paganism

Sumo wrestling is a Japanese form of wrestling that challenges many aspects of Christian discipleship. Here are some of the reasons why I could never become a rikishi (sumo wrestler).

Firstly I am not fat enough. Good friends tell me that I am potbellied but you have to be gargantuan and weigh about 400 pounds to be a proper sumo wrestler. Secondly I am not good at wrestling. At school my mate Otto Chan easily beat me in a wrestling bout when I was 14. Thirdly I went to an independent school in Hertfordshire where sumo wrestling was never mentioned.

This is a short tract about men and women who are believed to be divine.

Do not put your faith in Prince Philip, Maradona or Tendulkar

Mathematician Pythagoras was worshipped by many.

He urged his followers to worship the Number 10.

He died in 495 BC.

Alexander the Great was revered as a god.

Some say he is responsible for 3,500,000 deaths.

He died in 323 BC.

Caesar Augustus was worshiped by millions.

His followers believed he could wipe away their sins.

​Story

Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert attended séances as early as 1846. In 1861, the year when Prince Albert died, a thirteen-year-old medium, Robert Lees delivered a message from Albert to the Queen in which he called her by a pet name known only to her and her dead husband. Victoria was delighted and she sent her trusted servants to investigate the young medium. After impressing the royal officials with impossible-to-know details of Albert’s personal life, Lees was invited to visit the queen at Buckingham Palace.

Very pleased that my new parable about Touch Wood has been published in the Baptist Times.

https://www.baptist.org.uk/Articles/535279/Parable_of_touch.aspx

Story

Have you heard about Ivan the Terrible? He was a delightful Russian king. Did you know that he secretly worshipped Cronus aka Saturn - the god who ate his own children? Ivan shows us clearly that you become like the god you follow. Ivan tortured and murdered thousands of his own people. His life was drenched in innocent blood. Can you imagine what would have happened if Ivan had followed Jesus instead of Cronus? 

Bob Goudzwaard, a Dutch Christian economist, wrote a brilliant, short book Idols of our Time back in the 1980s. It really is a superb resource for any thinking Christian.

He begins the book with these words:

We live in a world possessed and we know it.

It isn't only Romanian witches and politicians who live in pagan stories.

English poets are very fascinated by pagan and gnostic worldviews.