Category Archives: History

Some of our local Anglicans recently held a meeting in support of Palestine, at which they were told not to separate Gaza from the West Bank, because they are both part of Palestine (presumably from the River to the Sea). The report in the parish mag made no mention of Hamas, October 7, tortured hostages, purloined aid, or, as far as I can tell, history. It was all about the “occupied land” narrative of the MSM and UN.

Preparing for a podcast with a guy in the US which may happen soon, I thought I’d try to understand a little more about the first wave of the Charismatic movement (aka the second wave of Pentecostalism) over here in England. The story is rather different from, though linked to, that in America, in that it arises firstly among conscientious and godly clergymen, predominantly Anglican and often Oxbridge trained, rather than among the entrepreneurial and often narcissistic characters so prevalent in America, from John Dowie through to Benny Hinn.

Part of my low output here recently (apart from a cold, driving my car into a ditch, and dealing with a broken washing machine) is down to transcribing the second volume of the proceedings book of my Baptist Church, 131 pages of hand-written entries from 1778-1904. It is generally in pretty legible copper-plate script compared to the mere 58 pages of Volume 1, from 1653, which are largely in the crabbed handwriting of that period and considerably more difficult for a modern transcriber.

It’s astonishing how Scripture surprises you every time you read it, even after a lifetime of familiarity.

A conversation with a younger brother at church yesterday came round to Charlie Kirk and the Christian presence at the Unite the Kingdom march recently. He’s been a dissident over COVID and related deceptions, but has been asking himself recently whether Christians should be involved in politics at all, or whether the Kingdom of God ought to be seen as a completely different kind of kingdom.

No, they are relevant, honestly! I have downloaded, and am currently reading, The Great Secret of Islam by the French popular historian Odon Lafontaine (and you can too – searching on his name will take you to the free download site). The book is one attempt at an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence that the standard narrative of Islam is complete fiction, and that Islam actually began as a Messianic Jewish Christian sect linked to Arab imperialism beginning in the seventh century.

There were many different issues and moods amongst both crowds and speakers at the London Free Speech Festival yesterday. The most revolutionary voice was probably that of Elon Musk, whose message was that we probably don’t have another four years to replace this government (and the Uniparty structures around it) before too much damage has been done to personal freedoms and the economy. People in sleepy villages (like mine) need to wake up, he said, and act to bring about such change. It’s difficult to interpret that in any other way than as a call to revolution.