Doctor Who: The Stolen Earth (SPOILERS)

So we near Journey's End:

If you missed the episode... what do you think you are doing reading this article???? Follow this link if you need to see the episode, or want a recap. Sorry folks I think the BBC iPlayer will only work in the UK.

I really loved the way we were thrown straight into tonight's episode.... and with a relentless pace that just carried right on through to the dying moments.

I also loved the welcome return of so many old faces. You get the impression from all that went on, that we only have half the pieces to the puzzle... that there's a lot going on we don't even know about yet.

I get the impression that next week's finale is either going to be very very good... or very very poor. It obviously looks like there is going to be a regeneration... but as Mark Twain said: "Never make predictions... especially about the future". The ending interrupted the regeneration process, which left us in the annoying position of having a triple cliffhanger.

Rumours are rife... not least because David Tennant is reportedly staying on for at least four specials. Some have speculated that the regeneration will be botched or different. One outlandish theory has suggested that the energy from regeneration hits the Doctor's severed hand (kept in a jar by the TARDIS console), and causes it to grow a new 10th Doctor along with whoever emerges from the proper regeneration. You can see the start of the regeneration sequence in the clip below:

My suspicion is that whatever happens, the device that Martha holds... the Osterhagen key, will be some kind of Deus Ex Machina... something that will alter the events that lead to this regeneration being altered. However, I hope in some ways that I am wrong... because that would make it all too similar to last years conclusion... and Doctor Who is not Dallas. It shouldn't rely on everything always being... just a dream. By the way "Osterhagen" is an anagram of among other things, the phrase "Earth's Gone".

For an atheist, Russell T Davies seems to explore the idea of sacrifice and resurrection quite a lot... he's done it a lot in Doctor Who, as you can probably tell from other episodes I've blogged about. Let's see where next week takes us.

So the big questions then:

1. What is going to happen with this regeneration?
   
   
2. Will Sarah Jane, Ianto and/or Gwen survive?
   
   
3. Just who or what is inside the Supreme Dalek?
   
   
4. What other effects has Caan's trip to the timelocked "Time War" had?
   
   
5. What is the Osterhagen Key and what will happen if it is used?
   
   
6. Is someone going to make a supreme sacrifice (certainly seems possible given the title)?
   
   and...
   
   
7. Most importantly all... did anyone try and contact the Doctor using 07700 900461?
   

*UPDATE* as of Sunday 29th May

Well, here's the trailer for the final specially lengthened episode... but it doesn't really give much away:

If you think you know what is going to happen,I'd love to hear your comments.

A Time To Be Meek And A Time To Be Bold

I read a very interesting story about Alexander the Great in my Bible notes the other day.

Apparently Alexander prided himself on allowing his subjects to visit him and make requests. On one such occasion, a pauper came to him to make a request... nothing unusual in that. However this man didn't just hold his hand out for alms, he stepped forward with a shopping list that included farmland, a dowry for his daughter and a scholarly education for is son. The court waited nervously... surely this man would be executed... or at the very least, thrown in jail for showing such impertinence.

However, that is not what happened. According to the tale, Alexander acceded to every wish. After the beggar jubilantly left the palace, Alexander's servants began to express their shock at what had transpired. When asked why he had acted as he did, Alexander shrugged it off by saying "I get weary of these people who come to see me in their shoals asking for a gold piece. That man treated me like a king. He asked big!"

We can come to God in much the same way... but hold on... didn't Jesus say something quite different? He once told a parable:

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Luke 8:10-14

I don't think these stories are contradictory... even though one is biblical and the other is not.

You see... Alexander's beggar wasn't exalting himself; he was recognising the exalted nature of his king.

The crucial thing to remember whenever we pray, is that we should be centring our thoughts and petitions on God... and not ourselves. When we approach God knowing our need of forgiveness, we must not become obsessed with our failings to the point that we refuse to receive God's mercy. The tax collector knew how bad he was... but he also knew the only person who could change that situation was God... so that is who his prayer focused on.

You see in his own way, the tax collector was very bold. He knew his failings, he knew the penalty of his failings.... yet he went before God anyway. He didn't wallow in self pity (for this in the end just leads to a never ending cycle of repeating the same mistakes - take that from someone writing, who has had experience in such things).

Unlike Alexander's beggar, the tax collector didn't seem to expect anything... he just hoped God would hear him and grant mercy.

