War Cry 5 October 2019: selected articles

5 October 2019 • WAR CRY • TELEVISION 3 BBC

History fakes the headlines Will truth be told? asks Sarah Olowofoyeku

Ian Hislop investigates the history of fake news

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XTRA, extra! Read all about it!

The term fake news currently has a high circulation, but a new documentary reveals that there’s nothing new about it. The truth comes out on Monday (7 October) in Ian Hislop’s Fake News: A True History, on BBC Four.

‘Fake news was a problem long before our own uncertain and confused times,’ Ian reports, as the programme begins. He goes on to explain the origins of fake news, which hark back to the beginnings of mass-market media in the 19th century, when newspapers intentionally published stories that weren’t true.

The documentary looks at the current fake news crisis through the lens of history. Ian unpacks the motivations for spreading fake news, which include profit, power, politics and prejudice. He chats to a manufacturer of fake news, as well as with someone whose business has been targeted as a result of wild rumours disguised as official news.

While each of his interviewees has different experiences, they share the

opinion that fake news is dangerous and that somebody – whether individuals or tech companies – needs to be responsible for verifying the truth.

Such verification, however, is not always straightforward. The documentary features the recent phenomenon of ‘deepfake’, an

The problem of truth is not breaking news AI-based technology that can be used to create or alter video content to portray an event that did not actually occur.

It may be frightening to learn about all the ways in which we can be deceived, and how, with technology, fake news seems to be on the increase. It is hard to know what the truth really is and it can feel impossible to know who to trust.

The problem of truth is not breaking news. The spread of false ideas goes back even further than the 19th century.

As Ian Hislop suggests, perhaps the

only way not to be deceived is to trust nothing and no one and to question everything.

One book that many people have questioned over the years but that many have found to be true is the Bible.

And one story covered within its pages is that of the original doubting Thomas.

Thomas was one of Jesus’ closest friends. However, when the news broke that days after his crucifixion Jesus had been raised by God from death to life, he wasn’t buying it.

But rather than condemn him for his scepticism, the Bible reports that Jesus personally met up with Thomas and his other followers, proving that he was alive. He said to Thomas: ‘Stop doubting and believe’ (John 20:27 New International Version).

Many Christians have found that when they have experienced doubt, God has shown up and helped them to believe. If we find it hard to trust God’s message of his love for us, we can be reassured that he can prove himself to be true.

And that’s good news for everyone.

PHILIP HALCROW

8 FEATURE • WAR CRY • 5 October 2019

5 October 2019 • WAR CRY • FEATURE 9

Thousands of booksellers will be holding events, creating window displays and giving away goodies to mark Bookshop Day (Saturday 5 October).

In the run-up to the celebration, Philip Halcrow visited Living Stones to see what this bookshop and community hub offers the people of Fleet Pippa Hearne, manager of the Living Stones bookshop

AVE e-readers and online giants spelt the H end of the kind of shop that Pippa Hearne manages? Not in her book.

‘A few years ago there was concern over the rise of the ebook,’ says Pippa, who has worked at the Living Stones bookshop and community hub in Fleet since 2011. ‘It was said that people would buy Kindles and we would see the death of the printed book. But that has not happened.

‘I don’t know if that’s a surprise or not. Kindles are great if you’re going on holiday and want to take 50 books with you. But people still like having a tactile book in their hands, which is great for bookshops in general.’

Surrounded by boxes and files in the office at the back of the Christian bookshop, Pippa talks of how she has also witnessed the growth of online bookselling. ‘But, even though we don’t deliberately undercut Amazon,’ she says, ‘there are times when we have been cheaper. It happens more often than you think.’

And, as she illustrates, the retail space and other rooms in Living Stones offer more than the chance to buy books.

Pippa tells how the store’s story began in the early 1980s when a churchgoer felt led by God to open a Christian bookshop in the Hampshire town.

Churches pledged support and the store opened for business on 16 January 1983. Eleven years later, what had been known as Fleet Bible Bookshop sought bigger premises and relocated to its present site. It also adopted the name Living Stones, derived from a Bible passage in which the writer likens believers collectively to a sacred building.

Now, the recently refurbished shop’s shelves are lined with the colourful covers of books by a spectrum of authors. Soul Fuel, a book of reflections by TV survival expert Bear Grylls shares shelf space with Richard Dawkins, C. S. Lewis and the Meaning of Life

in which Oxford professor Alister McGrath compares the world views of the Christian writer of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with those of the author of The God Delusion. A copy of John Bunyan’s classic 17th-century allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress stands next to Phoebe, Paula Gooder’s novel imagining the life of a woman mentioned in the New Testament.

‘We try to stock all translations of the Bible,’ says Pippa, ‘and we have sections on Christian biography and fiction, as well as books on prayer, family life and Bible study. We also try to keep a good range of children’s Bibles.

‘We’re guided by our customers in what we stock, and our suppliers help us run money-off promotions.’

But a browse round the shop will reveal that it sells more than books. A display offers customers fairly traded chocolate bars, biscuits, cereals and preserves. Alongside a ceramic grinder and drip cone are bags of coffee roasted by Karuna Coffee, a branch of a Christian antipoverty charity.

‘The guys from Karuna came in and ran a tasting morning with lots of different coffees, which was fun,’ says Pippa.

The information about the coffee roasters’ visit is just a sample of the variety of events, activities and services offered by the bookshop and the other rooms.

The walls are lined with paintings. Living Stones has forged links with local artists, Pippa explains, ‘to try to make the building look attractive, to encourage people into the building and to support the artists’.

She says: ‘We have begun to run art gallery open evenings, when people can come in, socialise and buy anything from the shop, including the works of art.’

