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| FRIDAY, JULY 4, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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Commentators have begun to say what I have been preaching for years: the Green movement has provided a new home for communists, Marxists, leftwingers and big-government advocates. The people who couldn't get their program accepted using the old Red machine have repainted the machine an earthy Green and are having striking success. I read a recent commentary by a Pulitzer Prize winner and he hit the nail fairly and squarely on the head. His argument is strong and persuasive. Communism and socialism (the instruments of those whom he accurately described as "an ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous knowledge class-social planners, scientists, intellectuals, experts and their left-wing political allies" ) ruled the working class in many countries and for the most part kept them in poverty. Then just about twenty years ago both communism and socialism suffered crushing blows. As the Berlin wall came down and the Soviet empire collapsed communism and socialism "were buried forever by the empirical demonstration of the superiority of market capitalism everywhere from Thatcher's England to Deng's China, where just the partial abolition of socialism lifted more people out of poverty more rapidly than ever in human history." But these forces of the left refuse to die. Just as it appeared that they must die away and be consigned to the scrapheap of history, they found a new home with a much more attractive name: environmentalism. "Now the experts will regulate your life not in the name of the proletariat or Fabian socialism but-even better-in the name of Earth itself." With religious fervor, these apostles of big government are achieving the success that evaded them when they tried to push similar policies under the banner of Marxist or Fabian philosophy. They have succeeded in getting politicians and now even some evangelical church leaders on board to support their program to reverse the alleged man-caused warming of planet Earth. The current jargon talks a lot about your "carbon footprint" and holds out a "solution" that will bankrupt America and will reduce its population to Soviet-style serfdom. In Britain, a parliamentary committee has proposed that each citizen should have to carry a carbon card that stipulates how much energy the government allows him to use in a year. He must present his card every time he buys gas or an airline ticket or when he uses electricity. Every time the card is swiped he uses up more of his energy allowance. Remember this is the very same type of tyranny that the Al Gore crowd here in America wants us to adopt. This is the "Green" solution to the energy problem and it is old line Red Communism. It will solve no problem for the earth but it will accomplish every Marxist's dream of wrecking America's economic strength. What we are facing is a Marxist revival. We are no longer looking for Reds under the bed but Reds decked out in green, posing as the protectors of the Earth. They are far from that. They are the priests of the heathen cult of Gaia and they are bent on the destruction of most of what we hold dear both in the social and religious realm. If they get their way, you can say goodbye to much of your civil and religious liberty-and hello to poverty and the |
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| THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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England is constitutionally a "Christian" country. It has a state church. The British monarch is the "Defender of the Faith" and the supreme earthly head of the Church of England. Yet, more and more, Britain is becoming openly and viciously anti-Christian. Recently, in Wales an employment Tribunal agreed with the British Humanist Association that a Christian charity that caters for the disabled has no right to employ only Christians in the furtherance of its work. This decision follows the path of the Canadian kangaroo courts that I referred to yesterday. In another employment dispute, they rendered the crazy ruling that a rape counseling service acted illegally by refusing to employ transsexual perverts as rape counselors. In the British case, the British Humanist Association was crowing about its great victory. They see what many politicians won't confess: Britain is becoming more and more openly anti-Christian. Consider the implementation in April, 2008, of the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR's). According to a government report, by the terms of this piece of legislation British religious schools may no longer be allowed to teach school children that the Christian viewpoint on sexual morality is "objectively true." The Joint Committee on Human Rights, made up of members from Parliament and the House of Lords, has issued a report on the implementation of the Regulations recommending that religious schools be required to modify their religious instruction to comply with the government-approved doctrine of "non-discrimination."
