Another Day, Another Year.

When some friends from church and I had gone to watch Back to the Future on the big screen more than thirty years ago, featuring Martin McFly's unintentional journey in his DeLorean back to 1955 from his present 1985, in which the film was made and based on, I made a comment whilst returning home. I remarked on how much I would have loved to go back to AD 32 or thereabouts, to witness the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Immediately, the response from one of my friends was,

"No way would we let you! You will change history!"

How I would have prevented Jesus from going to the cross when he was already so determined to go there, even enough to deliver such a strong rebuke to Peter when he tried to discourage him - (Matthew 16:21-23) - I doubt that I would have had any impact in changing the course of history, certainly not where God's plan of redemption for mankind is concerned anyway. However, there could have been the possibility of showing the Romans how fast a well-made propeller would rotate on its axis if held in the steam plume issuing from the spout of a boiling kettle. Who knows. Had I shown them such a practical scientific gadget, what possibility would have been of today's snarled road traffic system under monitor of those wretched traffic lights being confined to the Dark Ages, along with the ever-enduring train delays and cancellations? The dream of skyways, directional signs bobbing about mid-air without falling to the ground below, flying cars, hoverboards, and computer-staffed coffee bars, all featured in Back to the Future II, might well have been a present reality!

Wishful thinking. On the other hand, my tinkering with human history and scientific engineering might have brought about the Battle of Armageddon centuries ago, as the rapid progress of practical knowledge could have brought an early extinction of the human race long before the 21st Century would ever have seen the light of day. Perhaps my friend was right after all when he said that he wouldn't have allowed me to travel back in time. However, the irony was that such a fanciful notion of skyways and flying cars was projected for the year 2015, thirty years after the making of the movie, and already in the past from this point in time. Maybe still optimistic in America, but right now, here in the UK, the problem of roads clogged with traffic at a standstill, annoying red traffic lights, and on the railways the persistent problems of delayed and cancelled trains, signalling breakdowns, Union strikes and industrial disputes, all to make the daily commute often an unpleasant experience for many.

Upper and lower - Skyway scenes from Back to the Future II

So as our road vehicles remain firmly on the ground, another year comes and goes. It was the year a very historical event took place - a Referendum to decide whether to stay in the European Union or to leave, and for the country to go it alone. To leave, or Brexit, won the vote by a narrow majority. Our former Prime Minister David Cameron resigned from his post after persuading the nation to vote Remain, along with the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne threatening to impose higher income taxes should the nation vote to leave. When a new Minister, Theresa May, was voted into office, one of her first tasks was to fire Osborne out of her reformed Cabinet, to be replaced by Philip Hammond as Chancellor.

It is said that the victory for Brexit was due at large by the voting of the white working-classes living up north of England, the former heavy industrial areas where steel works and coal mining once provided secure employment. These, together with the more elderly, all voted in favour to leave the European Union. It is also said that the stuffy, upper-class and Public School educated Establishment was shattered by the Referendum result. The Establishment, which included Eton-educated David Cameron and ex-Bullington Club member George Osborne, who was reputed to have set on fire £50 notes in full view of the homeless roughing it on the streets during his student days at Oxford, was given a hard smack in the mouth, so to speak. But as with the Referendum, its underbelly began to be manifest almost from the day the result was announced.

That is the rise of the far-right minded individuals and groups showing hostility, particularly to the Poles who have set up their businesses here. If racism was buried in the minds of many indigenous Brits, it wasn't long before such woodworm began to crawl out of the woodwork, making Europeans and other immigrants living here feel threatened. As the months progressed, the national feeling of optimism and self confidence among Brexit voters grew by the day, as the Media - especially Right Wing newspapers such as the Daily Mail, the Sun, and the Daily Express - pumps out one economic success after another in the business world, together with falling unemployment. As self confidence and national optimism grows, so acknowledging of God's goodness is left out of the picture altogether, with national pride and disdain towards those who voted to remain together with those from overseas, bringing Britain to a close parallel to the ancient builders of the Tower of Babel in their quest to "reach unto heaven" without the need for God's grace (Genesis 11:1-9).

