You might have heard of the expression ‘touch wood’. It is a popular saying in the UK. It is a relic of tree worship that ruled the roost in pagan times. By touching wood we invoke the protection of a tree spirit. It is a pagan ritual. Often unnoticed. This Read more…
This is my take on Goliath’s pagan worldview. I mention rabbit superstitions, Genghis Khan and Wallace and Gromit.
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 Read more…
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 Read more…
Story Residents of Anomabo, a fishing community in the Central Region of Ghana, have revealed that two of their gods insist that they defecate on their local beaches. Apparently the gods use the stools in order to produce fish for the fishermen. These two gods, who delight in the brown Read more…
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 Read more…
Very pleased that my new parable about Touch Wood has been published in the Baptist Times. You can read it below. I was enjoying a flat white with my good friend Tim who is a Manchester United fan. We were talking about Wayne Rooney and getting rather noisy about his Read more…
Story Obese but immensely strong, the Japanese sumo wrestlers of the Arashio stable were beginning to stir. A young rikishi (wrestler) tripped over camp beds and heaving bodies, cajoling his fellow wrestlers out of their sweet slumbers. Some opened listless eyes, while others ignored the young man’s promptings and returned irritably to sleep. It Read more…
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 Read more…
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. When we focus upon the recent Read more…