The government graciously proposes to allow religious schools to remain open and to continue to give instruction in various religious beliefs, but that instruction must be modified "so that homosexual pupils are not subjected to teaching, as part of the religious education or other curriculum, that their sexual orientation is sinful or morally wrong." The report says the Regulations will not "prevent pupils from being taught as part of their religious education the fact that certain religions view homosexuality as sinful," but they may not teach "a particular religion's doctrinal beliefs as if they were objectively true." The report says, "We do not consider that the right to freedom of conscience and religion requires the school curriculum to be exempted from the scope of the sexual orientation regulations." The homosexual political doctrine, accepted by the British and other governments, requires that no distinction be made between the person, the act and the condition or "orientation." This means that effectively the government has rendered any criticism of the homosexual movement's political goals an offence-really, a hate crime-against persons. This is the doctrine that the British Parliament has now incorporated in the nation's law. It officially marks Britain as anti-Christian. The government knows very well that no Christian school can possibly teach the Biblical position on morals as anything but "objectively true." Nobody forces homosexuals to attend religious or Christian schools. If they don't like what they are being taught they have every opportunity to go to a state school where they will hear all the relativistic drivel they want. Instead of telling them to exercise that freedom, the British government has chosen rather to launch an all out attack on what remains of a Christian testimony in once-Christian Britain, bringing the nation to the brink of the awful fulfillment of the dire warning of Psalm 9:17. This is a dark day for Britain. Is America far behind? |
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| WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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Mohamed Elmasry, an imam and president of the Canadian Islamic Congress and Naiyer Habib, took umbrage against an article written by Mark Steyn and published by Maclean's magazine. Their complaint was that the article, "The Future Belongs to Islam," portrayed Muslims as "a violent people" who held Canadian values "in contempt." Elmasry and Habib knew very well that if they took their case to court they would have absolutely no chance of winning. The writer and the magazine were well within their rights and well within the law. So the complainants took the matter up with the Canadian, Ontario and British Columbia human rights authorities. So at the beginning of June, the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal had its first day of hearings in the case. Human Rights Tribunals in Canada have become kangaroo courts that are running amok and trampling on every right of people who don't share the lunatic left-wing agenda of the activists who control them. Ezra Levant, a lawyer and former publisher of the Western Standard Magazine, who faces a lawsuit and a separate Human Rights Commission complaint over similar accusations, has led the charge against what he has identified as the abuses of law that are a routine part of the HRCs' procedures. Levant writes, "In a real court, Joseph [Habib's lawyer] and his bigoted client would be laughed out of court, and have to pay Maclean's costs. But this isn't a real court. This is a kangaroo court, with three leftist activists as panellists." He is dead right. As he said, "MacNaughton [the Tribunal chairwoman] is a not a judge-far from it. Like the other two panellists, she is a radical activist, a social engineer of the first order, which is precisely why she was appointed to the Tribunal." To make matters even more bizarre, one of the complainants, Elmasry, is a known extremist with violent views. On the Michael Coren Show in Toronto in 2004 he stated that anyone in Israel over the age of 18 was a justifiable target of Palestinian attacks. Though he later apologized for his remarks and called them his "biggest mistake" in 30 years of public life, it is clear that his mistake was in allowing his opinions to become public knowledge. And this is the man who is using a kangaroo court to deny a journalist the right to state an opinion that he says paints him and his religion as violent! Hopefully the end of the road is near for these Tribunals. Their lawless activities have provoked a backlash in the Canadian Parliament, with the Conservative government introducing a motion to Parliament's Justice Committee proposing to investigate the practices of the Canadian Human Rights Commission. It's not before time. Quasi courts run by social activists have no place in a just society. To give the lunatic left the power to render verdicts and impose fines is sheer madness. But it is a form of madness that appeals to social engineers and some politicians. Christians are especially vulnerable to these kangaroo courts. What is to us Biblical truth is to the activists who run these Tribunals dangerous and despicable speech. For example, if we say what the Bible says about homosexuality or other perversions or if we teach, as the apostle Paul did, that the "gods" of other religions are no gods at all and that every other religion than Bible Christianity is a demonic deception, they will find us guilty of hate speech. Here in America we should see the danger approaching for this is what will be involved in the proposed "hate speech" legislation before Congress. We must remain a nation of just laws not of kangaroo courts. |
