to conclude that this was a unique, one-off occasion with the dual purpose of getting her accusers, all of them religious, to see sin lurking within their own hearts and that forgiveness is available to them too if they believe that this particular man is their Messiah, the Son of God. Even if the origins of this story has been questioned, no doubt, it teaches a valuable lesson, and that is, to believe that this Jesus - the one sitting at the Temple and writing on the ground - will be their risen Christ, from whom acquittal will be granted to all who believe.

Later, in the Acts of the Apostles, an instance of instant retribution is dished out to a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, for lying to the Holy Spirit, Acts 5:1-11. The church in Jerusalem was in a crisis and a decision was made by its leaders for anyone to contribute financially towards it. We are told that Barnabas sold his field and willingly gave all his proceeds to the church elders. And many others all made similar donations by selling off what they had and laying the money at the apostle's feet. Then came Ananias and his wife Sapphira. They too sold their field but afterwards agreed between themselves to give only a portion of their money and keeping some back. That in itself isn't bad. They were free to keep back all they had. All was purely voluntary.

But instead, they gave only a portion and then declared that this was the full price gotten for the sale of their field. When Peter revealed their sin, they both died instantly, the husband first, then his wife three hours later. It's a far cry from the fate of the adulterous woman brought before Jesus, and for a crime which, at a human point of view, looks far less severe than committing adultery. It does look as if administering justice was not abolished by being aware of universal sin lurking in the heart.

And Romans 13:1-7 endorses this. Here, Paul gives the very reason why governments exist and why we are encouraged to obey all in authority. Governments are there to keep evil in check and to ensure the best administration for the country, province or territory. And the apostle warns that everyone who does evil will need to be in fear of them, as they are the authority appointed by God to bring justice. Likewise, those who do good can receive praise from the same. And that was written long after Jesus dealt with the adulteress.

However, although both Paul and Peter have encouraged all Christians to honour and obey the king, ancient history tells us that the Roman emperors were some of the evilest men who ever walked the earth, guilty of murder, adultery, even incest and paedophilia, so the story goes. Nero, for one, is reputed to have killed his own mother, Agrippina, to secure his own independent power. Yet Christians in his day, under the apostles, Paul and Peter, were exhorted to give honour to the king and to obey the laws of the land.

Therefore I need to ask: Was I wrong to raise the issue about our Prime Minister when his suitability for the job was under scrutiny? And that with his life history tainted by more than one divorce and at present, had just fathered a child from his girlfriend half his age? One friend answered back:

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. 

And that was posted to me by one of our ex-church leaders.

It's well known that the one who posted that statement was a devout Brexiteer, and our Tory PM Boris Johnson promised: "to get Brexit done" as his last election manifesto. This makes me wonder whether our Facebook friend would have posted the same statement if our PM had been a Labour leader who pushed hard to remain in the EU and had, in the past, walked out of his wife and family to date a female half his age. Indeed, would he had picked up the stones then, or simply walk away like those Pharisees did?

And now, over the past week, this scandal over Dominic Cummings. He is the PM's chief advisor who played a major role in Brexit and he was also behind the Coronavirus lockdown, insisting that we all, as a nation, to stay home, stay safe and respect the NHS. According to the Press, Cummings was attending meetings held behind closed doors alongside our top scientists in putting together the appropriate action for tackling the pandemic.

Then, after the edict was passed and endorsed by our Government, faithful people stayed at home and stopped visiting their family members living elsewhere. This included hospital visits, care home exclusions and minimal funeral attendance. We were also banned to drive miles to national parks and other popular venues. One dog walker was stopped and reprimanded by the Police for walking his dog in a remote area of the Peak District National Park. Other motorists, on their way to the coast, were forced to turn and go back home, on the orders of the Police.

Yet, Cummings drove the 264-mile distance from London to Durham to sort out a family issue. He then drove a further 30 miles to Barnard Castle "to test my eyesight." If he was unsure about his eyesight whilst on that leg of the journey, how did he manage the 264-mile trip in the first place with his wife and son?

Tie-less advisor - Dominic Cummings. 

During the debate which followed, a poll revealed up to 52% wished for him to leave his post as Advisor, whether by resignation or by dismissal by the PM, and the remaining 48% insist he should stay. From the 48% who thinks he should stay in his job, a quote appeared on Facebook, posted by a journalist in full support for him:

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

That was aimed towards all those who felt judgemental towards Dominic Cummings. As for me, I have become fed up with the issue. If he goes, then let him go. But if he wants to stay, then let him stay - but with much discredit to his advice. But with opinion split almost right down the middle (the same result, by the way, with the 2016 referendum whether to stay in or leave the EU) - I can't help but believe that the majority of pollsters who voted for Cummings to remain in his post were Brexiteers, and those who want him out were mainly Remainers, although there is an area of grey in between.

Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

Okay, I have been reprimanded. Let me stand back and just allow matters to take their course.

After all, God is our sovereign Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, to which we all have to give an account. I'll trust in Him. 

Lock-down Delusion?

He was homeless. And lonely. Very lonely, in fact. Furthermore, he felt that he was afraid of being mugged, even stabbed. Therefore, unable to sleep, he kept himself on the move, wandering from one place to another, constantly glancing behind to see whether he was followed.

He was also very hungry and thirsty. Eventually, he gives up. He lays down on the ground, feeling very suicidal. "To hell with life," he thought. "Let someone come and kill me. Or maybe, if I were to fall asleep here, I may not wake up again. I don't care anymore. I had enough!"

That was around 842 BC.

Elijah journeyed through the desert for forty days, or just short of six weeks. Yet he was supernaturally supplied with the appropriate food and drink, more than once. Yet despite such care taken of his welfare, he maintained a twisted cord of emotions: Loneliness, along with fear, and anger has driven this fellow to a remote mountain where he met God, and after throwing out a plethora of complaints, protesting that he is the only faithful one left throughout the whole of Israel, God eventually got around to saying that he has reserved for himself seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal (1Kings 19.)

Maybe such a revelation might have been encouraging for him. Then again, he might have also thought to himself: If there were seven thousand godly men in Israel alone, apart from any in Judah, then why has none of them made any effort to come and offer me food, drink and shelter, hidden and protected from my enemies?

I think that having such thoughts would be perfectly human. For throughout the forty-day journey, he was running away from Queen Jezebel, the dominant wife of King Ahab and who also wore the trousers. He was fleeing from her after performing a spectacular showdown against 450 prophets of Baal, Jezebel's idol, and not only putting them to shame but having them all executed.

Were these 7,000 godly men converts of Elijah's spectacular showdown? Probably not, for the Scripture indicates that they had already chosen to stay faithful to Yahweh, the true God of Israel since childhood, having never bowed their knee to Baal throughout their lives. Those who witnessed the contest between Yahweh and Baal might have been impressed with Elijah's spectacular victory, but for some, it doesn't necessarily depict true and lasting conversion. Left unconverted, the temptation to return to Baal worship becomes irresistible.

So there he was, feeling lonely, and suicidal. And this also makes me wonder how many were tempted to feel that way during this present Coronavirus lockdown? At least there were some parts of it which seems beneficial. Emptier roads for starters, resulting in cleaner air and a slowdown of climate change. Office employees working from home instead of the daily commute, whether by private or public transport. Still others on furlough, remaining employed by the business which was forced to close for the duration of the pandemic, resulting in a long paid "holiday" for its workers.

By the grace of God, I didn't find this lockdown financially difficult, due to being on State pension. Fortunately, I was not under compulsion to stay at home, as was the case, I believe, in Spain and Italy. Instead, I was still free to go out and exercise once a day, either walking or cycling. 

With both swimming and the gym locked away, so to speak, with walking, I have enjoyed the wonderful privilege of admiring Rhododendron bushes in full bloom, the magenta flowers glowing in the Spring sunshine. Funny, really. These species were originally imported from China and has established themselves well here. Yet there are many gardeners, environmentalists and perhaps horticulturalists who have taken a dislike to this bush, seeing it as a foreign invasion, and there was even a faceless bureaucrat sitting at the Council office of Bracknell Forest who had sent out an order to have much of the Rhododendron at the back of one street destroyed, thus removing the sound barrier between the busy traffic and the homes of many residents and leaving an ugly scar on the landscape. 

Rhododendron in full bloom near my home, taken May 2020.

Cycling is another form of exercise taken during the lockdown. These days it takes more of an effort to ride a bike long-distance, as a couple of other cyclists overtook me by quite a wide speed margin. Perhaps my age and state of health combined with the solar heat taking it out on me, yet there is that lovely feeling of accomplishment as I rode to Dinton Pastures, a country park some nine miles away from home, with its beautiful Black Swan Lake, dotted with forested islands and surrounded by a bridleway cutting through a forested environment lining both sides, thus combining the day out with both cycling and walking.

