You’ve Been Trumped               Word on the Week          1^st June 2024.

This was the name of a film documentary made in 2011 to record the struggles between locals and Donald Trump who wanted to build a golf course in the sand dunes at Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.   The area was one of scientific interest and not all the locals were in favour of the venture.

In particular Michael Forbes, a local farmer, refused to sell his land despite various efforts of intimidation by Trump.   The New York Times critic said the film depicted Trump as an insensitive lying bully who tried to pressurise the golf course neighbours to sell their properties to him.   Trump failed.

A sequel called “You’ve Been Trumped Too” was launched in October 2016 highlighting the problems experienced by the neighbours of the Trump International Golf Links.   Trump’s lawyers threatened legal action against anyone who screened the film.   The effort to block its release failed.

Trump’s mother, Mary Ann McLeod came from Tong a village 4 miles North of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.   At the age of 18 she emigrated in 1930 to New York where she married Fred Trump, a property dealer, in 1936.   Donald was the eldest of five children.   Before she died in August 2000 she did not reckon that Donald would make a good President – wise woman!

The events of this week where Trump was found to be guilty by a 12-person jury on all 34 counts in a criminal trial.   This is the first of four cases pending.   The same stream of vitriol that he used against Michael Forbes was unleashed in a 30-minute Press briefing.   The legal gag, silencing him during the trial, had been lifted and the pent-up fury released!

As a modern Goliath he has won the admiration of a certain class of American and frightened the Republican Party so that none will stand against him (1 Samuel 17 verse 24).  He reported that $39 million (€36 million) had flooded into his campaign in the 10 hours since the jury’s verdict was read out. It emerged that searches for Trump on Google jumped by 3,200 per cent overnight!

Trump’s ability to turn defeat into victory is remarkable.   It is predicated upon his view of the truth!   His followers have shown a liking for it which has encouraged him.   His view of reality is described by Isaiah in chapter 5 verses 20/21.

Believers in the Bible as the Word of God have seen a fanatical bully in Saul of Tarsus transformed into Paul, one of the leading Apostles of Jesus Christ (Acts 9 verses 3 to 6).   Trump’s self-centeredness requires to be changed to Christ-centeredness.   God can do it.   It happened to me.   

Jackdaw                           Word on the week                                25^th May 2024.

Now with the warmer weather the hens are being fed outside.   Their trough is an old metal rain gutter stuck into half a hollow concrete block.   The hens are untidy eaters so the Jackdaws who are waiting nearby are on the alert.

As they see me approach with the bucket of hen pellets they venture close with loud “Chaks” to announce their presence.   They know that there are only a few moments of grace before I open the henhouse and the hungry hens race to the trough.

It’s no contest!   The Jackdaws withdraw to appraise the situation from the hen-run wall.    They are normally in pairs as they mate for life.  They also use the same nest year after year.  

The nest can be in a tree crevice, or an unused house chimney.    Some nest in the wall of an old building in the farmyard.   In my youth we lived near sea cliffs which were topped with layers of heavy red clay.   The clay was a favourite place for rabbits to burrow.   Any disused hole was soon taken over by Jackdaws who lost no time in furnishing it with short sticks and moss.

Occasionally we would find an injured bird and take it home for some TLC.  Their claws would catch your fingers in a vice-like grip.   Gloves were essential, although not always available, for handling them.   It is with these claws that they satisfied their predilection for shiny things.   Rings and something as large as a teaspoon could be carried off to their nest.

The Jackdaws themselves are the smallest of the crow family.    Their plumage is charcoal with a grey nape.   The forehead, chin and beak are jet-black.   Their eyes are pale and stare slightly unnervingly at you!

They come from a family of birds known for their intelligence.   The largest, the Raven, is mentioned in the Bible.   The bird was used by God to feed Elijah during his three-year exile when there was famine in the land (1 Kings 17 verses 1 to 6).  