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| TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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In April, Britain's only Pakistani-born Bishop, Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester, issued a warning that some areas of England were becoming "no-go" areas too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter. That did not go down very well with the politically correct crowd of social activists who now control the Church of England. Nazir-Ali was roundly criticized by his ecclesiastical leaders but he was right. There seems to be a mentality in many places in church and state that if we simply ignore unpleasant situations they will somehow disappear. They won't. They will simply get worse. A couple of Americans who were doing evangelistic outreach in Birmingham, England, recently discovered that Nazir-Ali's warning was all too true and that even if the local Muslim population did not rise up to attack them some small time official would make sure to escalate the situation. In parts of Britain with a concentration of an ethnic or religious minority the local police will enlist "Police Community Support Officers." A PCSO has no authority to arrest anyone without the presence of a regular police officer. His job is to reduce tensions between local communities and the police. As the two Americans were talking to a number of youths in an area with a heavy Muslim population, they were accosted by a PCSO who started to question and harass them. He asked them their names and addresses, which they refused to give, as he lacked the right to demand such information. On learning they were from America, he launched into a heated denunciation of President Bush's Iraq policy. No matter how the Americans tried to explain that they had no interest in discussing such matters and were there only to share with people the good news of the gospel, the PCSO remained belligerent and told them that they had no right to be there in that Muslim quarter. He went further and said, "You have been warned. If you come back here and get beaten up, well, you have been warned." The local police said that they had investigated the matter and that the PCSO concerned had received "corrective training." That is not very reassuring. You may be sure that if a regular police officer had met a Muslim in another part of town and told him that he had no right to be there, that officer would have been dismissed at once. However when a Muslim employed to support the police tells Christians that they have no right to be in his area he receives "corrective training," which is just a nice way of saying that he has been allowed to continue on the job-despite the fact that his actions proved that he was a bigot who posed a bigger than the Muslim youths who were engaged in conversation with the Americans who were trying to tell them of Christ. This is a serious situation. Not only are we seeing an erosion of freedom of speech, especially for Christians, but we are fast reaching the stage where here in the West it will be illegal for Christians to evangelize non-Christians. It used to be that it was under Communism that such restrictions were imposed but more and more it is coming to be the case in the West. The truth is that many politicians and churchmen would be glad to make the public square a no go area for the gospel. We must resist all such efforts in the assurance that whatever men say or do "the word of God is not bound." |
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| MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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For a number of years we have lived under a barrage of indoctrination posing as information as powerful lobbies have sought to brainwash the American public into accepting homosexuality as a morally innocent alternative lifestyle. It seems that this long running effort is paying off for according to recent polling data, Americans are evenly divided on the question whether homosexuality is sinful. According to these data, 55% of American Roman Catholics believe that homosexual behavior is not sinful, as did 31% of Protestants. Even 17% of those who described themselves as "Evangelical" or "Fundamentalist" held the same opinion. This I shocking: 39% of Roman Catholics, 61% of Protestants and 79% of those who described themselves as born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist Protestants said they do believe homosexual behavior is sinful. From all this it seems clear that there is an increasing acceptance of homosexual behavior as normal. It is scary to realize that around one in five "born again evangelicals" cannot identify it as sinful but find it acceptable behavior. As I said, the brainwashing has begun to pay dividends for the homosexual lobby. This is serious. Homosexuals have succeeded in perverting the nation's social values and the change they have brought about is one that will do great harm to America. Now they are seeking to gain a stranglehold on churches as well and with a fair amount of success. Among Roman Catholics they have already gained a majority and they may have done the same among liberal Protestants. We are beginning to see what this shift in public opinion will do to our children and the education they are receiving. America desperately needs to hear what the word of God has to say on the matter. Homosexuality is sin not an innocent variation of lifestyle. And God treats it as such. He makes no excuses for it or accommodates it. He condemns it in the most unmistakable manner, irrespective of current public opinion. According to Romans chapter 1, the acceptance of the lifestyle of Sodom is a sign of God's giving a nation up to judgment. Never forget, homosexuality is not just an alternative lifestyle. It is sin. It bars its practitioners from entering God's kingdom-which is another way of saying that it damns the soul. God's people need to recognize this. They do homosexuals no kindness by accepting their perversion as an innocent alternative lifestyle. Homosexuals can be saved on the same terms as other sinners-repentance of their sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a message of hope and it is the only hope homosexuals will ever have. The sooner we grasp the message and tell it to America the better. Failure to do so will exact a terrible price. |