Maybe you are reading this and you feel you are in the same position. How can God forgive you for what you have done? Do you prefer to hide it all away and just take it for granted that you are doomed?

There is hope.

God sees the genuine nature within our hearts. If we sincerely regret what we have done, we can have confidence that he will forgive us.

We must be meek enough to realise what we have done is wrong... and bold enough not to withhold ourselves from God... we must have the courage to come forward and ask forgiveness. It needn't be in front of an altar...you can do it just as well in the privacy of your bedroom.

And when we come to God with petitions... if he is at the centre of our requests, we can have confidence in his power to provide. We forget too easily that God is the ultimate resource. We prefer instead to struggle on in our own vain strength.

Yet as Paul prayed when writing to the Church at Ephesus... God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine.

Jesus himself told his disciples that God responds to shameless audacity (as long as it is not selfish), that he longs to give us good things, and yet like the prodigal son we squirm around in the mud looking for pig slop.... when if we only lifted our eyes... there lies a banquet for us.

God did not put a Spirit of timidity within us. I am utterly convinced that big things are coming in this generation... but we need to wise up, we need to wake up. We need to be prepared to ask for God's empowerment if we we truly want to be a part of hi wondrous plan.

We need to get real. We need to stop being selfish and doing things in our own strength... we need to remember who we work for and that we can ask boldly for his power to be at work in us.

Lets conclude with the words of John Wesley, from his hymn And Can It Be That I Should Gain? In the final verse:

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Widget... Widget.... A Widget I Have Got.

Just a brief pause in the proceedings to tell you about a new networking widget I've attached to my blog.

I stumbled upon SezWho purely by accident... although, I actually wander who stumbled upon who... because I honestly don't recall requesting a sign up email.

I think what really impresses me about the SezWho tool, is that it enables you - the discerning reader, to go through all my posts and rate them. It also allows everyone - reader and author alike, to rate comments. So even people who haven't signed up... gradually get rated for their contributions on the web.

It looks like the intention is to allow people who blog on multiple sites... or who have a multi-faceted online presence with profiles on a wide selection of social media, to gradually have their entire input on the Internet evaluated by everyone in their web communities.

I'd certainly like to see this expand to include things like Flixster and Last.fm, if it does not already do so.

So take a gander at the stars at the bottom of my posts and if you like them (or loathe them for that matter), let me know by rating me. As I'm all set up now, you can rate people who have left me comments as well.

I really encourage you to get the widget, It's a really good thing to be able to support/encourage one another's input...and this is one excellent way which it is possible.

Divine Right? Divine Wrong!

The intolerable Robert Mugabe has spouted off again in another of his maniacal rants:

"Only God who appointed me will remove me - not the MDC, not the British."

Claiming divine endorsement is a very dangerous game as history frequently demonstrates. It is the ultimate stance of the vain, the proud and the haughty... and their rhetoric usually brings about their downfall.

Charles I of England made the same mistake... and soon afterwards found his head in a basket.

I won't deny that sometimes God allows bad, even despicable people to rise to positions of power in a nation. However, do not mistake that in any way with the concept of divine endorsement... it is far from the same. In the Bible we see that God allows various civilizations and characters to have power or influence over and/or against his own people: Pharaoh, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome. Is this because God is weak and unable to defend his people?

No.

God in his wisdom used each of those people/powers in his own time to achieve a certain part of his plan. Sometimes to bring about circumstances where he come demonstrate his own power, sometimes to discipline in order to bring his people to repentance.

So Mugabe may think he has God given power, but those who claim to be masters only find themselves to be pawns in a much bigger game... and the same God who granted him power can take it away just as swiftly.

Mugabe may claim to be God appointed, he may claim to be a good Roman Catholic... but I warn him and those who think like him in the most severe terms:

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

Galatians 5:19-22

Whatever in his on mind, he calls himself, his nature sets him out as an apostate... for actions speak louder than words.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is considering pulling out of the election run off due to the fact that Mugabe won't even step down should he lose... and also on account of the abysmal violence and atrocities being carried out by Mugabe's henchmen.. The latest report from Amnesty.org states:

"Amnesty International revealed on Thursday that 12 bodies have been found in various areas of Zimbabwe. Most of the victims appear to have been tortured to death by their abductors.

They were allegedly abducted by ZANU-PF supporters who, in some instances, were accompanied by armed men believed to be government agents.

