Yearly Archives: 2010

The Traveller’s Rest- Community Chest. (Sound of the Anvil 2011).

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Walls Come Crashing

Over the last couple of days I have had a recurring dream. Will share what I can here and leave the loose ends for any continuation. Have been praying much into 2011 and I believe this is part of God’s heart for the coming season that we are in/is upon us/is ahead of us.

In the dream I saw large Cathedrals and churches with big spires come crashing down. They became just a pile of rubble. I saw large church buildings and conference centres being demolished or forced to close. The ones that were forced to close caused a great uproar amongst the people who blamed the enemy for shutting their doors or the pressure of the humanists and the influence of Islam to excerpt pressure on the Government to withdraw funding or force closure but I heard God whisper amongst Himself that it was His doing and that it was for the good of the kingdom coming.

It was not only the churches that were crashing down or closing, I saw the closure of large shopping centres and retail outlets. There was a huge crash in the economy that caused many big branded named shops to be boarded up. The out of town or the edge of town shopping centres closed one by one and became like ghost towns that everybody bypassed. Large cinema complexes closed their doors. The multi-screen era seemed to come to an end. Huge food halls and courts ran out of food. People no longer travelled to eat and drink.

Neighbourhoods reborn

The transport network slowed down. Walking became the norm over cars and buses and trains. People would meet each other in the streets and talk and discover each other for the first time in years. Neighbourhoods were being reborn. People enjoyed conversing with one another. Laughter filled the streets instead of the sound of vehicles.

Local shops and pubs and restaurants reopened their doors and business was flourishing. New shops and cafes and bars were opened and they quickly became hubs in the community. Places of activity and relationship. People knew that buying local would cost them more but they were prepared to invest realising that the gains far outweighed the losses in revenue and relationship. It was not like a bygone day because there was a contemporary feel about everything. Young people and children filled the streets. There was a sound like a song that filled the streets and it breathed life into everybody that walked along. There was an incredible feel good factor. Community was reborn. It was like the cry of a baby at birth. There were birthing pains but the joy of holding something so unblemished and pure made up for the pain. There was a lightness that filled everybody. Angels ascended and descended and walked alongside this wonder. Ministering angels. Love filled the air in a powerful way. Then twice I woke up.

A New Community

Praying about this I feel that God is saying that He is not looking for a community church but a church that will be sown into community. No longer visible in many ways as church, no longer trying to build big and influential, but dying to become a seed in the ground of where we live. He wants to restore heart into many communities that are broken. He wants to restore relationship above commerce and entertainment. He wants neighbours to be neighbours once again. It is time for the new community of heart that is in the chest of our God bursting and ready to get out. And it should be in us too. 2011 will be the year to invest in community and neighbourhood. It will cost but the rewards for the places where we live will far outweigh what we have sown into the ground.

Eschatology and the environment #1

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I recently gave an interview for a German magazine, The Race, about the issue of eschatology and environmental care. There were a total of 7 questions: here is the first one. Very topical with the rise of a significantly high profile move by some (fundamentalist Christians) against the ‘green beast’. (Click on question to see the video.)

Eschatology and Environment #1 on Vimeo.

good-byes

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I am rushed and busy and have too much to do before I leave. Always. Sempre.

People wish me well,  they give me gifts, addresses and emails are exchanged. It is difficult to leave Italy.

Meanwhile I must look ahead. All the applications for professor positions in Canada  are due in the next month. No time to write great cover letters. God will have to open the way.

Good news, the weather forecasts appear to agree that it will be good to fly in Europe and out of Europe on the 29th and 30th. Phew. I did not want to get fog bound in Milan. So I have hopes that the trip will be smooth and easy.

For now, I whirl around packing up my household, finishing tasks, saying good-byes to one and all. And I suspect, once on the plane, I will indeed cry myself back to Canada.

c.

The Traveller’s Rest- Shall We Take A Trip Down Memory Lane?