And the attitude of these ancient builders of Babel could be closer to home than one may believe, as I was reading the Daily Mail Online only earlier this week. Another article praising the wisdom of Brexit appeared on the screen, as another economical case in point was proven. Within the comments messaging board which trails the main article was one Brexiteer sneering at the Remainers, the latter who had lost the vote. Just another one of many like-minded, sneering and gloating comments which keeps on appearing by the hundreds each day under the guise of patriotism, except that this one bears the username Kezzit666. In the last book of the Bible, Revelation 13:17-18, the triple-digit 666 makes up the number of the Beast, the apex of rebellion against God as so pictured by the Tower of Babel. It looks to me that national pride here in the UK is on the same wavelength, for God and his grace and mercy finds no place among such pride, self confidence and optimism.

And that seems to be reflected in some true Christians whom I know personally, who had voted to leave the European Union. In my Facebook page, arguments were swapped between opposing sides, and nothing akin to the Gospel was included on either side of the argument. And I will admit, I'm not blameless in this either. As one who advocated to remain, I spoke little or nothing of God's grace and mercy. And there are other believers too, some I have close friendships with, who advocated for us to leave.

I wonder how God thinks of it all. For whether one has voted to leave or remain, another dominant feature of this year has been the deaths of many celebrities, up to 217 in all, each one within this year. Perhaps the three most prominent were David Bowie and just recently, George Michael, both musicians. The third was actor Andrew Sachs, who played the bemused waiter Manuel at the hotel in the hit comedy Fawlty Towers. But the twelve categories of celebrity deaths around the world entirely within 2016 are given here:

1. Music

37 died, including David Bowie, Pete Burns, George Michael.

2. Acting

45 died, including Andrew Sachs.

3. TV Film and Theatre

23 died, including Guy Hamilton, Tony Warren.

4. Comedy, Entertainment

4 died, including Paul Daniels.

5. Broadcasting, Journalism

10 died, including Ed "Stewpot" Steward.

6. Writing, Publishing

13 died, including Anita Brookner.

7. Politics, Activism, World Leaders, Faith

19 died, including King Bhumibol Adulyaej of Thailand.

8. Society

5 died, including Gerald Cavendish Duke of Westminster

9. Science, Industry, Academia

14 died, including Lorv Briggs.

10. Sport

31 died, including Carlos Aderto Brazilian Footballer.

11. UK Public Service

6 died, including Molly Rose World War II Pilot.

12. Outstanding in their Field

10 died, including James Gelanos U.S. Fashion Designer

Total Celebrity deaths, 2016

217 died.

This makes a year with one of the highest celebrity deaths on record. And a very sobering thought it is, considering what Scripture says about men appointed to die once, after this the judgement (Hebrews 9:27). Whether one has voted to remain in the E.U. or has voted to leave, whether one is a celebrity or just another man in the street, whether one is a king or a slave owned by another, whether one is loved by the world or a pariah of society whose home is the gutter, one fate awaits us all. If ever there was and will ever be the great leveller, it can only be death. And so throughout the years I have come to learn to appreciate and be thankful for each day of my life, and to be thankful for what I have, what I have achieved, and most important of all, my soul-mate, who I have vowed to love and cherish, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death us do part.

As such, I could consider myself fortunate enough to take my wife away on two trips, each at opposite directions. The first trip, back in April, was to the Lake District National Park, with its moor-covered mountains, spectacular valleys, and lakes. And when considering that Alex is now in a wheelchair, the whole trip provided a testing challenge, especially when we decided to visit the spectacular Ayre Force Waterfalls, a long bus ride right across the whole park from our hotel, and the wheelchair-incompatible trail leading to the falls from the visitor's centre, a kilometre distant. Navigating the path was testing in itself, yet the reward for hard effort was outstanding. Not only with full view of the Falls, but also admiration from passers-by. Last week's blog, a Christmas Special picture posting, contains photos of the Lake District, including that of Ayre Force Waterfall.

