Films seen in April 2018

1. October 1917 - Ten Days That Shook The World [1927] [DVD]Nikolai Popov (Actor), Boris Livanov (Actor), Grigori Aleksandrov (Director, Writer), Sergei M. Eisenstein (Director, Writer) 

Communism is violent . That is the only way its revolution comes. The proletariat are massed happy, violent brothers and sisters. Well filmed but long and boring if you dislike what is portrayed.

2. Mr Holmes [DVD] [2015]Ian McKellen (Actor), Laura Linney (Actor), Bill Condon (Director) 

Beautiful camerawork evocative of the periods. Superb performance by McKellen an a 90+ Holmes heading for dementia. Plot a little thin.

3. Hidden Figures Taraji P. Henson (Actor), Octavia Spencer (Actor), 

Well acted portrayal in the early sixties, the start of the space race. The racism and sexism left one uncomfortable viewing. Well acted. Amused to see the men in uniform of white shirts and thin ties.

Schilder Trilogy:Vol 1 "Christ in His Suffering" by Klaas Schilder (Author)

I bought the 1978 Klock and Klock reprint of this 1937 English translation. It is called a Lenten trilogy. I read the third volume this Lent and will now slowly, daily, read all three volumes and blog the highlights which strike me as forceful insights.

1. Satan at the Pulpit of the Passion considers Mat 16:23a -  But he turned and said to Peter, ^t“Get behind me, Satan! You are ^uahindrance⁶ to me.
 Just as Satan came and tempted in the wilderness after the high point of the baptism, so Satan tempts just at the high point of Peter's recognition of Jesus as the divine Christ. In both the temptation is to deflect Jesus from the way of the cross as our salvation.

2. Satan on the mountain of transfiguration
After his confession that Jesus was the Christ Peter wanted to stop him going the way of the cross. It may well be surprising that Jesus took Peter up onto the mount of transfiguration for he had behaved like Satan and he was going to be Satan again. Of course first of all the idea of making booths for these supernatural figures is it rather silly because they certainly don't need them and then there is his wanting to keep them and Jesus there. Jesus had mean heard that he was approved by God to go on the way of the cross. Here Jesus is transfigured and he receives God's approval and once again he resists the temptation of Satan which comes again through Peter. It teaches us that we need to listen to what God says about Jesus and not have our own false ideas.

3.The ministering angel among Satanic wolves.

 Mary, Jesus said  used this ointment for the day of his burial. He is the prophet speaking concerning his death in the prophecy of Isaiah which said he would make his grave  with the rich This was a rich man's ointment.

Jesus is here anointed as prophet, priest and king. His pronouncement concerning his priority over the poor is kingly. He comes first. But once again satanic opposition is their. The disciples grumble and Judas plots.

4. The last priest pointing to the last sacrificial lamb

Ciaphas was the last high priest in charge before judgement on the Jews in A.D. 70 or rather before God showed the end of the sacrificial system. The spirit of God came on him in prophecy.

5 Christ evaluated

Judas betrays for four months' wages.Exodus tells us this was the price of a slave. Zech 11 tells us this was the price of a good shepherd and it was thrown into the potter's field. So here Zechariah's prophecy was fulfilled. The good shepherd was sold and the false shepherds of Israel, priests and Sanhedrin were to be judged, not immediately but in AD70.

6. Christ's passion announced from heaven

In the transfiguration Christ must have been tempted to linger, to keep his glory and not go the way of the cross. The glory here was only borrowed glory from Moses and Elijah not the glory to come when he completed his work. Here the revelation as ever in incomplete. The glory of the two prophets is less than in heaven. They merely talk; very subdued compared with their former ministries. The father himself does not speak.

7. Christ's necessary "circumlocution"

The Lord showed his right as a king to requisition a donkey and foal. He entered Jerusalem advertising his kingship but the file crowd did not understand the nature of his kingship.

8. Christ welcomed and travestied.

Though the crowds welcomed him as king they failed to understand he was the messianic servant king. They want a political saviour. They were acclaiming him for the recent raising of Lazarus.

9.Christ relating games to universal prophecy.

