Dennis-Exciting-Times

  It is almost that time of the year when Jews celebrate Hannukah and Christians Christmas this year 5781on the Hebrew calendar or 2020 on the Georgian calendar Hannukah begins on the evening of December 10 th . It occurred to me that many people do not know what Hannukah commemorates of course in the predominantly Christian countries most have a fair idea of the significance of Christmas, although I did see a photograph of a Christmas display in an Asian store that featured a Santa Clause nailed to a cross. Some obviously have yet to learn the sad story of a Jewish man born in a stable and unjustly executed at just 33 years of age, but that is the Easter story, Christmas is the time to celebrate his birth and life, a life that would have been so different without the events of Hannukah. The Hannukah story began over two hundred years before the birth of Christ and at a time when the land of Israel was occupied by Greco-Assyrian forces. The invaders were Hellenists and worshipped the

  Governments, big business, vested interests and their faithful servants the media continually bombard the public with a never-ending stream of crises. This is not a new phenomenon all leaders and governments have used crises and violence to enforce their will on populations since man first lived in tribes. Once disobedience would see you thrown to the lions, burned in the furnace at the stake, or crucified, there was also the ever-present threat of war. Stick together and obey the king and fight for him or the neighbours will invade take your lands and kill you. In these days of mutual assured destruction no one wants to attack because nobody will survive so the control has become more subtle and more insidious. In the 1970’s there was a lot of press given to the possibility of a new ice age but, of course that did not eventuate and so the cessation of freezing became global warming caused by human production of carbon dioxide. The projections showing the warming trend ignored the