The second trip in October was to celebrate our wedding anniversary, and it was a weekend trip south to Paris on the Eurostar. Having been to Paris several times before, I was primarily interested in the train journey. Alex was far more interested in seeing the city for the first time in her life. Hence making a perfect combination. Booking a seat on the Eurostar, especially on our ideal choice of train, was tricky due to its popularity. But we managed to reserve two seats on the 13.30 departure, one of the fastest trains on the timetable, a non-stop ride from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord. Although the train could only do 100 mph 162 km per hour when passing through the Channel Tunnel under the sea, the train reached its full speed of 186 mph 301 km per hour for all French side of the route from Calais to Paris itself, and also from Ebbsfleet which is by the River Thames, to Folkstone on the English side as well.

Sitting by the window of the Eurostar train has brought out the boy in me, and I felt like an excited child, although of course, I behaved like a proper Brit and kept (or tried to keep) my emotions under control under a façade of stoicism throughout the 135-minute trip. The same for the return journey two days later, which was an equally fast journey as the outgoing one.

And that is what I love about the Eurostar and its international route from London to Paris (and another, a different route to Brussels). It will always be a perfect and tangible symbol of the European Union, as during the construction of the whole route during the 1980's, Britain had no intention of leaving the Union. If ever there was a magnificent project to unite nations which were in the past at war with each other, taking lives by the millions, surely the Union was the answer for international peace. The single Eurostar train journey between two countries without the need to change trains is behind the real meaning of the Union. Sadly, also recently in the Daily Mail comments forum, one fellow who calls himself "The True Englishman" demanded that the Eurostar service be permanently ended and the Channel Tunnel bricked up. Other like-minded comments have appeared in the past from these patriots, suggesting for example, a dynamiting of the Tunnel once and for all. Sorry, but I can't help noticing the small-mindedness which seems to be found among those who primarily voted Leave.

As I see it, 2016 with its vote to leave Europe, with its sudden change of Government ministers, the death of 217 celebrities, and on a lighter note a lack of a skyway system, has made these last twelve months something of a sombre year. And to add to this, the realisation of the unstoppable journey to the grave, totally irrespective of who we are.

Like all the celebrities, we will all have to die. But the good news is that we don't have to perish eternally. God is more than willing to give eternal life as a free gift to everyone who repents - to change his mind about Jesus of Nazareth being the risen Christ - and to start trusting in him. Because really, at the end of the day, we were created to enjoy eternal friendship and intimacy with God. That is why we are here. To live forever with God in Jesus Christ with the in-filling of the Holy Spirit, all three Persons of the Trinity making his home in us (John 14:23). And our national, political, and professional status has no part in our eternal being, as all these things will soon pass away. But God's love will endure forever.

So why not start 2017 by believing in Jesus as Lord and Saviour, and allowing his Holy Spirit to enrich your soul?

Melancholy Man

Some years ago, my younger brother took our Mum up to the Scottish Highlands, to visit an insignificant-looking area of open space known as Culloden Moor. It was the site of the last battle ever to take place in Britain, on April 16th, 1746. Lasting about an hour, the contest was between Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charles, who desired to sit on the Throne in London, and was also leader of the Jacobites - against the Government officer William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. The latter, whose troops were predominantly English and better trained, won a quick victory over the mainly Scottish Jacobite troops, leaving a considerable number of casualties, mostly from the Jacobite side. After his defeat, Bonnie Prince Charles took flight. This eventually led to the Scottish Highlands being integrated into Britain, in the process of the formation of the United Kingdom.

Cottage Hospital, Culloden Moor.

About two years after Mum's visit, I took my wife Alex to the same area while spending a few days at a hotel in Inverness. Hardly an attraction, the moor was an open field covered mainly with heather, with a network of trails allowing visitors to wonder freely, along with a nearby car park (if I remember) a small museum, a cottage used as a hospital, and of course, most important of all, a refreshment cafe and shop. What has changed since our visit in 2005, was the building and opening of a rather swank-looking Visitor's Centre in 2007. No doubt, the facility would have been much appreciated by William Augustus and his men for a respite after the battle!

Hence the beginning of a era for the British Isles known as the United Kingdom, consisting of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, where everyone within its shores lived in relative peace for more than two centuries. So when Scotland held a referendum for independence on September 2014, I was worried. For my heart would have been as much broken as the United Kingdom would have been, if the Scottish National Party had won.