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All about journey and discovery.

As I have been meditating on the account of the birth of Christ I have been discovering more and more how vital journey is. Without it there would be no story or narrative. Without it there would be no miraculous, no supernatural, no Angels. Maybe that is why we were told  as we go these signs shall follow, it is about movement, journeys, trips, stumbling into grace. The Gospel accounts are about sojourners they are not about settlers. They are about footsteps into the unknown, new paths. Christianity cannot exist without movement. The roots are in movement, whether that be in Abraham, Jacob, Moses or Jesus, Peter and Paul. They were travellers. They were called to have shallow roots but deep relationships. They had tents and not brick houses. I think Paul noted about the apostolic and prophetic being foundational to the church because they are ever shifting and moving. Unpredictable and radical. Roots and foundations that are not tied down but fly with the wind, wherever it takes them. Wherever I lay my hat is my home. Wherever my feet tread is Holy ground. It is all about journey and discovery.

A Spaceman Came a Travelling.

The birth is all about the journey of the Word. Christ taking on flesh. Shifting from His massive dwelling place of the heaven-lies to the confines of flesh. But that flesh then has parents that carry Him. Carry Him in the womb to Bethlehem. Carried into safety in Egypt. Carried back to his home with Mary and Joseph the carpenter. Then His legs carry Him into the temple. They carry Him into the wilderness. They carry Him into community to find co-travellers. Fishermen, tax collectors, rebels. They carry Him to the sick, the broken, the dispossessed. They carry Him to walk on water, feed the crowds and finally to the cross. But to all eternal travellers death has no power to stop journey. The journey continues forever.

Mary travels to visit the expectant Elizabeth. Joseph travels to the city with his expectant wife. The shepherds journey from a field because they have had an Angelic encounter. The astrologers travel because they have seen something in the stars. These journeys are journeys of encounter, wonder, awe, supernatural activity, dreams, gifts, Angels singing. Each journey reveals the heart of God for those on the edges of society. The lowly shepherds, the foreign astrologers. They shepherds were looking for nothing and found treasure. The astrologers were seeking the king of the stars, the spacemen who came a travelling, and they gave a treasure. Everyone realising that this ball of flesh was a traveller in disguise. The one. The Saviour of all mankind.

The Journey Continues

In us the journey continues. Where will it take us? What will we discover? Will we recognise the Word in a ball of flesh? Do we know when we have stumbled upon Him? Because He still moves. He still sojourns. He is still a traveller. Moving, shifting, breathing. What about today, have we seen Him where we did not expect to? All we need to do is keep journeying. Be the travellers He has called us to be and every day we will stumble into signs of grace. The signs will follow us. Much will be revealed. And even what remains hidden will hold us and sustain us for another step. In this season determine to not settle. Move, shift, journey, take a trip. And like those down memory lane we might just be surprised what we find laying in a bed of straw.

Work and value

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Or maybe better: ‘What is work?’

‘If anyone is not willing to work, let that person not eat’ is something we read (2 Thess. 3:10). Strong words. So a little discussion this morning with our guests from Inverness (Paul & Kate) about work and being able to justify one’s existence. A few observations:

  • There is not a necessary connection between ‘work and earn money’; but ‘work and eat’.
  • So it is probably possible to be a worker and yet not earn. Given that there are many voluntary scenarios this is an obvious given, but can we push this even further?
  • Is it possible to have earned money but not have worked?

Recently Gayle discovered that the third most lucrative trade currently seems to be that of human trafficking where money is gained (I cannot really say ‘earned’). Are we willing to call that work? I hope not, in spite of the hours involved in such a trade.

So we press deeper for what is work, and it must connect in some way with a contribution to creation – for the original context of work was that: ‘The Lord God took Adam and put them in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it’ (Gen. 2:6). Work and stewarding / making a contribution to creation are intrinsically linked.