The people wanted a king on their terms. But Jesus impetus and authority came not from below, from the people, but from God in fulfilment of prophecy. The people were merely impressed by His mighty miracles. The children in the temple burst out with praise incurring the disapproval of the leaders of Israel. But Jesus sees them in fulfilling Ps 8 where the son om man, made lower than the angels, is by God exalted.

10 Christ going to the room of the passover

As with the donkey we see Christ's power as king to requisition and the providence of God in fulfilling Christ's word. Borrowing a room for passover shows his poverty with nowhere to lay his head. It is likely this was the home of widow Mary mother of Mark. Jesus is the true lamb, the last passover sacrifice fulfilling the promise of salvation from death.

11. Christ constraining Satan

Judas was not the greatest of simmers. He did not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. His sin was not merely treachery but self advancement, his views of what messiah should be. Not submitting to God's will. Judas was the only disciple from Judea. Christ treated him as the gracious host would any guest. Giving him the bread was the opportunity for Judas to repent but he went Satan's way.

12. Christ not suppressing Satan.

Judas was never regenerate but his sinfulness was suppressed when with Christ. We may be regenerate yet our sinfulness is never fully repressed. Jesus telling Judas to act quickly appealed to his human responsibility. It was in his hands. He was no predestined automaton.

13. The mediator washing the feet of disown.

The context is the disciples squabbling over who was the greatest. Christ shows his love and mediator as priest who cleanses. Christ the mediator prophet tells his followers to show live like his.

14. Christ at the communion table

The first blessing was over, the second charges to the supper. It goes from looking forward to a sacrifice to looking back to one. From a lamb to the Lamb. The new sacrifice is open not hidden. The king is shown broken.

15. Christ wrestling before God against Satan.

The love of the mediator is seen when, at the supper and thoughts must be of his impending sacrifice, he shows the love that intercedes for his failing sheep. When God is active at the supper Satan responds tp Jesus intercession with an attack on his disciples. This is an attack at this particular time rather like Satan assaulting Job. Christ did not pray for the sifting to stop. God would achieve his purpose through Satan's attack even on Christ. So the mediator prays for strengthened faith. 'Each day Satan still pleads in opposition to Christ; he still tries to. name that uncertain in Heaven which is really fixed and assured. But his present efforts are as futile as the former attempts - he is trying impossible.
 The comfort is not such, however, that, because of Christ's intersession by word and deed,, we can rest upon it as we rest our heads upon a pillow. Moments of tension, crises -  th.ese remain in the world. Crises we know require sifting.
 When the winds of Satan blow against the ark, threatening to crush it sides, God's winds, we know also blow and quickly impell the vessel beyond the treachery of cliff and mountain. His love lifts the ark above danger -  we know that, and it is certain -  but it is blowing hard just the same!
 In our day the breakers of Satan's jealousy and hate blow against the church, the tiny vessel which is the church; and again we know that God will cause his winds to blow it beyond the crags and rocks. But again -; the fact is that it is blowing hard;there is a bad storm! Intercession and intervention point unerringly to the judgement, to a crisis.
 As for Simon! And as for us? What must Simon; do what shall we do?
 Simon does not know just yet. He needs a Mediator who prays for him, first and afterwards opens his eyes to see the nature of this spiritual conflict. Not until later will Simon understand.
 And we lord are no better. Afterwards not until afterwards shall we understand.
 However, since we know, since we are sure that Christ must still present his cross in heaven daily, as he intercedes for us, therefore each day is oppressive for us. We may very well count our days, for He who intercedes for us ascribes great importance to them .Intercession is inconceivable without a process as segregation. It introduces the principal of segregation into the world.... All our thinking finally rests in the prayer of Jesus.'

16. The author sings his own Psalms

After Passover the Hallel was sung, Ps 113 to 118. Consider Ps 116 and see how messianic it is. God hears the author's voice now.

17. Christ's sorrows have their own peculiar origin.

Note how Christ's emotion changes from his pastoral care in the upper room to personal distress in the garden. Many have faced death with equanimity. Why such distress? The intensity of suffering in a sinless person when tempted must be greater than sinners know. A sinner experiences death of the body only. Christ's death was body, soul and spirits he suffered divine wrath and alienation from his father. His suffering was more intense for he had the option of avoiding it. Our suffering is a slight momentary affliction. His was as if an eternal weight of judgement. The dread of the approaching arrest contributes in part to the sudden change to suffering but the major element must be that this is the start of his being deserted by the Father.