The faithfulness of the Jackdaws to each other is but a pale reflection of the faithfulness of God in honouring all his promises (Psalm 145 verses 17 to 19).

The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.                                                    

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10 verse 13).

Marriage Joy                    Word on the Week                     18^th May 2024.

There is nothing like a family wedding to release an outpouring of wedding joy! The clans are gathering, crossing the ocean, flying in at various times all to be there for the Big Day.   Those on this side of the Atlantic feel they are in Philadelphia as a result of the stream of pre wedding photographs arriving in our smartphones!   The joy is infectious! 

Marriage is the vehicle God has provided to convert this wedding joy into a lifelong love relationship (Genesis 2 verse 24).   A new level of bonding takes place, initially to counteract loneliness (verse 18) then flowing out into a lifelong covenant of companionship.

This realisation came to me rather late.   Believe it or not it was when I was kneeling with Betty at my side in the front of the church that the momentous nature of the covenant struck home!   This was no contract dependent on the feelings of those involved as to whether it lasts or lapses.  

This was vows taken before God and in the presence of his people to love and serve one another as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for her.  These vows have a permanent ring to them embodied in the phrase “till God do us part”.   This happened, by God’s grace, and Betty’s patience, 63 years ago!

The joy of the marriage day needs to be captured for the long haul!   It cannot be bottled for the future but it can be new every day for the believer (Lamentations 3 verses 21/3).   Where Christ is in the heart the troubles of this life can be conquered at the cross where forgiveness is to be found and mutual love nourished (2 Corinthians 5 verses 17/8).

Children are gifts from God and bring their own Joy with them (Psalm 127 verses 3/5).   They make a couple into a family and are the bedrock of society.   Today the culture tends to oppose Marriage.   It promotes a promiscuous lifestyle with children being looked after by the State.  

The Church is God’s remedy to this where it proclaims Christ, his earthly life, death for repentant sinners and resurrection to eternal life.    Faith in His work changes people from being self-centred to Christ-centered maintaining the love and joy of Jesus in our culture today.

May the Joy of Jesus enter every Christian Marriage and remain there.  Put the old acrostic into effect: – J=Jesus, O=Others, Y=Yourself.   The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8 verse 10).  

Bodies as Beacons                    Word on the Week                    11^th May 2024.

The practice of body art has had a field day.   In fact, some are so adorned that there is no more space left!    Perhaps a new level of grotesque has been reached in our entry to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Our competitor, Bambie Ray Robinson, sings under the name Bambie Thug. The song, Doomsday Blues, seems to have gone through a number of versions.   The current one depends more on the performance of the singer than the power of the lyrics.

Like everything associated with Doomsday it is full of dark imagery.   Bambie takes on the guise of a witch, or as one writer has put it, she is Irelands ‘Goth, Gremlin and Goblin’.    The song makes use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ which is repeated frequently.   The voice ascends into a scream which earns it a unique spot amongst the other entries.

Eurovision has become increasingly political over the years.   Originally points were awarded based on the performance of the song.   In those days Ireland did well with songs such as ‘The Voice’ with singer Eimear Quinn “.   Then Eastern European countries joined and tended to vote for each other!

More recently the performers have gone in for political point scoring so that Robertson has her body painted with words which translate to ‘Ceasefire and Freedom’.   This referred to the Gaza war and was picked up by Social Media.  The European Broadcasting Union immediately banned it and Robertson washed it off!   However, the damage was done and the message went viral!

Robinson’s practice of neopagan witchcraft makes her well suited to sing Doomsday Blues.   The performance is heavily influenced by her acting of pagan rituals in a darkened stage with only a couple of male props as back-up.

Apparently Robinson is said to have done blood magic.  This involves using her own blood.   Her witchcraft has influenced her songs both in writing and performing them, making her somewhat unique in an event where it is hard to be original.

