climbing hiking camping

I think I first heard the phrase used by President Trump. ‘Fake News’ became the ‘word of the year’ for 2017 according to the Daily Telegraph ; despite it being two words! But the concept has been around forever. Ever since the lies in the Garden of Eden, Fake News has been in existence. The Times comments that ‘a lie is halfway round the world before truth has got its boots on’. Why? Because too many of us love to gossip and are fascinated with the failure of others. A new study from Science Magazine is extremely thorough. The report indicated that Fake News travels ‘faster, deeper and more broadly’ than the truth. Truth on social media platforms takes six times longer to circulate than lies. Twitter gets the most Fake News, with other social media not far behind. People tweet and retweet what they consider to be a surprise, to be provocative or disgusting. Indeed, it may be disgusting- but was it true? I remember a debate on the BBC some years ago - I haven’t been able to source it...

This is a stunning graphical illustration of the growth of the human population. It took 200,000 years for the population to reach 1 billion. It took just 200 years for it to reach 7 billion. 'And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”' (Genesis 1: 28) Let's be careful how we interpret that command.  

It’s been a strange campaign. The Remain guys seem to have focussed on fear and not so much on the obvious benefits of remaining. But that’s been surpassed by the poverty of the Leave campaign. I was on the Syrian border two weeks ago, helping the refugees. To then see them used on a Leave poster as propaganda was definitely the lowest point of the campaign. I’m not sure there should ever have been a vote on this, but as Cameron has decided otherwise, I’ll be voting tomorrow. I don’t believe in divorce. I’m voting for belonging, for inclusion, for welcoming others and working with them.

‘Should I? I mean, really, should I?’ It’s early in 2011 and I’m considering a radical step. Leaving my job as Pensions Director for the Mars Group- and starting a Masters in Theology at Mattersey Bible College. Roh, my wife, looks on as I pontificate. She knows she doesn’t need to say anything. I’ve made my mind up. I’m just trying to rationalise it! It was a bold step, but out of it came much more than a Masters. My final dissertation was on the house church movement. It was 57 years since Arthur Wallis wrote his ground-breaking In the Day of Thy Power. My dissertation title seemed quite clever at the time: 57 Years of Restorationism in the UK: Ongoing Legacy or 57 Varieties? The dissertation gave me access to a number of the house church pioneers- Peter Lyne, Terry Virgo, David Matthew…. And Gerald Coates. I was grateful for the day spent with Gerald. I left him a copy of my last biography, Cheating Death, Living Life – Linda’s Story, a story of God’s miracles in what could have so...

It was printed sometime after what it calls ‘The Great War’. Maybe the 1920s. Not much of the stamp album is left now. Over the years, since my Dad got it me second hand as a kid, I’ve moved most of the stamps out. Once the pages were full. Many stamps glued in. Some with massive stamp hinges. Here’s a page though. Look at the names of the countries. Lost and gone now: Danish West Indies, Danzig, Slesvig.   Danzig was a semi-autonomous state from 1920 onwards, so that helps date the album. Some of the stamps are later. One on this page is dated 1944. At the back it says ‘Property of J S Hepple’. I wonder who he was? When he lived? Pretty obviously collecting through the Second World War. I guess he’s maybe no longer alive? And possibly this is all that’s left of his life? Just for a while I share that life. And so do you as you read this. J S Hepple never knew us. I trust he lived well. What will we leave for future generations? More than a stamp album? We build on others foundatio...

When you drive to the polling station on Thursday, your way will not be blocked. Your children will not be kidnapped whilst you are out. There will be no indiscriminate gunfire as you queue. No one will take you into the booth and force you to put a cross by a certain name. We live in a free democracy. But we need to keep it that way. Don’t assume for a moment that your vote doesn’t matter. No vote is wasted. It’s a statement that we’re free. Free to vote. Free to choose. Far beyond our own political views, beyond the choice of a candidate or the success of a candidate, is the fact that we are free to vote in the first place. A privilege many in the world today do not have. Don’t squander the chance. Don’t throw away your right to vote. Don’t stay home. Go to the polling station. Put your cross on the ballot paper. Vote on Thursday.

It’s not every day you get to take part in launching a new church. But that’s what we did on Sunday. After a year of preparation, team forming, moving house, LifeGroups and Café Church, the real thing arrived at City of Leicester College on Sunday. 317 people walked through the door. Admittedly, that included over 150 from our sister churches in Peterborough and Cambridge, but it’s a great start. KingsGate Church Leicester is for those that don’t like church or used to go to church. If that’s you and you are within reach of us, see you on Sunday at 4.30 in the afternoon. Leicester has a rich history of Christian enterprise and mission. It’s a privilege to be joining those that have gone before us and those already engaged in seeing the 10 th biggest city in England transformed by the power of God’s love. Bring on week two!

30 years ago, there was no Internet. 20 years ago there were only 130 websites. You couldn’t Google anything. 10 years ago, most clouds were wet. Today there are over 10 billion mobile devices. 40,000 Google searches every second. 3.5 billion a day. 1.2 trillion a year. We live in an instant society. Fast food. Fast answers. Instant texts. But some things stay the same. The Bible says of God: ‘I am the Lord, and I do not change.’ (Malachi 3:6)

Here's a quote from the late Malcolm Muggeridge that sums it up pretty well: "I've spent a number of years in India and Africa where I found much righteous endeavour undertaken by Christians of all denominations; but I never, as it happens, came across a hospital or orphanage run by the Fabian Society, or a humanist leper colony."