Now for me that makes things interesting when we think of work, and maybe also with respect to the ‘reward’ for work. Are some jobs not work? And where there are people who are termed ‘unemployed’ (20% in Spain of the work force for example) but if they are making a difference to the community should they be considered to be working and to be rewarded for their work?

Reminds me of the African perspective we heard of in Nigeria: creation wealth and artificial wealth.

Artificial wealth will tend to buy us food for the table, so maybe we need to see more artificial wealth go into the hands of those who are the true workers – whether employed or unemployed.

So I bless the worker today who cleans up the dog crap, sweeps the square, mows the grass and makes the area outside our apartment a better place to live. Shame only a small percentage of artificial wealth goes his way in comparison to what I heard this week went to a (very talented) director for an advertising project.

In an era that is unfolding of crises in the employment realm and over pensions (living longer, less people earning to pay for those who retire) maybe we need a redefinition of work, and a revaluation of rewards.

The place of first things

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As I continue to take my leave of Piacenza I am reminded of a few things. These come in no particularly order.

Piacenza was always the preferred crossing point of the Po River from northern Italy to the middle and south. That is part of the reason the Romans located the city here.  It meant the city was on the front line, the frontier, of various jurisdictions for many years. Romans advanced north and pushed out local tribes. Romans retreated during the decline of the empire and tribes from Eastern Europe pushed in. The French, Spanish, and Austrian empires fought back and forth over the city. Factions rode through and factions rode out. It has a long and contentious history. It was also the site of the first bridge across the Po River. Interestingly the bridge came down in a flood the spring before I arrived in 2009. The new bridge, the replacement is due to be completed any minute and was inaugurated on Saturday.

Piacenza was also the site where the Pope, if not declared, then intimated the call for the first crusade at a council of 30,000 who met here. Since the city could not have even had 30,000 people in it at that point I guess once the hostels were full, the rest of them had to camp out.

Piacenza did have lots of hostels during the Middle Ages and over 50 churches. Being that primary crossing point for the Po meant that it was a major city on the Via Francigena, the pilgrim route to Rome and Jerusalem from northern Europe.

I was reminded today by a display in the local library that Piacenza is considered the primogenita of Italy (and was awarded a medal with that declaration), that is, the first born of the nation-state we know as Italy. There have long been various attempts to unify the peninsula but finally in the mid-1800’s the Savoy dynasty out of Turin and the piedmont made a strong effort. This would eventually mean battle action as other powers such as the Austrians had long held power in parts of Italy. In April 1848 Piacenza unanimously voted to join with the piedmont to become the genesis of the Italian state. The newspaper at the time declared ‘Piacenza e libera’, Piacenza is free (the daily newspaper today is called ‘Libertad’).  Italy finally became a state (much to the disgust of the Pope of the day) in 1861 and celebrates its 150th year in 2011. Can’t wait to see what God has in store for it. . . more shaking maybe.

And shaking leads me to another topic. On Tuesday I travelled to Mantua, a city about 100 km east of Piacenza along the Po. It was a cold and foggy day but I’m glad I went. However, the trip back was difficult. The electricity had gone out in Cremona just at (and only at) the track lines. Really. So while the station and city had lights and power, no trains could go through. It made for an epic 5 hour journey (what should have been under 2 hours) and involved changing trains in the dark in wee deserted stations, depending upon strangers to translate the confused explanations and plans of conductors, often at variance with one another, and conversations with fellow stranded travelers. At one point a fellow apologised to me for Italy, this is how Italy works he said, it is more like Africa than Europe. That is a saying I’ve heard before meant to explain and apologise for the lack of efficient functioning of almost any system here.

But it reminded me that indeed Italy is part of Africa and as well as  Europe. In terms of tectonic plates part of Italy is an appendage that sticks out of the Africa plate and part is of the Eurasian plate. It is also the place where 3 plates come together and grind together – the African plate, the European/Asian plate and the Anatolian plate (the Middle East). The movement of the plates means that  in Italy the mountains are being made low, that is the Apennines are subsiding. That is what causes the earthquakes here.

