Nation - Terry Pratchet

Nation is not a disk world book, but something slightly different. The alternative reality is not so alternative. There will be times when you have to ask if there is any alternative here at all, but you won't get as far as asking about reality - that's solid enough. A boy is going through his right of passage to become a man when a tsunami hits the island. He is the only survivor because he was the only one not on the island waiting for the party to start. Others arrive, a ship - the Sweet Judy - arrives in the trees of the rain forest, from the more technologically advanced world. There is only a young girl left alive. Then there are survivors from other islands, as they arrive the world is slowly revealed.

As always it is a very good read. The characters are well created, and the claim that there has been thinking happening is clearly substantiated. There is the usual preponderance of discussion and thinking about God. This occurs at many levels, and the culture has a complicated set of gods. There is an ultimate creator, all the way through to ancestor worship. Some of this is rejected by some of the main characters, and some isn't. Quite why this is I have not worked out yet. Perhaps I need to do more thinking, but it seems to give the book an anti-religious sentiment for a while. The visitors also bring there own views and gods into the equation. As life returns to the island, and the world impinges on it more and more a reality returns, and an innocence is lost.

Humor is always a feature with Pratchet and Nation is no exception. While this book cannot be described as hilarious, the parrot is used to good effect most of the time, its interruptions breaking the tensions and generating a laugh.

At its root, Nation, is a love story, (not a romance - not quite) although you would not necessarily see it like that until close to the end of the book. I don't think that I've given anything away.

Quantum of Solace

To misquote Star Trek "It's Bond Jim, but not Bond as we know it".

There are several things missing that make it difficult to readily identify this as a Bond film (as my 19y.o.+ children spent several minutes pointing out:

• The start sequence does not have him firing his gun into the screen.
• There is almost no use of the Bond theme, traditionally played when Bond is getting the upper hand.
• There are next to no one-liners.
• The kill rate appears rather high, and the violence is more realistic
  
• No 'R' - and no gadgets (a sad loss)
• No end 'joke' with the girl
  

There maybe others too, perhaps I'll add them later...
However, for me there were other more significant problems. I have read all the Bond books. The books this character is supposed to be based on. Of all the Bond's there have been I believe that Timothy Dalton came closest to presenting the right character. Daniel Craig is not a good Bond, the characterisation is too intense, too dark. Bond is a dark character for sure, but not in his day to day dealings with people. Here he is a charmer, there is little or no charm in the character in this film. Only the cold blooded killer side of the character is shown. Ruthlessly efficient, but cold and distant.

The story itself, as a follow up to the previous film, was quite reasonable, the reality better than in most Bond films, but still a little fanciful. Cars going down cliffs don't explode - good - they don't. However after having all his cards cancelled, bond is driving a car two scenes later - where did that come from? The story though is easier to follow than in some of the films and the links are better placed. The uncovering of the unknown organisation with people everywhere should provide another film or three. That's S.P.E.C.T.R.E (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) I suppose.

There are plenty of Bond action moments, some of them very good. The parachute drop into the sink hole for example. Here though is my most significant problem with the film. The way it is shot and cut. Scenes in the action sequences change so quickly I can't tell what is going on. They are filmed so close up that at times they could be anything. Are the stunts getting too hard to do for real? Was Jaws jumping (sorry, falling) out of the plane the greatest stunt ever - almost certainly the most dangerous. If Bond is going to survive the action sequences must be top notch and easy viewing.

Now to the hype - "Bond is out of control" - really not new, it is after all part of the character of Bond even in the books. By control, we mean control by his superiors. To suggest that Bond had somehow had his view blinded by being betrayed by Vesper (Casino Royale) just didn't work. Only his ruthless efficiency in chasing the 'bad guys' is really seen. That IS what Bond does. He is relentless, and always has been in every film and book. After saving the world (well South America) and expecially the Americans (from themselves), then only at the end does he deal with his personal issues.

'M' - So Bond thinks of M as his mother - no wonder. "You've been a naugthy little boy hand over your toys" - OK she didn't say it, but the feel is the same. 'M' is now more Motherly that Mother in the Avengers. Judi Dench is wasted in the role.

The Bond girls also failed to live up to expectations. Olga Kurylenko was like a female version of Bond, and Gemma Arterton was given a name that just begged for one-liners. She was also wasted. Neither of them did enough (or were given enough to do?) to really shine.

So in summary, plenty of action, enjoyable story, quite a good film - certainly worth seeing, but James Bond - I'm not so sure - only the name hasn't been changed to protect the guilty.