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| FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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While Pope John Paul II lived he could never have assurance of his salvation. That is the official dogma of the Church Rome. Indeed, like every other Roman Catholic, he could never be absolutely sure that he had ever received any of the sacraments that Rome considers essential to the reception of grace. Was he baptized? Confirmed? Ordained? Granted absolution? He thought so and hoped so, but according to his church the validity of the sacrament could be negated by the lack of a proper intention on the part of the priest or bishop who administered it. Even worse, since his ordination depended on a bishop laying his hands on him he had to trust not only that the bishop had a proper intention but that the bishop who ordained him had had one-and so on indefinitely. In other words, there was nothing certain about John Paul's religion. The best he could hope for when he was facing death was an indefinite time in purgatory. Now that he is dead, the Church of Rome has decided that he really wasn't the sinner he thought he was, that in fact he was a saint. Now to Protestants a saint is a person who has been saved by the grace of God and has been vitally united to Christ by faith. Not so in Roman Catholic thinking. To Rome's way of thinking a saint is one of a small elite band of particularly holy people, people who were so holy in their lifetime that they accumulated all the merit they needed to enter heaven with enough left over for the Church to distribute among less deserving cases. So, soon after John Paul died, there were moves to have him recognized a saint. That process is nearing its completion. According to Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Polish priest who is in charge of arguing John Paul's case for sainthood, John Paul will be "beatified" in the very near future. The late Pope is being fast-tracked by a church desperate to cash in on his worldwide popularity. Even in the grave he will help keep Rome center stage in world news. Mgr. Oder said on a visit to the island of Ischia that he hoped the beatification would happen "by the spring of 2009, having already consigned the positio." The positio is a 2,000-page folder containing all the documents that allegedly testify to John Paul's holiness. It would be interesting to see if the positio records the articles written by Piers Compton in The Broken Cross. Compton was a Roman Catholic journalist who edited Britain's leading Roman Catholic journal for many years and he raised serious questions about the Pope's moral character and printed photographs that allegedly support his skepticism about John Paul's behaviour. I cannot comment on the validity of the journalist's arguments but I can say that if the same questions had been raised about any Protestant leader the world's press would have made sure they were widely distributed. At least there is a case to answer and so far Rome has simply ignored the matter. Instead, she is declaring John Paul a saint and will in due course regale us with a series of imagined or manufactured miracles to bolster her finding. It is all one big charade. And it is all too late to do John Paul the slightest bit of good. If he went into eternity depending on his works to get him into heaven (and the Catechism of the Catholic Church insists that is the only way to get in) he received a rude awakening. That is a sobering and tragic thought, one that ought to give every one of us cause to make sure that we have received by faith the imputed righteousness of Christ, the only real ground of justification and acceptance with God. Without that, even if Rome declares you a saint, you have nothing to commend you to God. So whatever Rome says or does now, it can do John Paul II no good at all. |
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| THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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Some years ago a group of Bible believers had the bright idea of adding another theme park to Orlando's usual offerings. We all know about Disney, Universal Studios, Wet 'n Wild and a host of other attractions. This theme park was to be altogether different. It was called The Holy Land Experience and it aimed to transport its visitors back into the land of the Bible. Built in 2001 at a cost of $16 million, The Holy Land Experience recreated the ancient city of Jerusalem to "take you 2,000 years back in time to the world of the Bible" where "it brings to life ancient Israel." Dominating the theme park is a towering replica of Herod's Temple. Also on display are recreations of the Qumran caves (site of the Dead Sea Scrolls), the Garden Tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Tabernacle that Moses built in the wilderness. There is also an Ark of the Covenant light and sound show and a Byzantine Scriptorium where tourists learn about the history of Bible production. The model of old Jerusalem is marvelous and gives a clear picture of the background of many of the events of Scripture. When I visited The Holy Land Experience a few years ago the project was clearly not complete. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable experience. A pastor with a quick wit gave "tours" of the model city and I must say that in a very tasteful and tactful way he made his presentation a clear witness to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. One thing I didn't like was the film in which we had an actor portraying the Lord Jesus Christ but all in all I found the exhibit a very worthwhile venture and I hoped that it would draw sufficient crowds not only to survive the strong commercial competition for tourist dollars but to expand and fulfill its vision. In 2007, Trinity Broadcast Network (the world's largest religious channel, based in Santa Ana, California) bought the park. TBN is a thoroughly Charismatic outfit and while I knew it would bring big bucks to the financially struggling Holy Land Experience I feared it would turn it into another Charismatic circus. I feared that it would not show anything like a due reverence to some of the topics the theme park deals with. My