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Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were martyred for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, burning at the stake in the famous English university town of Oxford on October 16th 1555. Latimer was Bishop of Worcester and Ridley was Bishop of London. Both were powerful evangelists and fiercely outspoken critics of the attempt to crown the Catholic Bloody Mary as Queen of England because she was hellbent on killing Protestants. After Mary’s accession to the English throne the two bishops were seized by royal guards and taken to the infamous Tower of London where they shared a cell with Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer who wrote the Common Book of Prayer that is still used today. Latimer and Ridley were in the dock at the Great Heresy Trials of February 1555. Hugh Latimer bravely stood to his feet and took the opportunity to deliver a blistering defence of the Gospel and the right of every person to have direct access to God through Jesus, not the Pope. There was never any doubt about the verdict, his words sealed their fate and they were both sentenced to burn. As they went to the pyre, the two evangelists knelt together and prayed before they were chained up and bags of gunpowder were hung around their necks. Thomas Cranmer was made to watch and would go to his own death the following year. These were Latimer’s final words on earth “Be of good cheer brother Ridley for tonight, by God’s grace, we light a candle in England that will never be extinguished” Remarkable faith-filled words in the face of such horror. How badly we need the flame of the Gospel that Latimer spoke of to burn across our spiritually stricken nation.

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The switchover to decimal currency on February 15th 1971 ended centuries of tradition and it wasn’t an easy transition for the British people with many refusing to adopt the new money. Previously there were 12 pennies to a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound, but now it was 100 pennies to the pound. A huge national campaign was launched to help millions of people and thousands of businesses to adapt. Families were confused, coin machines were obsolete and cashiers were retrained. Even the world famous London store, Harrods, employed ‘Decimal Penny Assistants” to assist confused customers with the new coins!

The transition to decimalisation took five years of planning. February 15th was chosen as it was thought to be a quiet time for banks and shops who were closed for 5 days ahead of the big day to allow cheques to be cleared and accounts to be converted. Don’t forget that this was before computers so the whole thing was done manually! Even though the new currency had arrived, the old stuff was still legal in banks and stayed around for a long time. 

When someone encounters God for the first time, believes and understands that when Jesus his son lived, died and rose again, something extraordinary happens. We are quite literally born again into a new life and we begin to live with a new currency. Giving your life to Jesus happens in a moment but the process of transitioning from an old life to a new life is a process that takes a lifetime. The Bible says that if anyone in in Christ they are a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come. But don’t let anyone tell you that it’s a religious thing, it really isn’t. Becoming a follower of Jesus is a life thing!

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On February 11th 1990, the most famous prisoner in the world was freed after 27 years. The majority of his sentence was in the brutal Robben Island Prison and in a cell with no bed and not even the most basic of plumbing. Upon his release, Nelson Mandela would live for a further 13 years making a colossal impact on the world.

He was jailed in 1964 for resisting the vicious apartheid system in his native South Africa that denied black people even the most basic rights. Throughout Mandela’s years in jail, a global campaign to free him was gaining momentum. When he was finally let out, President FW de Klerk took a huge personal risk, opening the door for an election that gave every South African the vote. It would ultimately lead to Mandela’s party gaining power and him becoming president of a united South Africa. The turnout that day was unprecedented and the emotional scenes were shown across the world as people, who previously had no voice, were able to cast a vote for freedom and equality. 

Throughout the five years of his presidency, Nelson Mandela led an anxious and previously divided country with grace, forgiveness and dignity continually resisting calls for retribution from his own supporters against those who had wronged them. The South Africa of today is a not without its problems, of course, but the remarkable ‘Rainbow Nation’ shines as a beacon of hope and reconciliation in a troubled World. Many church leaders have spoken of Mandela’s deep personal faith in the God of the Bible. Some of them visited him in prison and told of the times they prayed together in his cell as well as in his later years as president. A life-long friend was with him the day he died and emotionally recounted seeing his face light up moments before he passed away when he spoke the words of the blessing that the great man loved so much: 

"May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord look upon you with kindness, and give you peace."

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The Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a gunman on this day, 75 years ago. There’s so many stories about the iconic statesman who rose from the brutal scars of abuse to become a man with an almost god-like reputation among the Indian people and a fearless champion of the ‘untouchables’ often being seen in some of India’s worst slums. Gandhi insisted on living a humble life in contrast to other heads of state, wearing simple clothes, travelling third class and staying in basic accommodation.