18. Christ's sorrows have their own peculiar cause.

Here Christ starts to drink the cup inaugurating the Day of the Lord.  Why did perfect love not cast out fear? This was unique far to undergo abandonment by the Father, to be deprived of his comfort. That is why an angel came to strengthen him. Facing estrangement for his father, yet he prays to him.

19. Christ's sorrows have their law of revelation

Jesus separates himself from the disciples by no more than sixty feet. They were in earshot of his prayer. he begins the suffering of isolation. This distance yet closeness pictures the separation of God in Christ and his closeness too.

20. Christ's sorrows have their own law of severity

Christ is comforted by an angel yet this is a humiliation. The Son needs a servant. The prodigal needed no help to return but Christ's sorrow is so great a helper was needed. Here is fulfilled the prediction of angels ascending and descending on the Son of man but Gethsemane is not the place of blessing like Bethel but of intensified suffering. The angel temporarily strengthens Him so that he may continue in his humiliation.

21. Christ's sorrows have their own law of sacrifice.

It is a phenomenon known to physicians that extreme suffering may cause the sweating of blood. As Dr Luke is the writer he would know that of which he writes. This first fusion of blood was due to internal spiritual suffering. On the cross external forces drew blood. On the cross Has body is sacrificed, here His soul. The life of the soul is sacrificed and poured out.

22. Christ's sorrows have their own peculiar end.

He submits to the father's will and with irony tells his disciples to remain in peaceful sleep for he suffers alone.

23. Harmony profaned: the perfect round is broken

It is emphasised that one of his own is the betrayer. A kiss was the normal way to greet a rabbi. Son of Man is his Messianic self description. The loss of Judas is acutely a sorrow for he was one the father had given Him. The significant number to twelve was broken. It is the product of the number of God, three, and the world, four. The gospel is to go into all the world by the testimony of the apostles who are the new Israel. Jacob, father of Israel had his twelve sons. Christ, head of the new Israel had twelve disciples to become apostles but one is now lost.

24. Christ's last wonder in the state of humiliation.

Messiah shows he brings jubilee when he heals the high priest's slave's ear. Caiaphas had not followed the Essenes in rejecting slavery. Malchus was a slave of Caiaphas who here is in league with the Romans to kill Messiah. Gentile rulers with Jewish subjects and even slaves conspire to kill Christ. This is a fulfilment of the mark of Cain. The murderer is protected. But this second man does what Abel could not, he brings healing to Cain. This was Christ's last miracle.

25. Christ in bonds

That this is the hour of darkness refers to the time that God's permissive will  enables Satan's hour of power. This is the hour when God holds back the angels but the devil's demons roam free. Christ actively turns the other cheek as he had taught in the Sermon on the Mount.. He obeys God who chose not to protect His Son. No angels sent, no sword to be wielded. Christ is now bound with ropes as handcuffs. Previously he always escaped threats to his life. Noe he submits for our salvation. It is the will of Satan to bind him but also God's will. he cannot be freed. he does not want to be free.

26. Christ in Isolation

He was alone for the disciples fled. The shepherd was struck and the sheep scattered as Zachariah had foretold. Yet as he prayed in John 17 he had not lost those the Father had given Him. They scattered now but were restored. Christ though was deserted by and and God. He suffered alone. Loneliness hurts. But perhaps the appearance of this unarmed young man would be a comfort? We do not know who he was. He may be Mark for only Mark records the incident and may like other gospel writers want to confess that he fled. His presence gave Jesus hope but it was dashed. Perhaps Mark's family owned the Passover room and he followed after the supper when the disciples left for the garden.

Books read Apr 2018

1. Insight Guide( Scotland)[INSIGHT GD SCOTLAND 6/E] by InsightGuides

Colourful guide to the culture and history of Scotland. A good one volume introduction for visitors. Edinburgh receives the most detailed attention, the regions much briefer. Beautiful photographs.