Four of the victims were reportedly abducted yesterday from the home of Mr Chipiyo, an MDC councillor-elect in Chitungwiza by ZANU-PF youths. One of the victims is Archford Chipiyo the son of the MDC councillor-elect.

Five bodies were found in Masvingo province, while two were found in Gokwe district in the Midlands province and one was found dumped in Harare.

Another victim died in Harare today in hospital of injuries sustained from the beatings by ZANU-PF youths when she attended a funeral of a relative in Buhera."

And this is merely the latest in a long line of intimidation, violence and rape.

It must be stopped.

The time for ending the cycle of political weak ineffectualism as demonstrated by Zimbabwe's neighbours and the wider world, is overdue. South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia... your neighbour needs you to be strong for them. UN sanctions are not enough... we cannot pretend this situation will just dissolve while Western powers continue to wage wars of their own making.

People are suffering, people are dying.

When Goliath stood up and cast his immense shadow over the Israelite army in the valley of Elah, the warriors of an entire nation quaked with fear. They saw a gargantuan killing machine ready to chew them up and spit them out. They looked in his eyes and saw nothing but their own demise.

But in the distance a lowly shepherd boy heard the taunts and the intimidation and felt a very different emotion - righteous anger. He heard this godless giant mocking the nation he loved and the God who created him... and decided the battle needed fighting regardless of the odds that man would give him.

Zimbabwe - Mugabe is your Goliath... he comes against you with sword and spear and javelin, but he can be beaten.

It is the destiny of all archetypal bullies to be knocked on the floor. It takes unfathomable courage, unquenchable faith and some patience.

Mugabe mocks the armies of God and democracy, but one day the Lord will hand him over and politically his head (power) will be cut off.

May that day be soon and swift.

Just Like Dad

I promised I'd fill you in on my sermon from Sunday (based on Galatians 5:16-25 & John 14:15-27) and here is the gist.... albeit a little late:

Peter Kay once commented in his list of universal truths, that knowledge is knowing that a tomato is fruit... wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

It's funny, but it's true on many levels. I wonder if we treat the fruit of the Spirit the same way? There are words we are so familiar with... love, joy, peace, patience... and it's so easy for us to restrict them to the way we understand them in every day life.

But in reality... our mere human understanding of love, joy, peace etc... is actually a tomato in a fruit salad. God's love is far superior to human love, his peace surpasses our experience of peace. For every word we use to describe the fruit of the Spirit, there is a temptation to limit them to the boundaries of human emotion.

The truth is that the fruit of the Spirit is not just about emotion... yes, emotion is a part... but the fruit of the Spirit is a list of the characteristics of God's nature.

• We need God's love as much when we experience hate... as when we experience the warmth of others.
  
  
• We need God's joy as much when we are struggling with grief or enduring hardship, as when we are all smiles and happiness.
  
  
• We need God's peace as much in the midst of the violent maelstrom, as we do to appreciate moments of silence and perfect beauty. Jesus had peace that enabled him to sleep through the fiercest squall.... while his disciple panicked for their very lives.
  
  
• We need God's kindness when we are faced with unspeakable cruelty.

... and so on and so forth.

Now the Spirit enables us to grow these characteristics in our own lives. But why is it important? We read a lot in the media about needing to eat our 5 portions of physical fruit on a daily basis. It's even more important to get a regular supply of spiritual fruit as well. Father's day gives us an extra insight into why we need to grow.

For many of us, our fathers are positive role models... as children we want to be like them. It should be the same with God the Father. If we are serious about being faithful to him, we need to develop a desire to grow into his character. Jesus was the ultimate example of the Father at work in human form... but the Spirit enables us to become like Jesus, like the Father. And like a father cheers on his son at a football game... or encourages us to ride faster whilst grabbing on to a saddle to stop us falling when we learn to ride a bike... the Spirit calls to us with the Father's voice, encouraging us on.

I was watching QI a few days ago... and Stephen Fry spoke of how on the Bayeux Tapestry, there is an image of William the Conqueror waving a spear at his warriors. Above this is written "William comforts his troops". It's a strange image isn't it? However it was explained that in the middle ages,the word "comfort" also meant "to encourage".

One of the names of the Holy Spirit is "the Comforter"... and while it's true that the Spirit is there for us to embrace when we are feeling broken or in need of warmth... it is also true that the spirit encourages us to go forward and grow in the power of God.