Back in 1990, a friend and I cycled from John O'Groats, on the most northern point of the Scottish coastline, to Land's End on the tip of Cornwall. We remember the border crossing well. A straight road passing two signs, one on each side of the road. One read, "Welcome to Scotland." The other merely read, "England." But there were no white lines across the road, no passport controls, no customs. One just drove along uninterrupted, as anywhere else in the open countryside. The same applied when we crossed into Wales, albeit briefly. All three crossings consisting of an open road passing through without any form of obstructive barriers. That is the meaning of the United Kingdom, where anyone can pass through national boundaries as if they did not exist, itself a tangible expression of a total lack of tribal conflict or seclusion.

It was very different at the world's smallest continent throughout the 20th Century. Made up of a number of independent nations, Europe became the source of two of the world's most atrocious conflicts, both costing lives by the millions, followed by high levels of then-unrecognised Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among the surviving veterans, some homeless and often seen tramping along the streets of London back in the sixties and seventies, intoxicated with alcohol, at times even with methylated spirits. All because by 1939, one national leader believed that his country was populated by a superior race, and had aspirations to conquer and rule over the rest of Europe, including Britain. At the same time he had six million Jewish men and women sent to prison camps to face death. Just for being racially inferior.

After visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum on the western outskirts of Jerusalem in 1993, I grew appreciative of the concept of a European Union acting as a deterrent against international and inter-tribal warfare, along with serving as a barrier against a Communist invasion, even though I gave little thought about such a union at the time. But throughout the last couple of months I grew to understand the benefits of Union membership, and what it could mean if we vote out of the European Union, even prompting a domino-effect of the Union to fall apart completely, meaning that one day in the future, a third world war could break out over another conflict between two or more European nations. Most likely not in my day, as I am already in my sixties. But as I look on young families with their toddlers, my heart sigh, wondering what kind of a future they will grow up in.

As I listened to the News on the radio that Friday morning of June 24th, I fell into shock which turned into depression, which gripped my soul for more than twenty-four hours. Not long after hearing the announcement that Brexit has won the national referendum by a narrow margin of 52 to 48 percent, our Prime Minister David Cameron, who campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU, stood outside the door of number 10 with his wife Samantha standing slightly behind him, both looking very distressed as he announced his resignation. Up to the present I have always disliked our Prime Minister for what he stood for, seasoned with his Etonian background and his past membership of the notorious Bullington Club for aristocratic students at Oxford University. Furthermore, he has always shown a higher regard for the elite above the needs of ordinary people. But on that morning I thought I detected a tear rolling down his face. I felt a pang of pity. Despite his background reputation and performance at his post, I just couldn't gloat over his national public humiliation. Instead I felt sorry for him.

Which heightened my depression. I attended the gym for my normal three-times-a-week two hour workout. Normally I leave the gym with a feeling of well-being after such a workout. But not on that Friday. Instead, I sat alone in the sauna, itself almost deserted, and finding myself at a position which clarifies any depressed man:  

It was also on that day when I recalled some of the weirdest statements made by various church leaders about the European Union before the result was released. One leader of a church in Southampton ordered his congregation to vote leave, insisting that the European Union is the work of the Devil and therefore an abomination before God! Then at a Bible study group I heard about another pastor of a more localised church saying the same things about the Union. On that occasion, on the day of the referendum itself, I stood up and declared that all this was total nonsense, and even rebuked the elderly couple involved for being so gullible. Their reply was that they felt God saying these things in their hearts. The next morning I heard the result. 

Did God really speak to them? Was I in the wrong? Worse still, was I in rebellion against God, as depicted by the nations, including Israel, in the Biblical book of the prophet Amos? This has brought me near to a sweat - until I also remembered that the Archbishop of Canterbury has voted to remain, and quite likely most, if not all, the clergy of the Church of England. If the clergyman second only to the Queen has voted to remain in the EU, then there must be a serious flaw in the theory that the European Union is an abomination before God.