It couldn’t be further removed from the blood of sacrifice used in Scripture.   In the Bible the blood had to be from a perfect offering which was substituted in place of the sinner (1 Peter 1:18/9).    Jesus Christ was himself the sacrifice enabling the sinner who believes in him to go free from witchcraft and other pagan practices (1 John 3 verse 8).

The believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, a beacon of light as opposed to darkness (1 Corinthians 6 verses 19 to 20).

People as Pawns                    Word on the Week                        4^th May 2024.

‘The Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.  So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt’ (Deuteronomy 10 verses 17 -19).

Or, these days, the US of A!    Once uprooted from ‘home and hearth’, in unfamiliar surroundings and in an alien culture, the refugee is dependent, to a large extent, on the people of the land where he has sought refuge.  

If the land is Ireland and he is a recent arrival, he may be excused for wondering where the Ireland of the 100,000 welcomes has gone.  Perhaps used by the 100,000 immigrants who have arrived here to date. Male refugees were met with tents which they pitched outside the Government Immigration Offices!    Food is supplied but water and toilets they would have to search for!

And in their searching they discovered the regular charity food sources in the city including The Lighthouse in Pearse Street, a Christian run centre supplying food and clothing to the needy.   At its busiest they were coping with 500 clients daily.

The authorities moved in to the tent camp early Wednesday morning and dismantled the tents loading them onto trucks and erecting barriers to prevent a return to the site.   They transported 290 men outside Dublin to the hotel at City West where they are to remain till their case is dealt with.   Additional staff have been assigned to the International Protection Office where they are trying to cope with a backlog of applications amounting to 20,000 at present!

There has been some hostility to the refugees.   Some properties designated to house them have been destroyed by fire.   Another tactic has been to try to intimidate the politicians involved in immigration by appearing in large numbers outside their private houses.   The positions of the immigrant and the anti-immigrant have never been further apart.

It was the same story in Ephesus.   The Apostle Paul found the Jew/Gentile conflict, as of now, created divisions.   These were healed by the preaching of the Good News that Christ had made a way by his blood shed on the cross both could have their sins forgiven and be reconciled to God and each other (Ephesians 2 verses 13 – 21).

Pawns have rights!   In chess they advance in a straight line.   They can also be changed to a more versatile piece when they reach their full potential!

Coming to faith in Christ is a surer way to realise it! 

Sensory Garden              Word on the Week                27^th April 2024.

This week we finally bit the bullet!   The project had languished for a long time but this week the Men’s Shed unanimously agreed to turn our garden into a sensory one for use by the school for Autistic children.

The Kill Men’s Shed occupies a small part of the school campus.  Last year we erected a Polly Tunnel for the pupils to grow plants and vegetables.  Transforming the garden was the big one which had been put on the long finger.   It was the generous offer by a local business to deal with the site preparation that galvanized us to action!

The aim of a sensory garden is to engage with our five senses.   Plants and grasses are chosen for their abilities in the following areas.   Sight, Sound, Scent, Taste Touch.    The appropriate plants will occupy large boxes and by planting them together accentuate each of the five senses.

The garden is long and narrow.   It will have a central path winding through it.   The boxes with plants will be located on either side of the path.   They will be readily accessible to those walking along the path.   The school pupils will be encouraged to get to know the different categories.

We plan seating and a water feature.    No doubt there will be other items introduced to enhance the tranquillity of the place but these items are foundational.

Where these gardens exist they appear to live up to their reputation to bring peace and calm into the lives of those who relax in them.

The Bible has much to say about peace.  (a)Peace with God; (b)Peace with our neighbour and (c)Peace within ourselves.

(a) You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:3/4).

(b) Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  (Colossians 3:15/6)

(c) The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4 verse 7).

And for you Reader Jesus benediction where peace is not just the absence of conflict but the Hebrew word Shalom epitomized in the hymn ‘All is well with my soul.’           Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

Peter Pan Syndrome             Word on the Week                 13^th April 2024.