2. Evangelical Feminism by Wayne Grudem (Author)

I have long been convinced that egalitarianism is heresy, complementarianism orthodoxy. In two spheres God has ordained a male headship of authority, the family and the church. Here Grudem deals with the latter, not the former. He shows that female ordination is a post 1850 phenomenon, unknown for earlier centuries.The denominations that have pursued it are in line with the spirit of the age, not Scripture. Depart from inerrency and you depart from a proper understanding of leadership in the church. This who keep to it are either inerrantists or sacrementarians, the letter of which have another reason for their position. Grudem believes that this denial inerrancy is the thin end of a wedge leading to ordination of homosexuals and liberalism too. He cites plenty of evangelicals who are egalitarians but have not gone down this route. He believes their successors will. I concur. Those is this group are sometimes surprising but their wrong interpretation requires this erudite refutation. They include, Jewett, France, Marshall, et al.

3. Sin and atonement in Islam and Christianity by Iskandar Jadeed (Author)

Sin in Islam is shown to be a simpler thing than in Christian doctrine. There is no original sin inherited from Adam nor is all of man affected, the will is free. Islam's atonement is prayer and good deeds. Christianity teaches the sacrifice of the lamb of God. A helpful quiz at the end will test the reader's comprehension of the good teaching here.

4. Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave, Finding Hope in the Power of the Gospel (Resources for Changing Lives) by Edward T. Welch  (Author)

A superb resource for addicts and those dealing with them in any context. We are all addicted to sin so may all be blessed by the practical reformed theology here. Addiction is not a disease but a result of sin. The answer is Christ in his Word by His Spirit and the fellowship of believers who must befriend the addict. AA is critiqued as secular help, often the only one available, but not a Christian way. Each chapter concludes with practical advice for the addict and those seeking to help.  Excellent advice and most practical.

5. Christian Pipe-Smoking: An Introduction to Holy Incense Kindle Edition by Uri Brito (Author), Joffre Swait  (Author)

This was a fun counter-cultural read. To my surprise, while surfing through some old bookmarks I found I had this on my MacBook. What is more I had read and reviewed it thus over a year ago. 'A small booklet in praise of the present unfashionable habit of pipe smoking.I do not think it will encourage anyone to start puffing but it will give pleasure and some good quotes for afficionados.' I write this now from hospital where I have been deprived of this pleasure for a couple of weeks. But that is the thing about pipe smoking. Pick it up, put it down. Unlike cigarettes need not be an addiction. The doctors tell me to give it up completely. I will not. One thing not appreciated is that I cannot copy, cut and paste from the Kindle version. But one of those rare books which I have read more than once.

6. iPhone Book, The (Covers iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS) by Scott Kelby  (Author), Terry White  (Author)

I have recently acquired an iPhone 5 and found this a useful guide though lacking answers to some question like details on haw to use maps.

7. Sikunder Burnes: Master of the Great Game by Craig Murray  (Author)

When I started this I did not realise his first name was a transliteration of Alexander as is Kandahar and Iskander. A first rate biography of a man whose memory was maligned due to political infighting, something the author knows well first hand. I have reviewed two of his previous books and enjoyed them. he is able to make the contemporary resonates. 
   Burns was the young master of the Great Game. Had he been listened to the disastrous first Afghan War would never have happened and a glorious career ensued. But his masters in India messed up gig time.
   Burns comes across as a remarkable man though a child of his time, Scot, Freemason, promiscuous and rationalist. He was in advance of his time for race relations.
   An excellent biography and history. It would be improved by a glossary of words commonly used but not in the West. Also there is a dearth of maps so one is in the dark for the geography. Some battle maps would be of great help too.
   Some of the follies of the empire are mercilessly exposed and the immorality and brutality of the British.


8. Walking Literary London by Roger Tagholm  (Author)

I have not yet done any of these but it looks helpful and informative. 

9. Lonely Planet West Africa (Travel Guide) by Lonely Planet (Author), Ham (Author), Bewer (Author), Butler(Author), Carillet (Author), Clammer (Author), Filou (Author), Karlin(Author), Lobeck Kane (Author), Masters (Author)

I have not been there for 35 years but it seems very good on the places I know. I can see Jos has changed a great deal, commercially advanced but political decline with post 9/11 tensions. Helpful.