fears have been realized. Paul Crouch, Jr., president of TBN, says that TBN is sprucing up the park and upgrading its shows and that it will use the Holy Land Experience as a backdrop for TV shows and movies, creating a "faith-based Universal Studios." Financially TBN has made the park more successful and the facility is now operating in the black and sees 1,500 to 2,500 visitors every day. However the price has been stiff. ConsiderThe Holy Land Experience celebration of the Crucifixion, as described by the secular media: "Amid cell phones ringing, video cams rolling and ice cream melting under the Florida sun, a blood-spattered Jesus stumbles through the crowd on his way to Golgotha, where nasty Roman soldiers strip him, nail him to the cross and crucify him-while perspiring tourists look on in Bermuda shorts. After the resurrection sequence, visitors applaud and line up for a photo op, not with Mickey or Minnie, but a disciple or bloody-handed yet friendly centurion." The reporter rightly detected the Disney-like atmosphere. I am afraid much of the Holy has gone from The Holy Land Experience, sacrificed on the altar of crass Charismatic commercialism. What TBN is presenting is a parody of the death of Christ. He is not a spectacle for the entertainment of ice cream-licking tourists and for them to make Him so is nothing short of blasphemy. Par for the course for TBN. |
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| WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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Rick Warren, he of the Purpose Driven Life, is now being driven by a new purpose. Recently he called what was termed as a "Purpose Driven Network Summit" to launch a new initiative that he calls the PEACE coalition. The Summit was held in Warren's Saddleback Church and lasted three days. The acronym PEACE is an acrostic that means Promote reconciliation; Equip servant leaders; Assist the poor; Care for the sick; and Educate the next generation. The coalition will cooperate in a global mission strategy called the P.E.A.C.E. Plan, which is a massive, long range effort to mobilize one billion Christians in local churches around the world to copy what they claim is Jesus' model of ministry. PEACE Coalition members see the actions envisaged in their title as Jesus' antidote to five "global giants"-problems that affect billions of people around the world. Warren said, "For followers of Jesus, one of the most important words in our vocabulary is the word ‘Go!' Jesus repeatedly commanded every believer to go; you can't spell gospel or good news without ‘go'-ours is an active, not passive, faith." Now let us be quite clear about some things. There is nothing new about the Christian Church or Christian organizations promoting peace, helping the poor, educating the illiterate or caring for the sick. History is replete with examples of Christian servants in actions at great personal cost to do these very things. Indeed, much of the history of Christian missions is the story of how dedicated servants have put the faith of the gospel into action to bring the good news of eternal life to the perishing and in doing so to ameliorate their social and economic conditions. If what Rick Warren is proposing were to continue the tradition and to get millions of Christians involved I would have no problem. But I do have a problem. In fact it is the most basic problem I could have with his proposal. Look carefully once again at his PEACE initiative. Hear what those letters mean: P means Promote reconciliation; E means Equip servant leaders; A means Assist the poor; C means Care for the sick; and E means Educate the next generation. Now laudable as these aims may sound, let me ask you a question: DO YOU RECOGNIZE IN ALL THIS EVEN ONE REFERENCE TO ANYTHING DISTINCTIVELY CHRISTIAN? I don't. What bothers me most of all is that Warren is touting his Purpose Driven PEACE Coalition as the way the Lord Jesus carried out His ministry. If that were true then Warren's way would be the only way for Christians to carry on their ministry. I believe he knows that he is making such an enormous claim for his movement. But Warren is dead wrong. He is promoting something under the name of Christ that is the opposite of the Saviour's message and ministry. The Lord Jesus preached, "Repent and believe the gospel." Nothing He said or did can be rightly understood apart from that primary message. Yet Warren's new gospel makes not even the slightest mention of any gospel imperative. Indeed, it could just as well be a Jewish or Muslim initiative as a Christian one. To equate this with the ministry of Christ is delusional and deceptive. What Rick Warren is proposing is not just a new way of spreading the gospel but a new gospel-and we all know what Galatians 1:8-9 has to say about anyone who does that. |
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| TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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The Church of England claims to be a Christian church. There are certainly many Christians among its clergy and laity. However, the Church of England is fast losing any real right to be called a Christian church for it is so determined to be syncretistic in its theology and practice-that is, it is so determined not to be exclusively Christian-that it is throwing away one of the absolute criteria for judging a church to be Christian. Paul Eddy, a lay member of the church's General Synod who is training to enter the Church of England ministry, and a number of conservative Anglicans, have proposed a motion urging the Church to proclaim Christianity as the only way to salvation and offer strategies on how to evangelize Muslims. Eddy and his friends argue that the Church should stop avoiding hard questions about its beliefs. I would put that another way. The motion in effect calls on the Church of England to stop pussyfooting around the fundamental truths of the gospel, especially the truth of the exclusive merit and power of the Lord Jesus Christ to save sinners. It calls on the Church of England to tell the world that Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is the Saviour of the world. It calls on the Church of England to set out to evangelize Muslims and people of other religions, not sit down in dialog in an attempt to discover a gospel that is common to all. In Eddy's words, "The Church of England must make it clear that it believes in what the Bible says about Jesus being the only way to salvation." Eddy went on to say that far from hurting relations with Muslims, being upfront about the Church's beliefs would be helpful to Muslim-Christian relations. The Church of England has not received the proposal well. Some, obviously, support it. To others it is anathema. And so once again the Church of England is divided, not over some small party issue but over something that is absolutely essential to its identity as a Christian Church. The secular press has reported that senior church leaders as well as some Muslim figures have voiced anger at Eddy's proposal. The last thing Muslim clerics want is to have their people learn the gospel. Even in England, a land renowned for its tolerance and freedom, Muslim clerics want to make sure that English Christians are not given opportunity to evangelize their Muslim neighbors. And the leaders of the Church of England are in many cases so basically anti-Christian that they abominate the thought of Christian evangelism. There is nothing new in this. Years ago the World Council of Churches proposed a moratorium on missions in parts of Africa. Indeed, the ecumenical movement has always proceeded on the premise that Christianity is one of many ways to God. It may or may not be the best way and it has much to learn about God and His love from other religions, all of which can lead their people to eternal life. This is meant to sound reasonable and loving. In fact it is neither. It is illogical. It is a lie. And to present a lie to souls who must spend eternity in heaven or in hell and tell them it is the truth is not an act of love but of betrayal, cowardice and apostasy. When a preacher or a church cannot be sure that salvation is found in Christ alone, that preacher or church has forfeited the right to be called Christian. They are not safe guides but false prophets and destroyers of souls, dedicated servants of their master the devil. |
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| MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2008 | 15 years ago |
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In the history of Protestantism the name of Scotland ranks as a giant. When it was first touched by the Reformation in the 16th century, Scotland was a barbaric backwater, remote from civilization. True, it boasted some men of learning and eminence and its prior history was one to be proud of. But it was because of the advent of Protestantism and the liberating truths of the gospel that Scotland took its rightful place among the nations of Europe. Patrick Hamilton, a young man of royal blood, went to Europe to study, found (or rather was found by) Christ the Saviour and returned to his native land to spread the good news of saving grace-and that without having to pay the Pope and his minions. Despite his royal family connections, Hamilton was put to death by the Roman church, thus becoming Scotland's first Protestant martyr. He was not the last. Another was George Wishart, a preacher of saving grace whose ministry had a profound effect on his fellow-countrymen. As Wishart saw that he was going to be killed for his faith, he bravely set out on the way that he knew would lead to death. Beside him was a young man who had been a Roman Catholic priest but who had come to faith in Christ as his Saviour and Lord. He was determined to go with his mentor, even if it meant death but Wishart refused, saying, "One is sufficient for a sacrifice." Thus John Knox was spared for future service for Christ in his homeland. In many ways, Knox was the father of the Scottish nation. A man of indomitable courage, theological acumen and deep faith, he lived in such close communion with God that Mary Queen of Scots, the Pope's great hope to hold on to Scotland and regain England, famously said that she feared the prayers of John Knox more than 10,000 soldiers. Through his preaching and leadership Knox saw Scotland become the home of Presbyterianism, a country whose people entered into a solemn covenant with God to remain true to the gospel of His Son. Scotland gave the rest of the world an example of what the gospel could accomplish in even the most barren of soils. It furnished a model not only in church government but in public education. By the time he died, Knox had seen the gospel triumph to such an extent that Scotland was a Protestant nation, a haven for the preaching of the gospel. That is not to say that the fight was over. No, there were many battles and many more martyrs but Scotland ever after had a distaste for Popery and a deep attachment to Christ's Crown and Covenant. Imagine the horror, then, of the headline that judging by church attendances, Scotland is now more Roman Catholic than Protestant. More people there still claim to be Protestant than Roman Catholic but the profession means nothing. Most of them are not Christians and never darken the doors of a church. Roman Catholic attendance has been boosted by an influx of Polish immigrants and this gives the Church of Rome its lead in church attendance. Having said this, it is a dark day when the land of Knox is being again overwhelmed by the dark religion from which he, by the grace of God, delivered it. More Romanism means less gospel light and less gospel freedom. Ecumenical Presbyterians in Scotland are not alarmed. After all, they are now fundamentally at one with Rome in belief and practice, not because Rome has changed to come into line with Scripture, for it hasn't, but because they have sunk into apostasy. As David lamented, "How are the mighty fallen! The shield of the mighty is vilely cast away!" Spiritually, Scotland is returning to the dark ages and the rest of the world's once-Protestant nations are right there with her. |
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