...Realised this Email was nonsense.We have received notice that there is trouble in OXFORD – wanting to close polling stations – some think it could be animal activists etc.
Apparently, there are 2 protestors on the roof at the Spelsbury polling station (David Cameron’s polling station) and the word has gone out on Facebook and the Internet. It is understood that 100’s of rioters are on their way down from the Banbury area. If they manage to close the polling station it will make the whole election invalid. Riot police are there in huge numbers and the press are gathering in their droves.
We need to pray about this situation immediately! Stand against anarchy and rebellion. Command the situation to calm and take authority over principalities stirring hatred and strife. Proclaim and decree THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST AND HIS RULE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUSTICE. Keep your heart steady and REJOICE through the warfare. I was sent this somewhat hysterical email from two separate places. It had orginated from a group called Watchman Intercessor Network. The language here just makes me queasy: "100's" of rioters; "huge numbers" of police, and vulture-like press-folk gathering "in their droves." And the capital letters in the last paragraph, as if the words weren't weighty enough by themselves.
There is something odd going on here. It's like folk are addicted to the precipice, or rather convinced that we are always there, and glad that evidence has finally come to light. It's some sort of need for crisis. In a crisis you don't need to think. What you do there is obvious. It gets you away from the confusion of choice, where judgement rather than panic has to be exercised.
So the thing itself was scary. The second scary thing is that folk passed this on. I guess you are scared not to. That you will be guilty of desertion if you show doubt in the heat of battle. But we damage ourselves so badly by our naivety. We have to convince people that we believe because we the arguments are strong, not because we are the kind of people that are easily bought. We should have a reputation for incredulity, and that should not be sold lightly. Fortunately, the policy officer from Evangelical Alliance in Scotland realised this was nonsense (there were no riots on the news, closed polling stations do not invalidate an election) and one of the original forwarders was good enough to send out a retraction.
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