Reading the Biblical book of the prophet Daniel throws some light into this issue. As a captive of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon, the young prophet revealed the meaning of a dream the king had one night in bed. The dream was that of a massive statue standing in front, consisting of a head of gold, a chest and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, lower legs of iron, and feet and toes of iron mixed with clay. Then a large boulder, not cut by human hands, rolled down a nearby mountain and struck the statue at its ten toes. The whole edifice crumbled into powder, and like chaff blown away by the wind, nothing of it remained, but the boulder which demolished the statue grew into a mountain which covered the whole earth.

Then some time later, the elderly prophet had a dream of his own, that of a stormy ocean. From the swelling waves arose four beasts - a lion, a bear, a leopard, and an unknown ferocious beast. His attention was drawn to the fourth beast, and from its head grew ten horns, and another horn grew after the other ten. These two dreams both share the same interpretation - that four empires will rule over the nation of Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, God's own city, from Daniel's day to the end of human history. Of these kingdoms, three are clearly past, while the fourth has been suspended - to allow for the present Church age - only for this kingdom to resume power sometime in the future from this point of time - as we have not reached the end of the Church age, let alone human history. But the importance of these four empires to Israel and its capital Jerusalem cannot be underestimated. It has nothing to do with the Church.

(See Daniel chapters 2 and 7.)

But the one important principle underlined here, and that these kingdoms were decreed by God himself. It was God's plan for the Jews to be ruled by these four non-Jewish empires for their continued disobedience and rebellion against his laws and commandments. The fact that all kingdoms, nations, and empires are firmly in the hands of God himself, who re-affirms through Paul that there is no authority existing that hadn't been established by God (Romans 13:1-7). As such, it is God who causes empires to rise and fall, to enthrone kings and also dethrone them at his own will.

Which leads me to conclude that if people, even Christian believers, had said to me in the past that the British Empire was established by God, then it must follow suit that the European Union was established by God as well, wasn't it? Why do some Christians endorse the British Empire as a work of God, but emotionally denounce the European Union as a work of the Devil, and therefore a divine abomination? Didn't the British set out to conquer the indigenous in their own homelands, make slaves of them, and through bloodshed rule over them with absolute authority - for some four hundred years? And yet these same people who approved of the British Empire are now screaming out, we want our country back! The EU made slaves of no-one, they never ruled with the same kind of absolute authority, and there certainly was no bloodshed. Furthermore, the Union is only forty odd years old, a tenth of the Empire's duration! Yet many see it as evil.

We want our country back! I bet that that was exactly the cry of the conquered indigenous under colonial rule for four hundred long years. And then the English in particular sampling a mild form of their own medicine for just a few decades brings shock and horror. I cannot see the fairness, but perhaps fortunately for us, we as a nation are now free from the cruel, bureaucratic dominion of the EU, even after all this time, never a gun was fired by them in our direction. Now the Minister for Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, is thinking of another referendum for Scottish independence. Because the Vote Remain was won by the Scots with a wider margin of 62 over 38 percent of the vote, compared with the 52 over 48 percent for the Vote Leave on the national average.

A second Scottish Referendum for Independence looks now to be on the cards, according to the Media. If the voting goes ahead, and they vote out, a very peculiar set up could emerge. They could be accepted back into the European Union. Even before that, the United Kingdom as we know it at present would be broken up and cease to exist. Quite likely, a passport control booth would be set up at the very spot we cycled through unhindered back in 1990. And the same applies to all other roads, along with border checks within intercity trains out of London Kings Cross and Euston Stations. And passport checks for cross-border domestic flights. A dire possibility? I guess that could be the case, but perhaps not. But the weirdest peculiarity would appear on the new map of the European Union, if it does not fall into itself. 

The map would show a uniformed continental block (if the Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Italy remains in the EU) with Scotland, and maybe Northern Ireland too, shaded in with Europe, but between Scotland and the north coast of France, there would be a landmass unshaded, as neither England and Wales would be in the EU. This peculiar resurgence would be the end result of the English (and Welsh) cry that "they wanted their country back."

But however events will turn out in the days, weeks, months and years to come, I have come out of my depression and set my faith in the Lord that neither my countrymen or ourselves would be any of the worse for wear as a result of leaving the European Union.

May God save, keep, and bless everyone who puts his trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.