I’ll let others interpret the meaning of all these things – I’ve got packing and praying to do. Yes, much prayer as the weather has brought travel chaos to Europe. I will take a train to Milan on Dec 29th (no problems please) and then fly from Milan to Gatwick. On the 30th I will fly Gatwick to Toronto. Okay, going through the UK seemed a good idea in the fall. So much prayer. . .

C.

Honouring parents

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A lady at 90 smiling. A good photograph to capture a life. Friday night my mother passed away. Born in 1920 in Westray, Orkney she had a full life. Had to be full, mother to 8 children: 7 boys and 1 girl.

I am very grateful for the upbringing I was given. I am most grateful for the faith that she and my dad had. Interesting that much of what I have pursued they (probably) could not understand. I find that too with some I walked with in the past decades. Singing from the same hymn sheet for a while and then… That is the mystery of following Jesus. We have to follow him with conviction, and my convictions are not someone else’s.

A few nights ago I had a dream. In it Gayle and I were working into a university. Then came 2 well-respected people with the highest level of integrity who are in the church construct setting. They said to me – it must be difficult when you are with us for you to fit in. You really should not be fitting in, and need to get on with what you are doing.

That is liberating. Following Jesus will take us in different directions.

Honouring parents (or those we respect who have opened up pathways) sometimes means we will go in a direction that is not understood. I am grateful that my parents did not disapprove but helped me discover values that I had to work out what they meant for my life.

I hope I have done a little bit of that for Ben and Jude. (I can call them that now in total freedom. My mother had a thing about not shortening names. Funny that she was Catherine but always called herself Kitty!! Now maybe that’s where some of my idiosyncracies come from?) I also hope that wherever anyone has been touched through my life that they have felt the freedom to be more crazy for Jesus than I have been.

So for me. It is time to say good-bye to my mum, and to welcome in another day.

Maybe a couple of reminisces to finish. My full name is James Martin Scott. One of the last times I saw my mother, she asked me ‘what does the J stand for?’ I said ‘James’. She repied, ‘No that’s not right, you should have been called John, so that can’t be right.’ (Her mind was sharp but there were just a few details she was forgetting in the last months, or maybe when I left the room she had a good laugh to herself, saying ‘bet he thinks I’m losing it’, having conned me into thinking she had forgotten.)

A few days ago someone (Fiona Cowan) wrote me that she sat with my mum for a short while. She wrote:

She was completely with it but confined to bed. When I asked her how she was she just said “I am cheust asking the LORD tae tak me home tae be wae himself, otherwise I am gey tired.” Not a bad attitude really. She could teach us a thing or two I expect.

(For the linguists, I don’t think google translate will really help you with that.)

The Traveller’s Rest- Are we the continued Incarnation?

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Word made flesh

I am always amazed at how we try and reverse the great miracle of Incarnation, that the Word became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us. We as flesh are always trying to become the word and dwell in the heavens, but life in and through Christ is a different way. It is the way of example. It is the picture of one who divested His Godhead and took on the form of man. It says He made Himself nothing, being made in human likeness. He became fleshly so that by relating to Him we could one day be exalted by Gods to the highest place, but not until we have become Incarnation ourselves, the Word becoming flesh. Dwelling amongst men. Walking in the dirt of humanity, carrying the light of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. But being human.

The Great Escape Clause

The whole of Christianity seems to be about getting out of here. Getting our insurance for salvation in heaven in the sky where everything will be okay. Then as quickly as we can we want to get out of here. We want to take on our heavenly bodies. We want to become immortality. We want to be in the place where there is no sorrow or pain etc. Come to Jesus and get the assurance of salvation. All of church is about connecting with heaven and touching heaven. And being eternal beings. The whole shindig is about where we are going to and not about where we are. How does this connect with the world in which we live? Do we care about the world in which we live, or are we just concerned about personal salvation and getting ourselves right with God to book our mansion in heaven that He is preparing for us? Where is the Incarnation today? Who will make themselves nothing and be made in human likeness to see a world touched, loved and transformed? If we do not do it no one will.

