Could this be the end for Khomeni and the Iranian Caliphate?
The current situation in Israel.
Israel has never been stronger. For Europe, it may already be too late
Spain is fantasising about nuking Israel.
In a world gone mad
I’m writing this in a week (October 2026) when we have seen Danny Tommo arrested for cutting a criminal gang’s inflatable; five men arrested for a bombing attempt at RAF Fairford; the Archbishop of Canterbury changing her mind about giving a peace award to a terrorist; a police warning to Stephen Yaxley Lennon that there is a “credible threat” to his life; facial coverings in public banned after years of permitting them; a return to plane hijackings and a government pledge of millions to Gaza rather than our armed forces.
How does a Christian make sense of a world that praises terrorism, violence and abuse when carried out by the “right” people, overlooks it when it is Christians at the receiving end, lets rapists and the violent walk free whilst imprisoning people for saying the “wrong” words and condemning a small democratic country for defending itself?
Really?
Sometimes my humour gets the better of me, sometimes my cynicism, at others my desperation, but I hope never anger. A good example is feeling that one has to laugh (I think) that in 2020 everyone HAD to wear masks in public. Now we mustn’t! Whilst at the serious level realising that the whole COVID pandemic appears to have been a manufactured ploy to experiment with compliance whilst “poisoning” the majority of the world’s population. Or, to calm the conspiracy theory cries, another way of saying that I have given up believing anything I see or hear, especially from “experts” or the BBC. Oh, did I mention the twin towers? That’s a newly reopened can of worms.
Relax
The earth isn’t flat and the moon landings happened. Or at least I believe so.
Theoretical Christianity
Obviously as a Christian I would love to live in a world where everyone loved one another or at worst tolerated one another. Wouldn’t that be lovely. We are after all called to “love our enemies and do good to those who persecute you”. But in the real world some people hate others and not only wish them dead but are even happy to die themselves to make that possible.
Smith Wigglesworth used to say that he prays each day with a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other. That’s kind of how I feel.
The end times.
How do we stay sane when we know that the world will get much worse; where we know that persecution is bound to come. The Bible is clear that a false religion will become prominent headed by an “Anti-Christ”. For the last 1300 years that has looked strongly like being Islam. Jesus said in Matthew 24: “14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains”. Where might that be I wonder?
In short I feel that I have two world views. The first is based on my beliefs (that which I think the Bible traches). The second is a much more earthly mix of fear, politics and incredulity, just like everyone.
There was a time when I bought into the belief that the Crusades were wrong because bad things happened at the hands of European knights and soldiers. Now I realise that Europe was fighting for its life against an aggressive Islam that threatened to take it over. War is abhorrent. But it seems inevitable. Even Jesus did once say, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34
Now we can argue that he meant sword in the same way as Moslems defend the word Jihad. But he clearly meant division and difference.
I have lots of pages on the subject of race, such as https://crosstownservices.co.uk/malcolminthemiddle/black-lives-matter/
Reflections on a Christian response to slavery and colonialism
Reflections on a Christian response to slavery and colonialism
Israel https://crosstownservices.co.uk/malcolminthemiddle/israel/
The King & Islam
The ultimate problem of King Charles honouring Islam is that as head of the Church of England he is committing blasphemy.
The Qur’an states:-
“They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them.”
This is the foundational text in the Quran that denies the crucifixion, and so therefore, the resurrection, of Jesus.
This is an existential crisis for the monarchy, for the C of E, for this country.
No-one can sit on the fence. If the Bible is true, the Qur’an is nothing short of a blasphemous lie from Satan which Charles has swallowed.
Christ is Risen — A Constitutional Crisis
Easter 2026 and the clash of two revelations – Gavin Ashenden
Remembering October 7th
Yesterday (Oct 5th) I went with a friend to the October 7th Memorial gathering in Trafalgar Square.
The event was about an hour and a half. Completely Jewish, so as a Christian one did feel a little out of place. There was a lot of prayer and some songs in Hebrew.
Much of the time was taken up with people who were survivors of October 7th or family of people who had been killed or taken hostage. On top of that was the presence of folk from Manchester. Watch prayers for Manchester ….
Several Jewish dignatories and even one lady who was a Holocaust survivor. All extremely moving and quite sombre. How anyone intelligent person can pretend that October 7th never happened is beyond me. Watch a Nova Festival survivor ..
What was lovely though was the absence of anger, just sorrow.
At one point we sang the National Anthem. These are people who are profoundly integrated into British society. After all their God is our God. It is a good time to be praying that they discover their Messiah!
The problem of Islam
Yesterday I had an unfortunate conversation with two young Moslem men. They were approaching a street performer who had just shared the gospel between songs and their opening comment was enough for me to need to step in and protect the performer.
