Dear Friends,


Thank you to those of you who have shown interest in my musings about our “sister planet” Venus. 


What is interesting about the matter is not confined to the planet itself, but also applies to the information about the planet that we can easily access. If I were a betting man I could (I think) safely bet that most probably none of us, or maybe perhaps one or two, has been really aware of the astounding fact that whenever the two planets Venus and Earth are nearest one another as they go on their separate orbits around the Sun, not only does this “inferior conjunction” happen at almost regular intervals but that whenever it does happen Venus presents the same face towards Earth. I’ve only seen one explanation for that on the internet, which was that it was just “coincidental”. Some explanation!


But there is another thing about Venus which is astounding, and that is its temperature. It’s reliably found to be extremely hot, averaging about 460 degrees Celsius. Since we know that on earth water boils at 100 degrees Celsius it really is H O T on Venus. Much hotter, in fact than on the planet Mercury, which is closer to the Sun than Venus. When it was discovered that most of the atmosphere on Venus - unlike that on Mercury - was carbon dioxide, many investigators got their ah-ha moment. It was not really just the Sun making Venus so hot, they reasoned. (Otherwise it could not be as hot as Mercury). It must be that the carbon dioxide gas on Venus acts like a “greenhouse”, trapping the sun’s radiation and making the planet excessively hot. 


And we would expect that other things being equal the planet, because of its greenhouse heat-trapping carbon dioxide atmosphere, must be getting hotter and hotter.


As we know, the theory of global warming, which is based on the idea of carbon dioxide being a “greenhouse gas” (as it is believed has been proved by the temperature state of the planet Venus) is now regarded as settled science. The emission of excessive carbon dioxide, it is taught, is responsible for global warming, the same process that (it is taught) happened and presumably still is happening to the planet Venus.


And indeed you can find statements on the internet that state, assume or suggest that Venus is getting hotter and hotter. This however is contrary to some findings I heard of in about the early 1960s that actually Venus was cooling.


It’s not so common to find reliable statements on that issue. However I have recently found a piece from NASA which I found really interesting. If you want to look it up let me know and I can easily send you a link. But within the statement towards the end there is this: "Changes were seen over periods spanning days, to weeks, to a decade. Temperatures measured in 1990-91 are warmer than in 2009. Measurements obtained in 2007 using Goddard’s Heterodyne Instrument for Planetary Wind and Composition (HIPWAC) observed warmer temperature in the equatorial region than in 2009.“ (My emphasis).


Hmm. If Venus is actually cooling, as these findings appear to show, might not this be a problem for the carbon dioxide-on-earth global warming theory after all? 


We may need to reserve judgment about the insistent “settled science” claims. They might actually be made in order to impede or evade the process of a true science investigation. We of all people should be wary: the Lord we own said he was “the King of Truth”. 


It is reasonable to assert that a similar caution should be applied to any “settled science” claims made by any authority whatsoever, including all such claims newly or stridently being widely made as we read these words.


The Collect for the week of Trinity Sunday is as follows:


Almighty and everlasting God, who hast given unto us thy servants grace, by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech thee, that thou wouldest keep us stedfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.


This is a prayer, first, to be kept “stedfast in this faith" - the faith that truly acknowledges the “glory of the eternal Trinity”. In this faith we acknowledge the glory of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, sometimes separately but always with a worship that recognises their Unity. It is in the knowledge of the fulness of the work of the Triune God that we can “evermore” pray to be defended “from all adversities.”


For directions about the services this Sunday the 30th May, Trinity Sunday, please see the website www.TruthWithLanguage.com  .


In reliance upon the mighty power of the Triune God to keep us faithful to and in all truth, I am in your service 


Bishop Nicholas