11. I Shall Not Die, But Live: Facing Death with Gospel Hope by Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies Douglas Taylor (Author)

Amazon's description of the author is not is own in the book so I suspect an error here.
   This is an exceptionally fine work. Started when the author was diagnosed with terminal cancer as a daily blog. To his surprised he was spared with several more years of life which he put to maximal effect here. It is not a daily account of suffering but daily meditations. They would be suitable for daily family devotions. His illness has minimal coverage but one is aware of its relentless progress. His account is particularly helpful on ealing with (drug induced) hallucinations. 
  A man rich in his treasury of reformed authors, particularly Puritans and Covenanters. Spurgeon and Rutherford are favourites, two met who knew the depths of depression and sadness as well as the heights of mountain top fellowship with Christ.
  The author loved and quotes may hymns and metrical psalms. I concur with his opinion that 18th century hymn writers are unsurpassed in excellence.
   A great book which will encourage and comfort all who read it. if you have a friend facing death, give them a copy.

12.The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner n/e (Oxford World's Classics)by James Hogg  (Author), Ian Duncan (Editor)

This is often thought to be an anti-Calvinist novel. It is not. it is anti-antinomian. Antinomians believe the elect are not subject to the law of God. That was the temptation here. if you are elect you can do as you like. The novel shows this is from the devil himself. He may come as an angel of light concealing his real nature.

13. The AA Guide to Norfolk & Suffolk by AA Publishing  (Author)

Preparing for a Norfolk holiday this is informative and has pointed me to the top places for the family to visit. One omission is where to hire a boat to explore the Broads.

14. Tartan Turban, The by John Keay  (Author)

A remarkable account of an extraordinary man. The veracity of his story is questioned by various authorities for his own memoirs were lit with the murder of Alexander Burnes in the First Afghan War. It seems that Gardner was an American educated in Ireland. He passed himself off in various guises including a deserter from British service which he was not. He explored central Asia including places no-one else had explores. In three journeys he lived as an outlaw with an armed band of companions.He was imprisoned and had numerous hair raising adventures before spending his latter years in the service of the Sikh empire when it collapsed into fratricidal conflict the war with the British. he was a colonel of Sick artillery dying in old age in India leaving a fortune never discovered by his Anglo-Indian daughter. He was guilty of cruel butchery but seems to have been almost remarkable traveller and self-taught soldier of fortune. 
    In parts most exciting and captivating. The Sikh conflicts are very detailed and might have been easier understood with more maps. Some glossary of Asian vocabularies would have helped too.

15. Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridge Footprint Focus Guide (includes Essex & The Fens) by Jo Williams (Author)

Handy guide to carry with one. Written for the verses visitor but of help to all. We shall certainly be using their advice for boat hire on the Broads.

16. War and the Death of News: Reflections of a Grade B Reporter by Martin Bell (Author)

Informative, entertaining and humorous. Bell is an accomplished journalist and a man of principle in the mould of the late Malcolm Muggeridge. he has seen convicts all over the world both as a soldier in Cyprus and a BBC journalist all over the world. He sees that military solutions do not solve political problems for often the military are inept and the politicians mistaken. His account of becoming an independent MP for one term is very funny and most revealing. The book leaves me thigh admiration for Bell's integrity. He gives a good history of radio and the development of TV news reporting. The extent of the censorship, both official and editorially is most alarming. You only get the truth the editors think you should receive. A lot of truths come out here which were hidden in their time. His Observations chapter has some laugh out loud anecdotes. I do not share his final pessimism on the death of news. Truth will out - eventually.

17. Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes by Nancy Pearcey  (Author)

An excellent book equipping Christians for the task of apologetics. The author came back to faith after visiting L'Abri Fellowship and the apologetic of Francis Schaeffer is much in evidence here. Understand the non-Christians worldview and post out its inconsistencies. She shows that all non-Christian systems involve idolatry, putting something in place of God, and dehumanising reductionism. her critique of the self-contradictory nature of such systems in very telling. She also fills Schaeffers example of the need to speak truth in love. Befriend and love you friend who you seek to win over. A book to equip Christians and give them confidence. First rate and practical.

18. The Invention of News: How the World Came to Know About Itself by Andrew Pettegree  (Author)

An informative fascinating account of how through the ages news has been disseminated. It is not a subject on thought about and takes for granted. But first of all the book considers communication through the ages. Te production of paper then printing produced the revolutions in news.  Private posts and government intervention affected the development. One news sheets were circulated then government control and censorship was inevitable. The influence of war and the reformation are recounted as is the God centred world view which sought to interpret the workings of Providence in current events.