Now some of you may not have had a positive parental figure... and some of you may have lost your parent(s), who you were close to. However, this doesn't mean you have to feel like you are left out. In the Gospel reading, we are told by Jesus:

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

John 14:16-18

He will not leave us as orphans... that is a sovereign promise.

As good as any parent can be. They are only a shadow of the kind of parent God longs for us to be.

Maybe you are reading this and you can't recall having had a positive Father figure in your life and you are lost. In the Lion King, the character Simba also feels this way. He finds himself wandering the wilderness eating grubs because he has lost touch with his destiny, the legacy which his father Mufasa was to pass on to him.

In a sudden moment, Simba is confronted with the idea that his father's spirit lives in him:

When Simba realises the truth, he hears his fathers voice.... and begins to grow into the person he was meant to be.

You have a Father who loves you.... even if you never realised it.

His Spirit calls out to us, so that we can hear him and grow.

Finally,there's one other important reason why we need to grow fruit in our lives... and that is in order that others may be fed. The best form of evangelism, is how we treat other people. If we show people the character of God in our daily lives... above all things that we do, I am convinced that is the paramount way in which people will encounter God and hopefully come to him.

In the old Testament, Moses pleaded for God's presence to go with the Israelite's else how would people know that they were set apart... that God had called them. Similarly... how will people know that God is alive and active within our person, if we don't take every opportunity to show his character, his love to them.

Actions speak louder than words.

However... on the "Light Side" of things...

After that heavy post, I thought it only fair to balance it out by talking about something a little lighter.

Well I'm proud to announce that I have joined the Jedi Order:

Yes... I donned my robes and took up my lightsaber in a bid to slay any Sith Lords who might dare to show their face at Alcester's annual Street Market... which this year was given the theme "At the Movies".

I entered the costume competition but didn't get anywhere... should have seen that coming when one of the two judges said with with great disdain "Yes! I know who you are... Star Wars!"

I would wager she hadn't seen the films and only seen kids/young men running round waving glowing plastic swords about in juvenile fashion... pretending to be Luke Skywalker. People of a certain age and above seem to have an allergic reaction to anything science fiction related... especially if it's Star Wars.

If the pictures in the press, I'm going to post it here and let you draw your own conclusions as to who the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place should have been. I think it might raise a few of your eyebrows.

I'm not bitter though... I just loved the excuse to wander round my hometown kitted out as a Jedi. It comes in handy you know... I accidentally pulled a Jedi mind trick on an ice cream man who insisted on charging me 50p less than he should have until I finally convinced him I owed him more money. It also gives you an air of authority. A bunch of kids lobbed some litter on the floor next to a bin... when I motioned to them to pick it up and put it in the bin... they obeyed without hesitation... weird huh? Maybe Police and Community Support Officers should try wearing this get up!

The only down side is that it's not very practical clothing for a baking hot sunny day. I was wearing three layers out there and I spent most of the day slumped in various corners as I was severely dehydrated, no matter how much I drank it didn't seem to have any good effect.

Still, one must suffer for one's art and I'd do it all again.... in fact I'm looking for an opportunity to do so!

Shelling Out

So it looks like Shell's tanker fleet of lorries will be crippled by a strike in little over 54 hours.

The Government has been very quick to step in and urge us all not to panic buy... everything will be OK they promise.

Not likely.

Simple fact, even if they can ensure there's enough fuel for the duration of the strike... the simple fact is that demand will increasingly outweigh supply, irrespective of panic buying. There may well be enough fuel to go round, but it's going to get progressively expensive.

So do you really think I'm going to sit around and wait for that to happen?

Nope. I had half a tank full, which would probably just last me to the end of the strike... the point where I suspect it'll be the most expensive. So as soon as I got out of work, I shot down the road and pulled into the local 24 hour and filled up. I'm not ashamed to admit it... and I advise you to consider doing the same. That should see me through to about the 20th.

I think drivers are getting pushed to boiling point at the moment. It's very easy to look at drivers in the cities with their "Chelsea Tractors" and say that people should use public transport, but frankly out here in rural/semi rural communities that just isn't an option... and people are being penalised just for trying to get to work on time.

I can see the Government getting into real trouble over this if it doesn't do something to alleviate matters soon. Surely with the price of oil rising, the amount of duty raked in from petrol purchases (the lion's share at circa a whopping 60%), must be phenomenally over the projected amount of revenue in the Budget.