Gandhi believed he was living without the need for security guards but in reality they were everywhere dressed as slum dwellers. The train carriages he travelled in, were only attached to the engine unit, so he was actually travelling solo with just a guard onboard. Not really a budget option, more like a very expensive one. Many obstacles were overcome to allow such a powerful man as him to be so accessible. After he died, one of his closest aides was quizzed about the way Mahatmas Gandhi had lived. The answer was very interesting “You have no idea what it took to keep that old man in poverty!”

A quick glance at the Bible could give the impression that Jesus lived the same way as Gandhi, refusing the privileges of a respected rabbi in exchange for a life on the street. He certainly spent his days travelling on foot among the dust and the dirt and was frequently seen among the destitute and discarded people. Even the harshest critics of Christianity who reject the claims of Jesus, would concur that he lived a very humble existence. But it was far from a political demonstration or to attract attention to himself, his teachings or his miracles. Jesus lived out his life as a signpost back to God the Father, revealing his heart for the people at the end of the queue who were shunned by the religious system of the day. The shadow of the cross was being cast upon the street everywhere he went. Jesus didn’t simply live a good life,  he died the death of a common criminal for the sum total of human failure. Then he rose to life again, opening the way back to an eternal relationship with God for all of us.

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C.S. Lewis died on November 23rd 1963 but his passing went almost unnoticed as the world was rocked by the violent and shocking assassination of President John F. Kennedy on the very same day in Dallas, Texas. Clive Staples Lewis grew up surrounded by books at the dawn of the twentieth century. As a teenager, he ditched the Christian influences of his upbringing and became well known as an atheist. Soon afterwards he enlisted in the British Army and experienced the horror, squalor and disease of trench warfare on the Western Front. As the war came to an end, he picked up his love for literature and began studying at the world renowned Oxford University. It was here that he established himself as a writer but still sometime before he would pen the series of books for which he would become one of the most famous authors of all time.

While studying at Oxford, C.S. Lewis met another up and coming literary genius by the name of J.R.R. Tolkien the creator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien was a man of faith and during some of their regular Tuesday morning gatherings at the back of a pub in Oxford, the conversations turned to God, the Bible and the person of Jesus Christ. Within a short space of time, Lewis’s hard line atheist position was coming under serious threat and in 1929, he committed his future to following Jesus as a Christian. It was to alter the entire course of his life and he would become one the greatest and most respected defenders of Jesus Christ, his teachings and the Gospel. C.S. Lewis boldly took on many of the big topics relating to the human struggle but it was his creation of a seven book series that made him the icon he is today, The Chronicles of Narnia.

The stories he told throughout the Narnia books have a moving and powerful resonance with the Gospel and the God of the Bible. The final word goes to the great man himself “Out of a hopeless quest has come money, poverty, ambition, war, empires and slavery. The terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."

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The Gettysburg Address was delivered by Abraham Lincoln on November 19th 1863 during the American Civil War. He’d been inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States of American 5 weeks before the start of the war and was assassinated 4 years later just 6 days after it ended. Abraham Lincoln proposed to make sweeping changes including the abolition of slavery. Because the southern states relied on slaves, they resisted and established a confederacy against the north, loyal to the President. Their refusal to bow, fanned the flames of war. The South adopted the, now highly inflammatory, Confederate Flag and half a million men marched beneath it and died for the cause.

160 odd years after the American Civil War that flag is still a symbol of independence and resistance to the rule of law. Slavery and rebellion were, perhaps, the two issue that formed the basis of the American Civil War and also Lincoln’s famous speech at Gettysburg that asserted that all men are created by God free and equal. Justice and equality were the two hallmarks that ultimately ended the conflict and, with it, dealt a deathblow to the evils of the slave trade. The Battle Hymn of the Republic is still sung throughout the world – “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, His truth is marching on”

So what does a quick look at American history have to do with the message of Jesus? The Bible says that we are all rebels, if you like, we have all been born under the Rebel Flag and we all march to its tune. We have rebelled against our Father and Creator God and as result we have become slaves. Slaves to addiction, slaves to popularity, slaves to materialism and slaves to the moment with no concept of our eternal destiny. The Bible says that it is our rebellion against God that has opened the door to the control of evil in this world. Jesus came to break that control through his perfect or sinless life. He is the only person who has ever lived who was not to be born under the Rebel Flag. Because he went to the cross as an innocent man, he was able to destroy the power of slavery and rebellion and open the door, through which we can all pass, to get back to God.

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We hit Hollywood & Highland--aka Miracle Street-- with @davidspates to find out if people believe in miracles! Full video in bio. #SayWhat #MiracleStreet #MiraclesFromHeaven #comedy #video