Signs of the End of the Age: Matthew 24:1-35

Introduction - Signs – and watching for signs – road signs?

Sign of the times

• when things aren't what we would like them to be

  • teddy boy's, mods and rockers

  • Policemen being over vigilant, or aggressive

  • head teacher not allowed to do their jobs

Signs

Red sky at night

Pregnancy and birth – contractions (birth pains)

A new series coming soon – how long – a few weeks or they'd tell you the day

road signs – warning

restrictions

information

journey on a motorway – leave at junction 50, start paying attention at 45

then looking carefully for signs – like road names as you get closer to your destination

Types of signs -

for the immediate future

for the more distant future

Review of Bible passage

Difficult passage :

2 – questions

Tell us, they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

• when will this happen?

• what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

The first one is easy ...

Jesus doesn't know – even Jesus

This is the fathers decision and his alone

36"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

So Jesus Christ <> God. They may be One, they may be parts of the trinity, but there ARE differences – and this is one of the difference.

V2 “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Jesus' prediction came true four decades after his death, in A.D. 70, when the Roman army crushed a Jewish rebellion in Jerusalem. Soldiers knocked down the massive stones of the temple in search of the melted gold that had run down between the stones as the temple burned. The largest stones weighed over 400 tons, but General Titus's soldiers levelled them all.

what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

More difficult.

V4-5 “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ’, and will deceive many.

• Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church who actually claim to be Jesus Christ.

• One Christian leader claims that since 1900, over 1,100 people have claimed to be Christ. I’m not sure where he came up with the number 1,100. But there have been scores of people this century who claimed to be the Messiah including

• Jim Jones of the People’s Temple,

• Moses Guibbory,

• David Koresh of the Branch Dividians

• Christ Mytraya,
  Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the late leader of the Lubavitch movement based in New York City was believed by his followers to be the Messiah. There is a large banner in its main sanctuary proclaiming Rabbi Schneerson the Anointed One (viz. the Messiah)

• Marshall Applewhite of the Heaven’s Gate UFO Cult was apparently considered a reincarnation of Christ (or another being like Christ) by his followers.

• Father Divine,

• Charles Manson,

• Maharaja Ji,

• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi of Transcendental Meditation fame, and The Dalai Lama of Tibet

• Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s chief propagandist, said in a broadcast on 19 April 1936, that "Germany has been transformed into a great house of the Lord where the Fuhrer as our mediator stands before the throne of God." It was Hitler himself who ordered that he be presented as a deified messiah. Another powerful voice in the Nazi party, Dr. Robert Ley, proclaimed that "We believe on this earth in Adolf Hitler alone! We believe in National Socialism as the creed which is the sole source of grace!"

• Joseph Stalin, a former seminary student, used his theological training to develop a program to deify the leader of the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was Stalin’s belief that Russians were forever looking for a god-tsar, so he decided to present them a new god, in place of the one overthrown by the Bolsheviks. The new god-tsar was an atheist messiah, the god, Vladamir Lenin.
  
  
  

These are not THE Anti-Christ as mentioned in 1 John 2:18.

“Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrist have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.”

With global communications, this time more than any other time in history false Christs can disseminate their messages on a world-wide scale. The Anti-Christ is still to come.

v6 You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.

Historians agree that the 20th century was unparalleled in the scale of its human misery. No period has witnessed the escalation of wars like the 20th Century. The Red Cross has estimated that over 100 million people have been killed in wars since the 20th Century began. This is not including genocide of Russians opposed to Stalin, the Jews exterminated during the Holocaust, Idi Amin’s or Pol Pot’s, or Mao Tse Tung’s Evil and bloodthirsty regimes.

Up until 1914, war had never been global, but in both World War 1 & 2, total war was waged.

Since World War II, there have been numerous major wars & hundreds of rebellions & revolutions. The death toll in conflicts since the end of World War II has topped 23 million.

These things are happening...

V7a Mt 24:7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

Nation – is the root word for both pagans and Gentiles – it means an ethnic grouping – perhaps a tribe, or western Europeans, or Scotsmen.

Kingdom is the political people grouping, more like today's nation state.

So the warning here is of conflict between peoples at all levels.

That is exactly what we are seeing – from the Cold War to Northern Ireland.

v7b There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

There is some research that indicate that the number of earthquakes is increasing, but since the planet has only recently been covered with seismological equipment it is difficult to be sure.

We are certainly much more aware of famines now because of global communications.

v8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

All this is just the beginning! The first sign of a contraction, some women don't even recognise them. It's been 2000 years now, how long is it supposed to take?