Appearance as a man

We need to appear to the earth as human. We need to be human and dancer. We need to reveal the eternal in flesh, not hide the flesh in the eternal. We need to laugh, cry, sing, touch, talk, smile, hurt, live, like any other person. But carry treasure inside this jar of clay. Some will stumble over the treasure in our lives, others will come looking for it and find it in us, others will just walk by and not care about treasure, but we would have touched earth, touched man, been the Incarnation in the world today. The Word carried in flesh and dwelling amongst them. There is no shame in our flesh. Our flesh is the vessel that carries so much. It is time to be the Word in our flesh today.

Ci vediamo

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Ci vediamo is the informal, friendly way of saying good-bye. It means ‘we see each other’. I have begun to say ‘ci vediamo’ to Piacenza. It has been difficult to consider leaving. I have really enjoyed the life here despite health issues, language issues and all the other struggles that go with landing in a new territory.

On Saturday I went to sit in the ancient basilica dedicated to the 4th century patron saint of Piacenza, San Antonino. I went to hear a polyphonic choir sing Christmas songs. They were in Italian so unless it was a tune I knew I was lost. But the language was made for song and it did not matter much to me. They sang Silent Night almost triumphantly and it was wonderful. They followed with O come all ye Faithful and I wanted to cry. We were sent out to a rousing 14th century carol.

As I sat there in the cold, cold but wonderfully acoustic basilica I thought about what it means to be attached to a place. Surely it includes attachment to the people in that place, to the social networks and relationships present, and to the long history of people living in the land. I reflected on how the contemporary evangelical church lacks any real understanding of place and of relationships. I think the North American church for the most part reflects North American society with the great gaping hole of lost place and lost relationships. The church may try but until the culture is changed it is difficult to really overcome the abyss of alienation that rules modern consumer culture. When everyone drives to church from wherever they live because they like that one – well, what kind of community do you really have?

One truth about relationships came home to me today. I was cruising several cities on Wikipedia to see where I will go tomorrow for one last outing. I checked the populations and then the densities of these Italian cities. Then on a whim I checked the density of Mississauga where I will return at the end of December. There is no comparison. These cities are many, many times denser than Mississauga. That means that people are simply in closer physical proximity to one another. And we know that the way the brain works that touch is critical to creating emotional bonds. Distance is difficult to bridge in terms of real intimate relationships. So put everyone in cars, give them separate houses on medium to large yards to live in and you lose the vital connection to one another and to place. And that ultimately creates disdain for both.

Earlier today I was at the archive and wanted to start into a collection that is new to me. That is always a difficult moment. I have to negotiate the index for the archive, then possibly a new index that is different and supersedes the older one. Then that has to be translated into the means by which the archival workers have shelved things and know the collection. Today I went forward to make my ‘domanda’ for the new collection. It turned out I had used the old index numbers (provided earlier by one of the workers). That had to be translated through 2 re-organizations of the collection to get to the right numbers that would gain me the archival documents. As they worked to sort me out I started laughing. And they joined in. It is all so convoluted and terribly Italian and we all know it makes everything more difficult than it has to be but that is the way things are here. So we all had a laugh together.

As I wandered home tonight from a bit of shopping I decided I had to treat myself to one of the deserts made by my beloved local baker (the guy from France). I went into the shop and told him what I wanted. He had just removed hot baguettes from the wood oven. He laid one on the counter and indicated it was for me. I reached my arm around the display case and gave it a wee feel – so lovely and warm. I said ‘yes’ I would take the baguette too. Then he rang up the charge for the pastries and handed the warm baguette to me, free. He often gives me these kinds of treats and I try to reciprocate by shopping there and by telling friends to shop there.