19. Promise and Deliverance - Volume II - the Failure of Israel's Theocracy by Simon Gerrit De Graaf (Author)

In an earlier review I wrote, 'Promise and Deliverance is simply the best tool to help the reader understand the Old Testament. Writen to instruct Sunday School teachers in hermeneutics it gives consistent covenantal christocentric approach to understanding Judges to Esther plus Daniel. The main history books are harmonised.Never again will you see the Old Testament as a mere collection of moral tales. Here the living God speaks of his salvation in Christ.'  Promise and Deliverance is simply the best tool to help the reader understand the Old Testament. Writen to instruct Sunday School teachers in hermeneutics it gives consistent covenantal christocentric approach to understanding Judges to Esther plus Daniel. The main history books are harmonised.Never again will you see the Old Testament as a mere collection of moral tales. Here the living God speaks of his salvation in Christ.' This book comes in a rare category for me, ones worth reading more than once. Again I have been using this in daily personal devotions with real profit.

20. The Nation's Gospel: Spreading the Christian Faith in Britain Since the Reformation: Volume 1 (Volume 1 (1516-1791) Reformation to Revolution) by Mr Jeremy Thomas (Author)

A comprehensive survey to three centuries spread of the Christian gospel in the UK. Mainly England as expected and very little on Ireland. There is a breath of detail here which has rarely been covered it it all. What adversely affected the prosperity of the faith is described as well as its promoters. One thing would have been a help, the addition of a time line, especially one including other historic events.

21 God and Churchill: How The Great Leader’S Sense Of Divine Destiny Changed His Troubled World And Offers Hope For Ours by Jonathan Sandys  (Author)

The great man's great great grandson is one of the author's, a man of more evident faith than his noble ancestor Churchill was not open about his faith in an evangelical way but the book shows his whole life was suffused with Christian principle. He owed more of this to his nanny than to a syphilitic neglectful father and a promiscuous mother. 
   Te great man had a remarkable prescience of a great future when aged sixteen and this did influence him. He clearly thought he did not need to fear death except in God's time. 
   Churchill is compared with Hitler in terms of leadership and ethics. One committed to Christian civilisation, the other to being a megalomaniac Antichrist.  What made them both what they were is analysis. If anything I would say that Churchill's manic depression does not really receive consideration and the book seems a bit preachy at times.

Diary w/e 7 Apr 18

Sun 1 Apr

Paul preached resurrection from Luke. I cooked roast lamb. Chris Roberts refreshingly original on Joh 21, the catch of fish. Adrian presided at the Lord's Supper for the first time.

Mon 2 Apr
 DVLA eye test to see it I am fit to drive with bilateral glaucoma.
   95 to Westfield, a temple to mammon with no easy guide to find where a given store is. Waited extra long for my appointment in Apple but managed a chat with Matt, a former IPC member who works there. My iPhone battery replacement will be ready tomorrow afternoon. Central Line and E10 back.
   Wardrobes completed and filled. Well done Debbie.

Tues 3 Apr
To Westfield, temple of mammon, for my repaired iPhone then U3A on male headship. All the group are conformed to the egalitarianism of the culture but I was well supported by a church wife guest who is for male headship. Then pastoral visit.

Wed 4 Apr
Sleep lab says my obstructive sleep apnoea is complicated with the CNS kind too. The Cpap machine helps the first. no remedy for the second. Back again in a year.
30 at prayer meeting, ages 16 to 80, 12 countries represented.

Thurs 5 April

Blood test then U3A lecture by the 94 year old daughter of the commandant of the British POWs in the largest POW camp on the River Kwai. He had kept a secret diary and from it a book has recently been published. he is credited with saving the lives of many of the prisoners. First mowing of the lawn.

Fri 6 Apr

4.3Km walk with Staffy Max in Southall photographing churches, temples and mosque. As expected he went for the only other dog we met but I had him under tight leash. Met three generations at his Sikh owners.

Sat 7 Apr

Library then Saturday morning with IPC bookstall Greenford Broadway.