Heavenly Worldliness

Thames Path South 14 - More Pics

City of London from the Southbank

Cherry Gardens Pier, Bermondsey

Thames Path South 14 (Tower Bridge - Cherry Gardens Pier)

Near St Saviour's Dock/New Concordia Wharf

St Saviour's Dock

Shad riverside promenade

Shad Thames, Bermondsey

Tower Bridge from the Southbank

Tower from the Southbank

Did another bit of the walk recently, just one section this time. Had a coffee in Starbucks near London Bridge then walked to Tower Bridge and enjoyed a pleasant walk as far as Cherry Gardens Pier. I then walked to Bermondsey tube station and headed home.

My first upcoming date in Sydney, Australia

Illegalities When Jesus Was On Trial

Procedural Violations

Night time Trial: Capital cases could only be tried during daylight hours. Jesus' first two trial phases occurred in the dead of night.
Festival Eve Execution: Capital trials could not be held on the eve of a Sabbath or a major festival like Passover. The trial took place immediately before Passover.
Verdict Timing: A verdict of "guilty" in a capital case could not be reached on the same day as the trial. It required a 24-hour delay of fasting and deliberation to protect the accused. Jesus was condemned within hours.
Private Location: Capital trials had to take place in the official court venue. Jesus was tried in the private palaces of Annas and Caiaphas.

Evidentiary Violations

No Defence Provided: Jewish law required the court to actively search for arguments to acquit the accused before seeking a conviction. No defense was permitted or sought for Jesus.
Contradictory Witnesses: Capital conviction required the testimony of at least two independent eyewitnesses whose stories matched perfectly. The Sanhedrin's witnesses openly contradicted one another, which legally required the case to be dismissed.
Self-Incrimination: A defendant could not be convicted solely on their own testimony under Jewish law. The High Priest bypassed the failed witness testimonies and condemned Jesus based entirely on Jesus' own response regarding His identity.

Judicial Misconduct

Bribery: The judges paid Judas Iscariot thirty pieces of silver to secure the arrest of the accused, rendering the judges legally disqualified due to personal bias.
Unanimous Verdict Rule: In a strange twist of Jewish law, if a capital verdict of "guilty" was completely unanimous among the 71 judges, the defendant was to be acquitted. This rule existed because a unanimous guilty vote was seen as a sign of a conspiracy lacking a fair judicial defense. The Sanhedrin voted unanimously to condemn Him.

While Roman law gave provincial governors like Pontius Pilate near-absolute authority (imperium), Pilate's handling of Jesus' trial directly violated core principles of Roman jurisprudence, Roman administrative duty, and the Lex Julia (laws governing treason and judicial corruption).

Procedural and Administrative Violations

Reversing an Absolute Acquittal: Under Roman law, once a magistrate declared a formal verdict of acquittal (Absolutio), the case was closed. Pilate publicly pronounced Jesus innocent three separate times ("I find no basis for a charge against this man"), but illegally allowed the trial to continue under mob pressure.
Double Jeopardy (Scourging after Acquittal): Roman law forbade punishing a citizen or subject who had been found not guilty. Pilate ordered Jesus to be brutally scourged (flagellatio) as a compromise to appease the crowd, despite having already declared Him innocent.
Abuse of Judicial Discretion: A Roman governor was legally bound to maintain pax Romana (Roman peace) through impartial justice. By capitulating to a mob threat ("If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar"), Pilate surrendered his judicial independence to public coercion, a severe breach of a governor's mandate.

Violations of Due Process

Lack of Substantiated Charges: Roman jurisprudence required a formal, specific accusation (inscriptio) backed by evidence. The Jewish leadership shifted their charges from religious blasphemy to political treason ("He subverts our nation ... claims to be a king"). Pilate explicitly noted that no evidence supported this capital charge, yet he issued a death sentence anyway.
Failure to Act on Personal Jurisdiction: When Pilate discovered Jesus was from Galilee, he correctly recognised that the case fell under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas (forum originis). When Herod sent Jesus back without a conviction, Pilate was legally required to dismiss the charges based on Herod's finding, but failed to do so.
Statutory Misconduct Judicial Corruption (Lex Julia de Residuis/Repetundarum): Roman statutes strictly prohibited judges from sentencing a man to death out of fear, bribery, or political self-preservation. Pilate's compliance with the crowd to protect his own political standing with Emperor Tiberius violated the integrity required of a Roman magistrate.
Coerced Capital Sentence: Condemning a prisoner to crucifixion - he most severe Roman penalty (summum supplicium) - strictly required a proven crime against the Roman Empire, such as active armed rebellion. Pilate explicitly stated Jesus was not a political threat ("My kingdom is not of this world"), making the execution order legally baseless under Roman statutory definitions of treason (maiestas).