Peter Pan was the creation of the playwright J.M.Barrie.   It became the favourite Christmas time pantomime of yesteryear.   Peter was the little boy who, among other things, could fly.   He also had the secret of perpetual youth!

It’s the latter that is being pursued today, largely but not exclusively by women.   It manifests in the battle against ageing which can commence in the teenage years and carry on into post maturity.  

In my youth women called it a facelift.   As far as I could gather the hairdresser wrapped hot towels around the head of the client who was left to steam for some time.   More sophisticated methods developed involving cosmetic surgical operations. 

However, in the world of today tools and chemicals are employed in the task of rejuvenating faces and sundry other body parts as well.  The aim however has not changed – the desire to look one’s best (forever)!

As a result of its popularity there is a sameness emerging effectively cancelling the earlier comment, “He is the image of his father” of the infant.   Now it is beginning to look as if we are all physically related!

In the Bible Job had the same problem.    He was the victim of a wasting disease.    In the Scriptures, Job addresses God; “Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up against me beareth witness to my face” (Job 16 verse 8).

Even if there had been Botox around I doubt if Job would have used it.   Although he was reduced to skin and bone he had the believer’s true assurance.  This is how he expressed it, “I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.   And after my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh will I see God.” (Job 19 verses 25 and 26).

Indeed, Job’s faith was rewarded.   His fortunes were restored.   He made a full recovery and lived to be 140 years old – seeing his children and their children to the fourth generation (Job 42).

Our body is temporary.   It was never meant to be permanent.   For those who know and love the Lord the Apostle Paul has this news.  The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable.   Our new body ‘without spot or wrinkle’ will last forever (1Corinthians 15 verses 50 to 58).

The Peter Pan desire in us will be fulfilled through trusting in Christ our Redeemer.

A Real British Cock-up                 Word on the Week                       6^th April 2024.

It came to be known as Mr Bates v The Post Office and involved over 900 sub-postmasters (operating as franchisees) who were accused of stealing. The shortages were revealed by the new computer system which was compulsorily introduced in the 90ies. 

The ‘Horizon’ computer was designed to provide a swipe card system for payment of pensions and other benefits.   It failed and in an effort to salvage something of the £700 million costs the post Office, against the better judgement of its IT specialists decided to move all its paper based functions onto Horizon!

These Postmasters were numerate people who occupied a vital place in their community.  They were valued by their customers who knew them as honest, upright members of their town.   It was out of character to find them accused of theft, fraud and false accounting.   The Post Office decreed if they wished to retain their employment they had to replace the losses out of their own pockets.  

From 1999 to 2015 over 900 sub-posters were accused of stealing.   During that period 700 were convicted, faced disgrace in their community and were dismissed from their work.    The court cases, criminal convictions, imprisonments, loss of livelihoods and homes, debts and bankruptcies, took a heavy toll on the victims and their families, leading to stress, illness, family breakdown, and at least four suicides.

During this period a number of reports were produced but none were acted upon.  Instead the Post Office hierarchy was led by the nose by its own middle management and in-house and external legal advisors.    If they had done their job huge amounts of money, and human suffering, would have been avoided.

Out of all this human suffering Alan Bates emerged.   He first reported computer problems in 2000, was fired in 2003 and went on to launch the Justice for Sub postmasters Alliance.    The Post Office took the line that each accusation was unique and it was Bates tenacity in investigating the extent of these cases that began to reveal the true extent of the problem and create remedial action.

With the aid of a whistleblower at Horizon, makers Fugitu admitted the system could be tampered with and that daily adjustments had been made without any record of them being retained.  This brought disgrace and shame to the Japanese company. They have volunteered to assist with the astronomical compensation costs!  

Will justice ever come to the Postmasters – the weakest people in the case?  Will money compensate?   Will the public apology restore the disgraced?   What of those who died with the stigma hanging over them?