But there is the detrimental side to the lockdown, and that's how much I miss the church! At Ascot Life Church, along with all other churches in the UK, we now have "virtual services". This means that instead of being in the physical company among brothers and sisters in Christ, there is this figure speaking from the screen of my laptop. Although I can see him and hear him, all he is doing is looking into and speaking to a camera. He has no idea who is in the audience, and each member of the audience have no idea who else is watching - unless comments are posted, which scrolls up alongside the picture. But even then, we as an audience or congregation can't intercommunicate with each other.

As such, a virtual service is a very poor substitute for the real thing. There is no sense of love, no fellowship, no intimacy, no hugging, no greeting, no private news shared personally between members, and most importantly, no coffee & doughnuts! But at least the preach comes over well, and this has caused me to wonder whether the High Speed 2 railway project is already obsolete even before the very first track length is laid, as the purpose of the project is to whisk executives to their conferences as quick as possible. Has the use of computers made this HS2 a white elephant for the national economy? After all, we now have this Zoom app, which delivers pseudo-fellowship communication among partakers.

This also means that no one in my church can meet up over coffee. This used to be a favourite activity, for someone in the church, especially one of the Elders, to meet up at Starbucks. Here, we can advise each other, as I can give advice as well as receive it. Such meetings were very useful during times of crisis, like at the present when my beloved develops a toothache, just as the lockdown has closed every dental surgery in town. Like this, moral and spiritual support is compromised, as the telephone or Zoom could never replace the person-to-person counsel and intimacy which arises from it. Hence the lockdown has given me a sense of isolation, the feeling of remoteness, which even surrounded by talking pictures, fail to meet what Jesus Christ had in mind when he established His Body here on earth.

And this "social distancing." That means when I approach an oncoming pedestrian whilst on the footpath, we both alter our courses to ensure neither of us passes within two metres of each other, although to compensate, we often greet each other with a "hi" or even with the thumb up. It's as if every person not with the household is some kind of abomination. Go too near and you will die. 

And the economy under dire threat. According to the Press, this national lockdown is the end result of advice delivered to our Government by one bureaucrat, Neil Ferguson of Imperial College, who warned that the UK death rate of 250,000 or more could occur unless the Government imposed a total lockdown. The likelihood of this being true scientific modelling by Imperial College is questioned by the previous modelling of the BSE crisis of 2002 as standing with an estimated 150,000 deaths in Britain. The actual number of deaths from CMJ, a related disease in humans, stood at less than 200 overall.*

It's from such sources such as the Imperial College where our ministers had taken fright and have put our national economy into a coma, from which it may not fully recover. Therefore it's meant to be this weekend when our Prime Minister will begin his "slow, steady lifting" of the lockdown. This includes some gardening centres re-opening, allowing picnics in parks, exercising outdoors more than once a day, and a bubble of family members and friends of no more than ten persons are allowed to come together. 

But there be no church meetings, no pubs, no coffee bars or restaurants, no leisure centres, and social distancing still enforced. As Dr John Lee has written, Boris Johnson lacks the courage to kick-start the economy to its pre-pandemic level, lest a second, more severe wave of infection was to occur. Also, according to this doctor who is an expert in pathogenicity, believes that if the virus were to infect more people, (with the vast majority suffering only minor symptoms) it would have to mutate to a less harmful form to preserve itself. Therefore he suggests that younger people should return to work and to live normal lives whilst at the same time the elderly and the vulnerable should be given adequate protection. 

Our PM lacking courage? That's not the same man who promised a golden age of national prosperity for all of us after leaving the EU, is he?

My good friend, PhD holder and geneticist Andrew Milnthorpe have always been sceptical about the lockdown, and he said to me that such action was way over the top. At first, I was taken back by what he had said, surprised at his apparent apathy for the spread of the virus. But since then, two journalists had both written that this national lockdown was a farce and the average Briton should not tremble with fear over the daily reporting of the number of deaths. One of these writers was Dr John Lee, who wrote in the Saturday Essay page of the Daily Mail. The other writer was Peter Hitchens. As the Bible says, when two or three agree, then the evidence is more likely to be factual.

Black Swan Lake, Dinton Pastures. Stock photo.

Maybe this lockdown had just one other benefit. It might have caused more people to think about God. I have heard a report that more people have gotten into prayer as a result of this pandemic. If this was such a good opportunity for the Gospel to be heralded, this is it. If churches such as Ascot Life Church, the Kerith Community Church, and other churches advertise their virtual service on to social websites, chances that more people may tune in, for it's much easier to go online at home than it is to bother driving to the church building full of strangers.

Despite all it's setbacks, God can work through the lockdown, as nothing is impossible with God.

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*Dr John Lee, Daily Mail Newspaper, Saturday, May 9, 2020.