I recently attended what had been labelled as a Counties Connect Event and was a celebration of 125 years of Gospel related activities and which featured reports from some those who have been involved in the work of Counties in recent years. It was a productive meeting and it was encouraging to listen to reports from some of today’s evangelists. I was glad to have attended.

We have moved! It was on Thursday 7^th November 2024, and we only knew the date for certain the day before, to elsewhere in the City of Southend-on-Sea, England. Big deal (NOT) I hear some say, but for us it was a huge deal and in many ways we can see the hand of God behind it and have been touched by many acts of kindness.

I wake up this morning, not unexpectedly awaiting for more results to come but Trump looks to have won the US Presidential race and with it the Republican Party having a majority in the Senate and Congress. I pen these initial thoughts now but with more to follow.

In less than a week, US citizens (along with illegals) will be voting for a new president in, if Alex Jones is correct, the most critical election in world history – with mail-in voting already happening and in some states the result is not expected to be announced until several days after the Tuesday November 5^th polling date.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association: “Dementia is a general term for loss of memory, language, problem-solving and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia”. As I prepared to write, I googled the subject for something inspiring. One of my responses was: “God is present in the lives of people with dementia, and their relationship with God is not undermined by the condition”, but let’s get onto why it is I write on this subject now.

Deception, the act of causing someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid, is rife in our culture and world, even among Christians, and even when, as often happens, it goes unrecognised. Needless to say, it is something we do well to avoid, both as a result of being taken in and our being an instigator of, and is something we do well to be aware of and take measures to avoid.

Amazingly, a few days after I learned of the deaths of David Iles and Geoff Hayman (see here for my tribute) I learned of the death of another old timer, Paul Bullivant, who knew well and had several dealings with both of them (I believe Paul went to school with Geoff and, like Geoff, served as a Counties evangelist). All of these men were much involved in the life of Coleman Street Chapel (formerly Gospel Hall), which had played a significant part in my life between 1964 and 2013. All made a big impact on my life and many others.