What of the lies told implying that their case was the only one?   That ‘Horizon’ could not be tampered with!    That no changes to the figures could take place during the night!    The weak management.   The ignoring of expert advice.  The case rolls on. Will anyone be brought to account?   Could it happen here?  Could I be part of it?  

 ‘If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.’ (1 John 1 verses 6 and 7).

Risen and Reigning                   Word on the Week          30^th March 2024.

Of all the expressions of Easter my least favourite would be the cartoon which adorned the front page of one of our national newspapers.    It portrayed the common man surveying a litany of disasters appearing in a news sheet and exclaiming loudly ‘Jesus Christ’.

Recognising he was blaspheming the Lord’s name the cartoonist sought to head off possible criticism by having the little bird pose the question, “Is that blasphemy?”  The worm responds by professing ignorance and claiming that the disasters listed are blasphemy.

I am sure there is a word for the recognition that what you are doing is wrong but after naively querying it, go ahead and do it anyway.   ‘Disingenuous’ comes close but in taking the Lord’s name in vain you descend to the language of the gutter.   Usually his cartoons are brilliant but even cartoonists require editorial scrutiny.   

Ironically the horrific items listed in the new sheet are similar but on a smaller scale to those listed by Jesus in the Gospels as signs of the end of the age (Matthew 24 Mark 13 Luke 21).   

The scene in Jerusalem that first Easter was set by the arrival of some Greek worshippers who were looking for Jesus.   This was a sign that the Gospel was breaking out from its Judean roots and reaching the Gentiles.   Jesus now proclaimed that the hour had come for him to be glorified by giving his life for sinners (John 12 verses 20 to 27).

The Lord’s illustration of the seed requiring to die before it could bring forth many seeds was to be applied to himself on the cross producing the seed of the Gospel.   In his death he was substituting his perfect life for the sinner making him the long awaited Saviour: –

I delivered to you, wrote the Apostle Paul, as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15 verses 3 to 4).

And on a more personal note the hymn writer Philip Bliss wrote of Jesus: –

Bearing shame and scoffing rude

In my place condemned He stood

Sealed my pardon with his blood

Hallelujah! What a Saviour.

May the real Jesus Christ be Risen and Reigning in your hearts this Easter and always.

To Be or Not to Be              Word on the Week                 23^rd March 2024.

On 20 March 2024, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Assisted Dying recommended the introduction of legalisation regulating assisted suicide and euthanasia in its majority report.   The spirit of our age, so fond of death, commended we follow Holland, Belgium and Canada on the downward path.

Once introduced, it expands like a business opportunity, removing limitations such as age or competency in its way.   Assisted suicide as a concept elevates ordinary suicide to the position of a worthwhile goal, fostering despair and banishing hope.

The very notion of euthanasia plays into the near universal feeling of the elderly that they become a burden to others.   It is a pernicious thing which feeds on the evil idea that if you were removed others would be happier.   It also diverts attention from the excellent palliative care provided by the hospice movement and others.

Co-incidentally I visited the St Bridgit’s Hospice in the Curragh on Thursday.  I was able to spend an hour with my friend who recently went there.   The experience was entirely positive.   The love and care shown by the staff as they went about their duties made the occasion a very pleasant experience for us both.

Jesus famously waited till his friend was dead before demonstrating indelibly that He was the resurrection and the life beyond the grave.   Lazarus had an experience of life on both sides of the grave proving the reality of Jesus’ power over death.  

He challenged Martha with the words; “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.   Do you believe this?” (John 11 verses 25/26).

Do you believe this?   Then tell someone.   Do not keep it to yourself!

Isaac Watt the hymn writer certainly believed it when he wrote “I’ll Praise my maker while I’ve breath” the last verse of which is; –

I’ll praise Him while He lends me breath; 

And when my voice is lost in death,

Praise shall employ my nobler powers: 

My days of praise shall ne’er be past, 

While life, and thought, and being last, 

Or immortality endures.