Stephen Hayes
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hayesstw.bsky.social
Stephen Hayes
@hayesstw.bsky.social
790 followers 110 following 390 posts
Orthodox deacon, author of intrusive fantasy books mainly for children, Inklings fan, missiologist, interested in theology & literature.
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
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hayesstw.bsky.social
Stephen Hayes @hayesstw.bsky.social · Nov 4
I'm looking for people who want to chat about books - reading, writing, reviewing.

Interested in discussing #theology and #literature like the Oxford #Inklings - face to face in the city of Tshwane, or online. I write fantasy/adventure stories for kids.
#Books #reading
hayesstw.bsky.social
Leaked documents show Meta makes billions from scam ads: Report
thehill.com/policy/techn...
#Facebook #Meta #ScamAlert #Scams&Fraud
thehill.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:30 PM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI.
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
#socialmedia #advertising #Facebook
Bombshell report exposes how Meta relied on scam ad profits to fund AI
Meta goosed its revenue by targeting users likely to click on scam ads, docs show.
arstechnica.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:15 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Four children who have become friends through riding horses in the mountains go on a seaside holiday, but are swept off into a new adventure with horses & magical reindeer & even stranger creatures from myth and folklore. "Cross Purposes"
methodius.blogspot.com/2022/10/cros...
#booksky #kidlit
Cross Purposes: A New Novel
I've written a new novel, Cross Purposes , was released as an ebook on 22 October 2022. It is available from Smashwords and other ebook reta...
methodius.blogspot.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:50 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman accuses politicians of 'serving themselves, not the people'
www.msn.com/en-za/news/o...
#politics #politicians
MSN
www.msn.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:02 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Three kids looking forward to a carefree horse-riding holiday in the Drakensberg encounter bullies, poachers, the apartheid regime's dreaded Security Police, and then a witch: "The Enchanted Grove" by Stephen Hayes at #smashwords
smashwords.com/books/1072405
#booksky #kidlit #mglit
Smashwords – book 1072405
smashwords.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:16 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
A southern African twist on the legend of St George & the dragon: "The Year of the Dragon" by Stephen Hayes at #smashwords www.smashwords.com/books/907935
#booksky #reading
Smashwords – book 907935
www.smashwords.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:16 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Should the South African government offer to take 7500 refugees from school shootings in the USA each year?
November 2, 2025 at 5:13 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
When I was younger, my generation was called "war babies". Now they want to call us "silent". But as far as I am concerned, we are the Beat-Hip generation -- we were the bridge between the Beat Generation and the Hippies.
khanya.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/s...
#generations #socialmedia
Social media, generations and me
Yesterday I heard someone speak on social media, and a lot of it passed me by, and were completely remote from my experience. The main things I took away from it were: A Millennial is someone who k…
khanya.wordpress.com
October 30, 2025 at 12:20 PM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Halloween and cultural appropriation
khanya.wordpress.com/2018/10/30/h...
#Halloween #culturalappropriation
Halloween and cultural appropriation
Someone asked this question on the Quora web site: How have Halloween celebrations changed in your country or region in the last 50 years? And my answer was that 50 years ago they were only done by…
khanya.wordpress.com
October 30, 2025 at 11:54 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Why do some Evangelicals get their knickers in a knot over #Halloween?
khanya.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/e...
#Evangelicals #theology
Evangelicals and Hallowe’en
John Morehead in a blog post Morehead’s Musings: Suggestions for a More Careful Evangelical Assessment at Halloween notes that as October approaches evangelical blogs and websites tend to get…
khanya.wordpress.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:21 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
To all my #Antifa friends: Happy OXI Day!

#OXIDay #OchiDay
October 28, 2025 at 7:33 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Three kids on holiday have to cope with bullies who are into drugs and witchcraft, poachers, and a secret government project the cops think they know too much about. "The Enchanted Grove" by Stephen Hayes.
#kidlit #MGlit #childrensbooks #booksky
www.amazon.com/Enchanted-Gr...
The Enchanted Grove
The Enchanted Grove - Kindle edition by Hayes, Stephen. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Enchanted Grove.
www.amazon.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:08 PM
hayesstw.bsky.social
The Rise and Fall of Russian Historical Determinism
open.substack.com/pub/landmark...
The Rise and Fall of Russian Historical Determinism
Negative perceptions of the consequences of radical liberalism have led Russians to decisively reject its claims to universal inevitability.
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:38 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
The UK media and UK government now seem to equate being anti-football hooliganism with being antisemitic.