The rabbis spoke of “birth pains” - sufferings, that would precede the coming of the Messiah

“Isa 13:8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.” This is from a passage that the NIV heads “A prophecy against Babylon” Babylon was used in Jesus time to represent the forces of evil against God.

v9“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.

There's the nations word again – all groupings of people will hate Christians – Do you see that happening?

Warner – persecution mainly Christians & Jews – why? – The One true God!

V10 &11 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

As a result it will become harder and harder to become a Christian, or to stay a Christian. In the film “Kingdom of Heaven” (about the defence of Jerusalem from the Moslem's during the crusades), the Bishop says “convert now, repent later”. That, of course, was tried in real life during various oppressions and persecutions. In the film it wasn't necessary, but in many real life situations there was much debate about whether those who denied the faith should be allowed back into the church.

Here though we are talking about people genuinely turning away, or defecting, or actively choosing to follow false prophets. They will not find a home back in the church – because there will be no opportunity to repent and return.

v12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,

When I read this verse, I thought of the Christian organisations in the DR of Congo. Many of them have pulled out as the fighting intensifies. Their rational is obvious, get away, so that you are still alive to return later – when the fighting calms down. That's fine, but how must it appear to those who are residents and cannot just leave.

We see increasing wickedness in so many places. During the week it was Halloween. It occurred to me that we are teaching children that it is OK to go knocking on doors and demanding things. If I tried it tomorrow night:

Knock knock

“Hello, I'd like a bar of chocolate please, if I don't get it I will play a trick on you”

.. I'd probably get arrested!

v13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

There are many exhortations in scripture to remain faithful, to not give up, but to stay the course – here are a few:

• Mk 13:13 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

• 2Ti 2:10–13;Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

• Heb 10:36;You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For in just a very little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.

• Jas 1:12; Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

• 5:11 As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

v14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

world – used to mean either the inhabited or Roman world

nations – the same word again – meaning Gentiles, or ethnic groups

SO: before the end comes there must be preaching of the gospel to all ethnic groups across the entire planet.

How are we doing?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_people “Uncontacted Peoples”

“Recent usage favours the term "isolated" rather than "uncontacted" as few peoples have remained totally uncontacted by modern civilization”

• test – has this happened? - not quite – but we are nearly there …

v15 So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation', spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—

NO time to look at the imagery in Daniel

Da 9:27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

Da 11:31 “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.

In AD 70 the temple was destroyed by the Romans as we have already seen. The Roman Standard would have been set up in the middle of the destroyed building – to underline the victory the Romans had achieved. An unholy symbol in the middle of the temple.

v16-25

v16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

v17 Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house.

v18 Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak.

v19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!

v20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.

v21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

v22-23 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect b those days will be shortened.

At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.

v24 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible.

v25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

This is not the time to stand and fight. This event has been permitted by God, so standing against it is not a sensible approach. The only reasonable thing to do is to leave. This gets the disciples of that time out of the centre of Jewish life, and helps to spread the message of Christianity, just as the later persecutions did around the Roman Empire.

Are these verses restricted to describing the destruction of the temple? - Yes, it appears as though they are, as they refer to Judea at the start.

The same test should be applied – “has it all happened yet?” this time yes & no

Mt 24:26-27 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

When Jesus returns it will be as obvious as lightning in the night sky! We don't need to go chasing after phantoms, if the question has to be asked, the answer is already known.

Mt 24:28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

At first sight a strange verse, but it probably relates to the Roman standards as they arrived in Jerusalem. Their black eagles looking like a flock of vultures circling a corpse. It was common not to distinguish between eagles and vultures. The implication of this is that the Jewish nation is dead.

Mt 24:29 “Immediately after the distress of those days “ ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

This is most likely OT symbolism for the end of creation, although some would say that it refers to kingdoms rising and falling, rather than astronomical events.

Mt 24:30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

The sign, or banner, or standard, or the son of Man becomes visible to all. The nations of the earth mourn for the persecutions they have caused – the pain and death of so many of the believers over time. They mourn for themselves. There is no sense of repentance.

Mt 24:31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

The Christians are taken from the nations to be with God. Four Winds, is like four points of the compass

Mt 24:32-35 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Lastly in this passage Jesus warns the disciples that these things are about to happen, he gives them a time-scale for the start of the age – within a generation all the things mentions will happen. The temple will be destroyed, his followers will be persecuted and scattered.