I hate conceitedness and arrogance.. and one way or another the Government's got a bloody nose coming... you can only say "we are listening, we are learning lessons" so many times before people just see you as disingenuous.

This time feels worse than when the public protests took place. Back then, it felt that people were pretty much trying it on. Now however, so many people are openly hurting... because everything they need to buy is going up... and every asset they own is rapidly losing value. I forewarned about a potential political nightmare vision of Britain that I predicted would probably kick off when the "Baby Boom" generation became infirm... I suggested about 15-20 years from now.

However, maybe I was being conservative. With the financial burdens and lack of resources hitting everyone hard, one wonders if we are actually seeing birth pangs.

I'm not a materialist at heart, I know God will provide the things we genuinely need... and I've been blessed for so long... but how many people out there are hurting and don't realise God will not get them sucked into utter oblivion if they but call on him?

You know what? As I type this post... I'm hearing Robin Mark's prayer and the Mandate song "Revival" on my Last FM radio... and it's the message that God is crying out now. He's crying it to the Christians to be ready to pick up those who the World is hurting... and he's crying it to those who the World is hurting... that they might turn and find comfort in his Name.

I hear the voice of one crying...

I hear the voice of one crying...

"Prepare ye... prepare ye the way of the LORD... make His paths straight make straight his paths in the wilderness let his light shine, let his light shine in the darkness and let your rain fall and let your rain fall in this desert."

I can hear that thunder in the distance like a train on the edge of the town, I can feel the brooding of the Spirit - lay your burdens down... lay your burdens down.

Whatever mankind gets us into, God has the power to get us out.

I Am Out There.... Somewhere.

Sorry I haven't posted for a while.

There are several reasons for my absence - I've been faffing about a fair bit, I'm also trying to keep my head clear for two projects I'm working on. I'm charged with organizing the teaching for one of the days at this year's Maze... and I'm also preaching next weekend at Oldberrow.

I'm a person who tends to have lots of ideas so I'm trying not to crowd my brain with too much, so as to stick to the message I feel needs to be conveyed.

That said, I feel that when I'm ready I'm going to either do a singular blog, or miniseries on what I feel I've been charged with. Part of the reason I feel that way is because in all the things I'm being asked to look at, it seems to be that God has laid the same message on my heart. Indeed I'm also finding the same points being raised in daily life... perhaps God is fashioning me for a less generalised, more specific purpose.

I'm also doing my best to discipline myself in meditation.

A lady with a gift of prophecy once told me that she had been given a picture for me, it was an image of a hand above a spinning top. She said that the spinning top had images on it and that the hand was God's... that he was going to slow me down to show me what those things were. Truth be known my mind always races. Part of the reason I find the Coldplay song "The Scientist" so moving, is that it's a song that enables me to express that desire, that sentiment - the earnest desire to stop running around and remind myself that God must be set apart and loved above and beyond all other things; that there is a time to stop probing, analysing, interrogating, investigating and cease the pursuit of intellectualism... and a time to just step back and be blow away with sheer wonder and awe.

So, knowing my mind races I've tried to discipline myself (whilst accepting my natural weaknesses). If I sit still for long enough, I'll doze off... but what I try to do is just lie down for about half an hour and just let the Spirit just soak in. I see it as a work in progress. Stillness does not come naturally to me... but I feel if I don't get the hang of it, I will most definitely miss out. I know that in moments when I have been still I've had some amazing encounters with God. I need to harness the ability to remain focused. So for half an hour I just lay down and wait... if I doze off, I doze off... but I am confident that as time wears on and I become acclimatised to this practice, I will grant God the space he needs to generate that sense of self discipline... and I will be more in tune with him in those quiet moments I tend to struggle in.

It feels really great to have had the opportunity to write this down. When I typed the first sentence,this was going to be little more than a footnote... a simple reassurance that I would be coming back... but I feel that I've actually shared something beneficial and close to the spirit in which I always intended to write from the very first day I began blogging... content that isn't just preaching from the pulpit... but sharing the lesson on the road as a fellow traveller. When I teach people the things I know, or am passionate about... I prefer to do it from the side and not from above.

I like to teach with a hint of empathy.

So I am out there... somewhere.

I am also here. If you are a regular or casual passer by and you want to share something or ask a question, go ahead... I won't bite your head off. Similarly if you see posts on other peoples blogs, you think I might like to comment on... call my name. I'm ready to heed your call.

Till next time, be my post be serious or fun...

May God bless you.