Artists are among the members of the community who regularly take up the invitation to make use of the

People still like having a tactile book in their hands

Turn to page 10

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10 FEATURE • WAR CRY • 5 October 2019

From page 9 rooms beyond the bookshop.

‘Today, one artist is running a workshop where people can come to learn a new skill and maybe discover a hobby,’ says Pippa.

Upstairs, the artist is encouraging and guiding three budding artists in painting flowers.

‘Later this morning,’ continues Pippa, ‘a lady comes in who runs art for therapy classes. She has seen that some people find it quite healing to be able to put their feelings into art and that it can help their mental health. Another artist runs a Make Art and Friends group.’

Pippa describes other ways in which people use the hub.

‘A tutor comes in and helps schoolchildren with maths, English and Spanish, as well as running Spanish classes for adults.

‘Once a month the University of the Third Age holds what it calls a Moto – “members on their own” – group for people who have lost their partners through bereavement or divorce or who have never been married and who want to link up for social activities.

‘We also have a room for hot-desking, which can be used by business people either because they can’t get into work – perhaps the trains are unable to make it into London because of snow – or because they know that they would get

disturbed if they were working at home.

‘One of the reasons for setting up the hot-desking facility was that it may lead to there being a community of Christians who run their own businesses and can help each other out with their different skills.’

Living Stones is already the venue for a monthly prayer breakfast, where business people meet to talk and pray for each other’s work.

It’s one of a number of specifically Christian activities that take place at the centre. Pippa says that two counsellors use the hub for their Christian counselling practice. Shortly before the summer holiday, a church group ran a youthorientated course on the basic beliefs of Christianity. Next week Living Stones will be the venue for Painting skills are developed a 24/7 prayer week, when members in an art workshop of churches in Fleet and Church Crookham will aim to ensure that during all 168 hours of the week, people their own prayers. will be praying for the community and ‘A while ago, a lady wrote a prayer in the the whole world. book. She came in again the other week And prayer, Pippa reveals, can also be and said: “My prayer has been answered.” part of the customer service whenever ‘Sometimes people have just come into the bookshop is open. the shop and asked for prayer for their ‘We have a little drop-in zone, where health or because they’re in debt or are people can sit, read and reflect. There’s worried about other problems.’ complimentary tea and coffee there and Pippa and the other staff are interested a notebook in which people can write in more than financial transactions.

We have a zone where people can sit, read and reflect

Kathy says that customers have become friends

5 October 2019 • WAR CRY • FEATURE 11

Standing at the till, volunteer Kathy Hudson reflects on years of working at the shop. ‘I know the regular customers by name, and they have become friends,’ she says. ‘Working in the shop is more than volunteering. It has become part of my life.’

Kathy and Pippa open a box that has arrived. It is full of decorations for the shop and freebies – including an Elmer the Patchwork Elephant tote bag – that they can give away on Bookshop Day, a nationwide celebration organised by the Booksellers Association. ‘Every year,’ says Pippa, ‘they send us bags and bookmarks designed to encourage people to visit us on that day.

We hope that people will also use us all year round.’

Pippa reiterates Living Stones’s aim to be ‘the light on the high street’.

‘People come in and say that they have a friend who is going through a difficult time or wrestling with such-and-such a problem, and they ask us to suggest a book for them.

We try to find something suitable.

‘Even if someone doesn’t buy a book but wants help, we’re here. We’re here even if they just want to come and have a chat.

If they want some prayer, we can do that.’

PHILIP HALCROW

People ask us to suggest a book for a friend who is going through a difficult time

12 INNER LIFE • WAR CRY • 5 October 2019

Prayerlink THE War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their ­circumstances. Send your requests to Prayerlink, War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, Lon­don SE1 6BN. Mark your envelope ‘Confidential’.

Becoming a Christian There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit.

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

Nigel Bovey gives chapter and verse on each book in the Scriptures

Zechariah ECHARIAH is prophesying in 524BC. Z He is addressing the flattened Jerusalem. Haggai, another biblical

prophet, also spoke about the rebuilding of the Temple. But, whereas Haggai’s call for the rebuilding of the Temple was practical, Zechariah’s is poetic.

Through visions of a man among myrtle trees (1:7–17), of a man with a measuring line (chapter 2) and of four chariots (6:1–8), God outlines his intention to restore Israel and to make Jerusalem his dwelling place again.

Other visions of four horns and four craftsmen (1:18–21), of a flying scroll and of a woman in a basket (chapter 5) announce divine judgment on nations who oppressed Israel and on individual sin.

God clearly states his intentions: ‘I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem’ (8:3).

This renewed city of God will be a place where people live long enough to need a walking stick and children feel safe enough to play on the streets (8:4 and 5). It will be

Key verse ‘“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty’ (Zechariah 4:6 New International Version)

a place of repatriation (8:8), a fertile place (8:12) and a place where envious foreigners want to live (8:23).

The later chapters outline some of the events that will occur before the ultimate ful-

This renewed city of God will be a place where children feel safe filment of these visions. A king is to come (9:9). God’s scattered people will gather in Israel (chapter 10). There will be a payment of 30 pieces of silver (11:12). The nation will mourn for ‘the one they have pierced’ (12:10). A shepherd will be struck and forsaken (13:7).

A climactic ‘day of the Lord’ will come (14:1). Nations will gather to destroy Jerusalem. The Lord will stand on the Mount of Olives (14:4). Living water will flow from the city (14:8). Enemies defeated, ‘the Lord will be king over the whole earth’ (14:9).

Christians believe that such a vision has been partially fulfilled in the fleshand-blood appearance of Jesus Christ.

They also believe that it will be completely fulfilled through his Second Coming at the end of time.

Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

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