Do you see what I am leaving?  It is so hard.

C.

Stages 5 and 6

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The Journey Outward Again: Stage Five and Stage Six

Stage 5 is
“the journey outward” where our “focus is outward, but from a new, grounded centre of ourselves” (133). At this stage, “we surrender to God’s will to fully direct our lives, but with our eyes wide open, aware but unafraid of the consequences” (133). We possess a new-found confidence that God loves us fully, just as we are. “There is a human tendency to think that if God really knew us God would not love us… At stage 5 we grow into the full awareness that God truly loves us even though we are never fully whole. God loves us in our humanness” (134).

With newfound inward resources, we “venture outside our self-interests to others” (133). We are weak, but whole. Aware of our faults, we are confident that God will work through us.

Wholeness looks a lot like weakness at this stage. Wholeness does not make us stronger; it allows God to work through our weaknesses. Wholeness means being very aware of our faults but not letting them trip us… God can use us most in our brokenness, a truth that was very hard to accept until the Wall experience. (135)

To those still at earlier stages, we appear impractical, inefficient, and out of touch.

Frequently, we appear to be impractical and out of touch with reality. The way the world functions around us, people who are other directed, whole, selfless, and called by God are counterculture. When we love people despite their having failed miserably in our society for whatever reason, we are called naïve; when we stay with the grieving, we are considered caretakers; when we give money away, we are considered poor managers; when we yield, we are considered noncompetitive; when we let go, we are considered weak. We just do not fit with the realistic expectations of a world that is out to be productive and to win. Even the productive Christians at earlier stages in the journey think we at stage 5 have lost our edge.

At stage 5 we are not as oriented toward productivity with outward signs or products. Consequently, we appear less productive and slightly isolated. We are in fact quite active. But we have a tendency to do things behind the scenes or on a one-to-one basis. We never realize that we are hardly noticed. This style can be very confusing and even frustrating for those who want us to be leaders in the more traditional way. (144-145)

Stage 6 is
“the life of love”
where God’s love is demonstrated through us “to others in the world more clearly and consistently than we ever thought possible” (152). By losing ourselves, we find ourselves. God’s presence is experienced in all relationships.

Our times alone with God come during the quiet times away as well as in the everyday, unceasing conversations. We have little ambition for being well known, rich, successful, noteworthy, goal-oriented, or “spiritual”… We are Spirit-filled but in a quiet, unassuming way. (153)

We love with great compassion modeled after God’s love. We live with less and delight in doing menial tasks.

At stage 6 we can reach far beyond our own capacity and love our fellow human beings with deep compassion, because we know that all come from and are loved by God. As Jesus was compassionate even in Gethsemane, at his trial, and on the cross, so we are compassionate under extreme hardship.

At stage 6 we become aware that the more of God we have, the less of everything else we need. We do not renounce material possession. We simply learn to need them less; we become detached from things and people as props or bolstering devices.

We are full of surprises because we are so free, so full of God, and so whole. We can say or do preposterous things because we are not afraid of death. We can deliberately give up our lives, materially, physically, mentally, and emotionally for the service of others without feeling afraid of the deep loss. (154-155, 156)

Our expression of love is selfless rather than needy. We love without the need to be loved in return. We passionately love others in a dispassionate (disinterested, detached) way. We are not egocentric (self-centred), but theocentric (God-centred), christocentric (Christ-centred), and eccentric (others-centred). We love others, not for our sake, but for their own sake; not with our goodness in mind, but with their goodness in mind.

Having shed the false self – a self rooted in possessions, accomplishments, and human acceptance – we embrace our true self, that of being eternally and fully loved by God.

Cities and gifts

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I am reworking some of the material that was in Impacting the City and will be publishing it here for downloading. My plans are to:

  • First volume as a pdf file on Towards Transformation is ready for downloading. This has been put on the web chapter by chapter over the past few months. Here is the link to all the chapters in one whole publication.
  • Now to get the second volume up chapter by chapter. This being on the city gifting.
  • Then to begin to write on the Gates of the City, the places of entry and shaping of the culture.