Young men like this have been so indoctrinated that they simply hate the Jews. What on earth goes on in our local mosques and then online at home should deeply concern us all. The level of anger and vitriol spewing from their mouths was not new to me. I’ve heard it all before. But clearly their understanding of middle eastern history and geography is so skewed. Almost every line I started to say was greeted with grins and the response “free free Palestine”. After a few minutes it was obvious that this was not a discussion. They were so closed in their thinking that further interaction was pointless. BTW these weren’t migrants, they both had English accents.
Then this morning’s news of the attack on the Manchester Synagogue. Simply horrendous. But as a Jewish spokesman said on the radio, what can you do when people are motivated by the thinking of a desert dwelling tribal warlord from the Dark Ages?!
I would urge anyone reading this and disturbed by what I have said to go to an online Qur’an site and read the book for yourself. Try searching for words such as peace, kill, neck, jihad.
And if you aren’t a Christian, when you finished the Qur’an, try the New Testament and compare Mohammad to Jesus. You will be surprised.
Trump & Starmer
What did I learn yesterday from the press gathering?
1) Starmer will not answer a straight question.
2) Trump can be diplomatically nice.
3) Trump can smile.
4) Trump has tried to get Starmer to shift on net zero and “drill baby, drill” in the North Sea.
5) Starmer thinks he can be an Anglican and an atheist at the same time, thus defining “cultural Christian”. Mind you I reckon there are Bishops not far off that position!
6) Starmer clearly has no grasp of Christianity or Islam.
7) A good trade deal was struck that could have been 10 times greater if Starmer had conceded to some requests from Trump around online free speech amonst other things.
8) They differ significantly over Gaza and Israel.
9) Starmer appears to believe in a country called Palestine.
10) Starmer thinks that by recognising “Palestine”, wherever that is, HAMAS will suddenly become all cuddly and give up raping and mutilating women and using the people of Gaza and hostages as human shields.
11) There appears to be no solution to the war with Russia, despite Trump having ended a number of conflicts around the globe. He is disappointed with Putin.
What did I learn in other news?
1) 18 of the 26 arrests on Saturday were Antifa, not UTK!
2) The Met appear to have published at least one old photo on “X” which came from previous demonstrations. Really?
3) Tommy Robinson has massive respect and support from millions of people. Those that went on the march abided by his request for peaceful behaviour and no coloured smoke flares. I’ve never seen football supporters use such restraint even in the face of baton charges from the police!
Cheating the online censorship.
You may have seen my previous posts about a certain social media platform censoring items under the guise of “spam”. Well it occurred again today and I have concluded that they automatically take out anything that appears to be sourced form a certain country. So here’s my attempt at cheating the system.
So first up I hate the title of this piece. It is typical of modern media exageration. However the content is challenging if you are inclined to accept the “Palestinian” viewpoint about the conflict and in particular the alleged famine and genocide. Please watch
Or watch on YouTube
The impossibility of peace in the Middle East
Whether you like it or not there is no human solution to the Middle East problem, and currently the Gaza crisis, all the time Islam exists as an ideology!
That is the simple truth. Israel actually created the much lauded two state solution when they left Gaza in 2005. But the Arabs didn’t want it. Islam”ism” wants all Jews eradicated “from the river to the sea”. Islam”ism” is a genocidal philosophy. Islam”ism” will not stop until the whole world is a Califate and that doesn’t bear thinking about.
October 7th was a declaration of war, bur worst still and invitation to enter a war that could not be won.
Israel are trapped. If they withdraw now, Hamas will simply retake power, rebuild the tunnels with all the ill-conceived foreign aid that will flood in and while taking years to rebuild housing and infrastructure will begin as soon as it can to launch missiles into Israel once gain, glorying in their “victory” and worldwide adulation. The thousands of lives lost will have been in vain.
The suffering of the Arabs is down to Hamas. “Palestine”, indeed the Middle East, needs to be set free of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and every other proxy of Islamic regimes. The region needs democracy. Israel is currently the only real democracy where Arab and Jew, Moslem and Christian can live together as one nation. Gaza becoming part of Israel may indeed be the only solution.
Meanwhile this speech is brilliant. Ritchie Torres Warns Against Rising Antisemitism, Urges Support for Israel At AJC Global Forum -YouTube
As a P.S. – history should show us that all war is just a waste of human life and resources.
The Second World War achieved nothing but death and destruction. Millions dead and for what? Furthermore the scale of that makes Gaza pale into insignificance.
Currently the question is what philosophy will win? Capitalism? Communism? Islam?
Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley Lennon)
His nickname is “Marmite“, and for good reason.
Over the past years I have come to love and respect this man. So much so that in 2019 I got a disciplinary at work for a Facebook post about Tommy which upset some local woke clergy that I’d never met! And frankly I think this is why.