New Pastor in Childs Hill

I am very pleased to say that the church here in Childs Hill, Childs Hill Baptist Church, has recently called a new pastor. His name is Chungman Shon. A Londoner, he was born in South Korea. It is not yet clear when he will start. He is getting married at the end of this month. I have been here about 43 years.

Aber Conference Main Sessions 8 and 9 2026

Phil Swann took us to Revelation 7 for the final morning, appropriately speaking of heaven and of the ground to be covered beforehand. It has obviously been an emotional week for Phil in light of his mother's death last week. He was right to come and preach, however, and has blessed us. Sadly, we had to leave the conference early as our dog is ill. As we drove through the mountains we did our best to listen to the message from Huw WIlliams, not someone I was aware of. He preached on Psalm 63 in a style, I thought, quite different to the others this week. Of course, there was the problem with the alrms on our phones and despite their efforts I'm sure I could hear the occasional phpone going off throughout. Not too distracting once you knew what it was. So another good conference. How blessed we are.

Links

Friday Morning

Friday Evening

Aber Conference Main Sessions 6 and 7 2026

A very good day today. Phil Swann spoke well on Peter's restoration. This may be the best so far or perhaps I am just getting used to him. Then tonight we had a very straight evangelistic message from Rico Tice, including answers to the question of whether hell exists (it does) what it is like (a place of punishment and separation) who goes there (those who misuse the bodies God has given them) and how I can possibly escape going there if it is possible, which, of course, it is. A very good day.

Links

Thursday Morning

Thursday Evening

Aber Conference Main Sessions 4 and 5 2026

The Wednesday of the conference was again good stuff. Phil Swann gave his second message, looking at the Ethiopian eunuch and then in the evening Rico Tice gave a typical evangelistic message (combined with a call to Christians to evangelise). I think an evangelist can "get away" with things a regular preacher ouoght not to engage in (eg thrwoinga gospel into the gallery). The evening meeting was put back to allow people to try and see the eclipse, which we did. Perhaps the best I've seen in my lifetime but not spectacular. Very warm day.

Links

Wednesday Morning

Wednesday Evening

Aber Conference Main Sessions 1-3 2026

As usual all the main sessions from the Great Hall are being streamed and remain up on YouTube as recordings. The first evening, my oldest son Rhodri preached from Colossians 1 and then this morning Phil Swann did the first of four main talks on Mission Unstoppable. Tonight it was Andrew Norbury on Colossians 3. All good stuff.

The links are as follows

Monday Evening

Tuesday Morning

Tuesday Evening

Aber Conference 2026

I'll be getting into Aber for the EMW conference shortly. The website with all the info is here. More anon.

For the videos try here and here.

Thames Path South 8-13 More Pics

Golden Hinde reconstruction

Cannon Street Railway Bridge

Shakespeare's Globe

Cardinal's Wharf Bankside

Tate Modern

St Paul's from the southbank

Blackfriars Bridge Underpass

The Vase, etc

Somerset House from the southbank

Sir Laurence Olivier

Westminster Bridge

Thames Path South 8-13 (Westminster Bridge-Tower Bridge)

HMS Belfast

Last Saturday I returned to Westminster tube, walked across Westminster Bridge and resumed my walk, covering a large chunk of the Thames Path south, six sections, although it is a similar distance wise to the previous walk. This walk took me through familiar and crowded walkways. Being a sunny Saturday in August it was especially busy. It is hard to believe there are so many restaurants, shops, theatres, etc, in such a confined area. I passed at least ten bridges and some iconic places. Enjoyed a coffee at Caffe Nero at the end and then a meal in the Leon near London Bridge Station.

Tower Bridge in the distance

Millennium Bridge

Shell Building

London Eye

South Bank Lion 1837

County Hall

Lord's Day August 9 2026

These are unusual days as I preach my final sermons in Childs Hill. Yesterday, I preached in the morning a fresh sermon on Song of Songs 2:4 and then in the evening a refreshed one on I John 4:16. The family were all in Aber where I plan to join them and others were away too so the morning congregation was not large and by the evening we were down to seven. We had three Iranian visitors (just people staying in the area), an Iranian new to the area who has been in the UK over 15 years, other regular Iranians (about three of them, could have been a lot more), a late arriving Iranian who we have met before plu our refugee friends, a visiting grandparent, Marissa from KL who came last week and Corneille from Benin (they both kneeled to pray before we started - unusual).

Florence Nightingale Museum

My recent walk along the Thames landed me near the Florence Nightingale Museum, a museum I have known of and wanted to visit for a while. It is small and specific but very well done. I timed it right to catch a woman performing (convincingly) as Mary Seacole for half an hour. That added to the experience. Evryone should know about Florence Nightingale and the museum helps us to that end well. Musea today are eager to cover all the bases and so it was good to see that ion the bookshop they not ony had Mary Seacole's story but that of Betsi Cadwaladr too.