So with the three ‘volumes’ I hope there will be a resource as we engage with the challenge of transformation.

So Chapter 1: an introduction to an understanding of City Types and why that is relevant is here for downloading.

Friday – time to be serious

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Well what title is ever right for a blog? It’s Friday and we are about to go out to eat with a couple who are doctors… I’ve just replaced four light bulbs with low wattage ones, we’ve written out some Christmas cards. So not too heavy and serious. BUT…

Christendom
I have just done a couple of videos on a different future. Christendom was birthed in Europe, gave rise to the myth of the Christian nation, undergirded so much of the Imperial spirit that ran through the British (and other) empires. Yes good was done, but the overall effect can be seen today on the landscape of Europe. Christendom is not the same as passionate followers of Christ working to see society transformed. The former can lead to a cathedral being placed on a site previously occupied by a mosque (here in Palma, for example), following on from a conquest for Christianity where people are strongly encouraged to convert or face the consequences. One of which was to becoming a factor in reducing the life expectancy of society!

I am glad christendom is over. But we are now in the situation that is pictured in Mark 5. A sick woman with no natural hope and impoverished. 12 years ago it all began to go wrong for her.

And in that chapter there is a parallel story. A young girl who has held out the hope for the future. She has done so for 12 years. But…

No I do not see the hope for the future simply coming from the places where Christianity has been making a visible impact these past decades. Why? Because we exported Christendom as the Gospel container. The seed is good. But we will increasingly see this decade reveal that the container has corrupted how the seed has grown. The poverty is visible in Europe, not so visible elsewhere yet. That will come. And then… the stories: health to the woman and life to the girl.

The theme above has been one of my main focuses (or is the plural foci?) for the past 10 years. It fuels my vision and my hope.

Banks
So much changed in the 90s. Post-Depression (USA) the banks were reigned in. However, there has been a process that has been marching forward since that time. Such concepts as ‘leverage’ means that the banks do not have the money they say they have. It simply does not exist. It operates on debt. Now what kind of principle is that when it goes to the levels it has?

In the US, banks gave massive donations to both political parties and in return regulations were slackened. [In the last campaign Goldman Sachs gave to both Obama and McCain. To make everything a level playing field or to make sure that whoever entered the White House owed them something in return?] In Britain, the City threatened to simply move offshore. In the last election I heard Brown in a TV debate say to the other two candidates – Cameron and Clegg – that they did not understand that to take certain action would simply mean the banks would up and move. This is not the spirit of serving a community, but using it, and the intimidation has been effective. And gambling with peoples’ cash is what has taken place.

Alistair Darling, the previous Chancellor, spoke recently that in the economic crisis a director of one of the major UK banks said that from now on they did not plan to take risks with things ‘they did not understand.’ What were they doing before? That bank is nationalised today.

Investments made without investigation. I was looking at Parmalet yesterday. In bankruptcy now, but smart bankers were saying invest in it! Lehman Brothers claimed it had a net worth of $26 billion when it actually had a hole in its balance sheet of close to $200 billion. [And for those who have followed the signs God gave with dates. 9-11, seven years on is when the news came out about Lehman Brothers.]

So Christendom is coming down. If religion is not confronted then no other power can be effectively touched. This is the trajectory I see through Luke to Jerusalem so that Paul can get to Rome.

Oh and here. A little project currently. Michael Schiffmann told me of one major spiritual power over the island being piracy that currently worked through the banks. A few weeks ago during a sleepless phase I discovered that someone was termed the ‘last pirate of the Mediterranean’, and in the recent stress tests on European banks, the one he founded came out on top. A project. I am very provoked. Spiritual mappers in London knew that if there was something to shift then Barings bank was a key. Something happened after that.

I am glad that Jesus and the Gospel is not silent about society.