#UKpolitics #UKsport #antisemitism
October 23, 2025 at 8:22 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
I can't remember things being so bad in the world in my lifetime.

One can cut Trump some slack, because he is so obviously insane, but Vance, Netanyahu and Starmer don't have that excuse.
October 22, 2025 at 1:15 PM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Students wager NSFAS book allowances and their futures at online betting sites

www.msn.com/en-za/educat...
#education
#gambling
MSN
www.msn.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
The legend of Lobengula's treasure meets the legend of St George and the Dragon: a historical fantasy on the end of apartheid
#books #fantasy #ReadingCommunity #BookSky
books2read.com/u/3n7Nle
Available now at your favorite digital store!
The Year of the Dragon by Stephen Hayes
books2read.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:39 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
If you can read this message, it's proof that there's life after death.
For weeks now messages on Facebook have been warning me that 14 October 2025 was the "end of life" for Windows 10.
Behold! A message, typed on my Windows 10 at 07:24 am on 15 October -- proof that there's life after death.
October 15, 2025 at 5:24 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Patronal festival of St Sergius Orthodox Cathedral in Midrand, Gauteng. Procession around the church with Bishop Konstantin.
#Orthodox #RSA #Africa
October 13, 2025 at 4:37 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
@Charlotte Riggle
I responded to your comment on Steinbeck on Facebook, but Facebook rejected it as spam. Here's as much of it as will fit in Bluesky:
I've read 4 of his books, and here's how I rated them in percentages -- all in the 4-star range on GoodReads. I didn't loathe them, I didn't love th
October 11, 2025 at 4:48 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
New political alliance 'Unite for Change' promises competence over party politics ahead of 2026 local govt elections
www.ewn.co.za/2025/10/06/n...
#RSA #politics
New political alliance 'Unite for Change' promises competence over party politics ahead of 2026 local govt elections
BOSA (Build One South Africa), RISE Mzansi and the GOOD Party say their pre-coalition pact will give South Africans a credible alternative.
www.ewn.co.za
October 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Stephen Hayes
adamjschwarz.bsky.social
The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 has been awarded to Venezuelan democracy activist María Corina Machado.

The Nobel Committee recognised her “struggle to achieve a just & peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

In other words, exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing to the United States.
October 10, 2025 at 9:07 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Few people have any conception of how big a billion is.

If you go back a million seconds you go back a bit more than 11 days.

If you go back a billion seconds you go back about 31692 years and 5 months.
October 9, 2025 at 11:58 AM
hayesstw.bsky.social
Notes from underground: Modernised Christianity in premodern Africa
methodius.blogspot.com/2025/10/mode...
#missiology #AfricanChristianity #culture #modernity #premodernity
Modernised Christianity in premodern Africa
The Primal Vision by John V. Taylor My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is one of those life-changing books, which changed my attitude to a lot ...
methodius.blogspot.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Reposted by Stephen Hayes
jackjenkins.me
Gonna be thinking about this lede for a minute.
(RNS) — Last month, the Rev. David Black stood in front of a Chicago-area U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and spread his arms wide. Adorned in all black and wearing a clerical collar, the pastor looked up at a group of masked, heavily armed ICE agents on the roof and began to pray. “I invited them to repentance,” Black, a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), said in an interview. “I basically offered an altar call. I invited them to come and receive that salvation, and be part of the kingdom that is coming.” But when Black began to lower his arms a few seconds later, the agents responded to his spiritual plea by firing pepper balls, or chemical agents that cause eye irritation and respiratory distress, video footage shows. One struck Black in the head, exploding into a puff of white pepper smoke and forcing him to his knees. Fellow demonstrators rushed to his aid, and as the pastor rubbed his face in pain, the agents continued to fire. “We could hear them laughing,” Black said.
October 7, 2025 at 11:44 PM