Tommy represents so much that I, as a middleclass, grammar educated man of a certain age and belief dislike about the “working class”! They’re rude, crude, unrefined and above all because they use the F word like punctuation.
But isn’t that just my bigotry?
What do I know of growing up on council estates in deprived areas? I don’t.
What do I know of feeling that my daughter is unsafe? I don’t.
What do I know of feeling that the whole system is biased against me? I don’t.
What do I know of feeling that as a white person I am now a minority in my own home town? I don’t (oh O K maybe I get that)
All this is precisely why he has become a HERO.
P.S. rumour has it that he may have found Jesus!
“GAZA”
We live in very strange and dangerous times. History is being systematically rewritten on a global scale. No longer is it just possible to make one nation believe lies, the internet has made it possible to influence the whole world.
Nothing stands out more clearly than the manipulation of the perception of the war between Israel and HAMAS. One side in the propaganda war would have us believe that October 7th never happened, that it was all Israeli propaganda. Of course similar train of thought would deny the Holocaust.
Make no mistake about it, HAMAS control all information getting to the western media.
What is happening in Gaza is entirely the fault of Iran and its literal interpretation of the teachings of the Qur’an. Mohammad was a tribal warlord who sort power through domination and conquest. They are simply following his example. Islam cannot countenance the existence of a people descended from Abraham even though the Qur’an itself acknowledges them ……..
10:90 ۞ وَجَٰوَزۡنَا بِبَنِيٓ إِسۡرَٰٓءِيلَ ٱلۡبَحۡرَ فَأَتۡبَعَهُمۡ فِرۡعَوۡنُ وَجُنُودُهُۥ بَغۡيٗا وَعَدۡوًاۖ حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَآ أَدۡرَكَهُ ٱلۡغَرَقُ قَالَ ءَامَنتُ أَنَّهُۥ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِيٓ ءَامَنَتۡ بِهِۦ بَنُوٓاْ إِسۡرَٰٓءِيلَ وَأَنَا۠ مِنَ ٱلۡمُسۡلِمِينَ ٩٠
And We took the Children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his soldiers pursued them in tyranny and enmity until, when drowning overtook him, he said, “I believe that there is no deity except that in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of the Muslims.”
10:93 وَلَقَدۡ بَوَّأۡنَا بَنِيٓ إِسۡرَٰٓءِيلَ مُبَوَّأَ صِدۡقٖ وَرَزَقۡنَٰهُم مِّنَ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ فَمَا ٱخۡتَلَفُواْ حَتَّىٰ جَآءَهُمُ ٱلۡعِلۡمُۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَقۡضِي بَيۡنَهُمۡ يَوۡمَ ٱلۡقِيَٰمَةِ فِيمَا كَانُواْ فِيهِ يَخۡتَلِفُونَ ٩٣
And We had certainty settled the Children of Israel in an agreeable settlement and provided them with good things. And they did not differ until [after] knowledge had come to them. Indeed, your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ.”
7:137 وَأَوۡرَثۡنَا ٱلۡقَوۡمَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَانُواْ يُسۡتَضۡعَفُونَ مَشَٰرِقَ ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَمَغَٰرِبَهَا ٱلَّتِي بَٰرَكۡنَا فِيهَاۖ وَتَمَّتۡ كَلِمَتُ رَبِّكَ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ عَلَىٰ بَنِيٓ إِسۡرَٰٓءِيلَ بِمَا صَبَرُواْۖ وَدَمَّرۡنَا مَا كَانَ يَصۡنَعُ فِرۡعَوۡنُ وَقَوۡمُهُۥ وَمَا كَانُواْ يَعۡرِشُونَ ١٣٧
And We caused the people who had been oppressed to inherit the eastern regions of the land and the western ones, which We had blessed. And the good word of your Lord was fulfilled for the Children of Israel because of what they had patiently endured. And We destroyed [all] that Pharaoh and his people were producing and what they had been building.
If HAMAS had any compassion at all for its people they would surrender, release the hostages and agree to new elections. Iran won’t countenance that.
I cannot even begin to understand the evil mindset that would orchestrate October 7th fully knowing that if they hit the” bees nest” that hard, the swarm would come after them relentlessly! THEY KNEW.
They are that callous that they would martyr their fellow Gazans in order to turn the world against Israel and hopefully complete their long term objective of ridding Palestine of the Jews “from the river to the sea“.
It is almost impossible to see how Israel can bring an end to this conflict without completely occupying the Gaza Strip and systematically rooting out every member of HAMAS.
If Gazans were not a threat then by now Egypt would have allowed refugees to escape.
But no, their border wall is more impressive than Israel’s.