Conclusion

This is a long and difficult passage for a single sermon. I hope that I have given you a better idea of what Jesus was predicting. It isn't over yet, and He will return at some point. The Jews had to wait for their Messiah for thousands of years. There is no telling how long we will have to wait.

The important thing for us is to watch out for the signs.

As we went through these verses which of the signs did you see?

Are you actively looking for signs, or just noticing them as they pass?

How far do you think we have progressed?

For me, I think we are pretty close to the end, the key test seems to be that all the nations have heard the gospel. I'm not clear how many of these isolated tribes have heard – maybe there are only one or two who haven't.

And then the end will come.

F1 Review 2008

During the year I maintain my own table, and my own (fairer, I think) points system. Here are the tables and a few comments on each of the drivers and teams. My points scheme is at the bottom, Max can use it if he wants to.


Drivers

Team	Driver	Points	Pete's Points	Comments
McLaren-Mercedes	Lewis Hamilton	98	1035	A well deserved win. Lewis has grown, but still must avoid the 'boy racer' within. Congratulations!
Ferrari	Felipe Massa	97	1014	Great year, and probably should be the champion. The team did not perform well enough.
Ferrari	Kimi Räikkönen	75	832	Dissapointing. I was expecting so much more. Where is the hunger, the drive. Too many races didn't start until half way through. With my points system Kimi is clearly third.
BMW-Sauber	Robert Kubica	75	812	A real talent, once again the team strategy was questionable. Looking forwar to next year
Renault	Fernando Alonso	61	707	Still a brilliant driver, and a great opportunist
BMW-Sauber	Nick Heidfeld	60	681	I'm really not sure, sometimes brilliant, sometime not good enough
McLaren-Mercedes	Heikki Kovalainen	53	611	A bit of a disappointment, only one win, but that may not be the problem, too many 5th or lower places is the problem. Seems to loose something on race day.
Torro Rosso	Sebastian Vettel	35	416	The surprise package of the year, and for me the driver with the most promise.
Toyota	Jarno Trulli	31	414	Still a good driver, and still doing what he does best
Toyota	Timo Glock	25	369	A much improved driver over the year.
Red Bull Racing	Mark Webber	21	344	Not quite weher he should be, but its difficult to tell - is it the team?
Renault	Nelsinho Piquet	19	326	Probably hasn't made the grade
Williams	Nico Rosberg	17	256	Another driver who can be brilliant, and the dissapointing, but there is still much to come.
Honda	Rubens Barrichello	11	222	He's in the Honda team. The longest serving driver now, and I hope he's back next year.
Williams	Kazuki Nakajima	9	217	Probably hasn't made the grade.
Red Bull Racing	David Coulthard	8	213	What a way to retire. Good luck for the future.
Torro Rosso	Sebastien Bourdais	4	168	Has not live up to the hype, but then who does? Shows once again how difficult it is for other types of racing driver to convert to F1.
Honda	Jenson Button	3	165	He's in the Honda team, but really should have beaten Rubens.
Super Aguri-Honda	Takuma Sato	0	90	Was doing much better until his team went under
Force India	Giancarlo Fisichella	0	44	As drivers get to the end of their career they move into the slower teams to help them develop, some like Giancarlo pull a few surprises too.
Force India	Adrian Sutil	0	23	Has had a few good runs, and lots of bad luck (Kimi was his worst luck).
Super Aguri-Honda	Anthony Davidson	0	15	Shame we no longer have Anthony Driving. Perhaps he can commentate sometime as his interview were always interesting.

Teams

Team	Points	Pete's Points	Comments
Ferrari	172	1846	Really should have been more dominant, with two championship capable drivers, why weren't they off into the distance by half way through.
McLaren-Mercedes	151	1646	Following last years problems, they bounced back well. A good year.
BMW-Sauber	135	1519	Met there goals and stopped (bit of a shame), but if they end up winning next year it will be worth it.
Renault	80	937	A bit of a surprise, but perhaps it shouldn't have been, with the old team back together.
Toyota	56	783	Slowly, slowly, but will this tortoise ever beat the F1 rabbits?
Torro Rosso	39	561	Brilliant end to the year, it may be something to do with getting better engines. That's what teams are supposed to do.
Red Bull Racing	29	548	Oh dear! Beaten by the younger brother!
Williams	26	581	Once a dominant force, and showing signs, but the driver selection need a review.
Honda	14	381	It was never going to be their year, but the team is investing in the future
Super Aguri	0	134	Gone, but not forgotten
Force India	0	38	The new Minardi (but no relation). Still not bad for the first season.

Click here for the Points system and tables.