When a group of Atheists and Secularists write to the Sunday Telegraph decrying the Prime Minister’s comments that we are a Christian country, they are ignoring history. There is no doubt we are a Christian country. Our democracy, our schools, our hospitals - even our Trades Unions - have a Christian foundation. Without the faith of our forefathers, we would not be the nation we are. Today the UK is multicultural with many minority faiths. But this doesn’t take away for one moment the foundations we stand on. We are a Christian nation and my prayer is that as a nation we will once again embrace a living faith and always appreciate the incredible debt we owe to the Christian pioneers that have gone before us.  

We decide where we go and what we do in life.   We choose whether we lose our days in TV soaps and game shows or determine to achieve more by our lives.   We decide whether life is an existence or an achievement, whether we leave a memory or a mark on our generation.   Bryn Jones

Isaac Asimov was a science fiction writer and fifty years ago in the New York Times he predicted what 2014 would look like. At the time he was living with inventions like eight-track tapes as being cutting edge and with no sign of personal computers and the like, so that helps us understand how far seeing he was. How did he do? 1.        Coloured glass that can change colour to suit the mood and rooms that can change colour at the touch of a button. -           Correct. Not common in homes yet, but the technology exists. Last year Mercedes introduced sun panels that darken in response to the extent of sunlight, already common with sunglasses of course. 2.        Lab grown meat to cope with the food crisis. -           Correct. Lab grown burgers were produced for the first time last year. 3.        Self-...

On the 7th day of the 7th month, 77 years later, history was made. The last British winner was Virginia Wade in ’77. And 77 years ago, the last British man to win; Fred Perry. “I don't play any tournaments to come second best.” Andy Murray.  

His name was Rene Mouchotte and he was a Free French Second World War pilot. The former newsreader Jan Leeming first came across him when she chose to sponsor a name on the Battle of Britain memorial in Kent. Having been given his name, she turned detective. He died at the age of 29 after yet another battle in the skies. His grave was in Paris. Not knowing how to contact any living family, Jan left a note on his grave. Four months later she was contacted by Rene's sister, now aged 101. Jan found out that the sister had never received his war medals after the war. More detective work. Because he had used an alias name for safety (as the German's had announced they would execute any Free French flying in the British Air Force), his medals had never been properly dealt with. Three weeks before Rene's sister died, she was presented with his medals - the Croix de Guerre and Legion d'Honneur from the French and the Distinguished Flying Cross from the British. An amazing end ...

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.                 John 1: 14

I became a Christian when I was 15 years old. Since then, the Bible has been my companion. It’s been a good book to base my life on. More importantly, our nation is based on the Bible- on a set of Judaeo-Christian beliefs. It has been a good book to base our nation on. We don’t always get it right, but the belief system we have developed has served us well and given us solid foundations. I saw our Prime Minister on the news last night. With little thought to our foundations, he intends to remove one. The Bible is clear- marriage is between one man and one woman. That’s what our nation is based on and we have historic records to that effect. Marriage goes back to the dawn of time. Marriage in our nation is written into our laws. Over 3000 laws refer to it. Many would have to be rewritten to remove the terms ‘husband’ and ‘wife’. Cameron wants to change marriage. It’s not something that was in his manifesto. He has chosen to ignore the considerable reaction against his views. And, more ...

Look carefully at the image. The pale blue dot is the Earth, captured in a picture from the Voyager 1 spacecraft at a distance of 4 billion miles on February 14, 1990. Carl Sagan was the one who pushed for the Voyager craft to take the shot, and it’s his quote that follows: “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspe...

I didn't realise just how patriotic I was until I watched the London Olympics Opening Ceremony last night. Well done to Danny Boyle for getting it just right. He produced a show which was self effacing, humorous, full of pathos and with a good dose of pride in our achievements. There was no doubting the message - as a country we don't always get it right but we have brought the world the industrial revolution, sporting achievements and invention, pop music, Shakespeare, Peter Pan, Harry Potter, David Beckham, James Bond, the NHS, Chariots of Fire, the World Wide Web and - oh - Mr Bean?! I loved his performance of the Chariots of Fire theme song. Great drama throughout, so much going on - I'm sure at one point I saw Lord Voldermort being zapped by Mary Poppins! The lighting of the flame was particularly powerful. From Beckham to Redgrave to seven young people lighting 205 copper petals, each petal having been carried in by a participating country. And then for each of the pe...

In another blog I have recently written about a handshake that changed our nation. There will be another handshake this week that reflects friendship and forgiveness. For the Queen to shake the hand of Martin McGuinness, formerly of the IRA and now a Sinn Fein politician, is brave for both parties. A line is being drawn and the past left behind. And hope is being celebrated. There will be cynics who see this as purely politics. There will be unforgiveness and anger from some. But there is hope too. I was impressed as I listened in to Radio 5Live this morning. Michael Gallagher lost his son and his brother in the troubles, both murdered by the IRA of one brand or another. He spoke of the positive reconciliation reflected in the handshake.The Queen too, lost her cousin, Lord Mountbatten, to an IRA bomb. Both are choosing forgiveness. Nothing can bring back those lost, nor should they ever be forgotten, but a handshake this week celebrates a hope and a future.

Today sees the start of a new blog. I've been fascinated by Christian history for many years and there are so many stories that are worth retelling. Many have gone before us and we can learn from each of them. We can be stirred by them. For some, history is a dead subject. I want to challenge people to think again. New days, new ways to communicate. The blog starts small and will grow in time. Take a look: Ralph's Christian History Blog.