President Clinton’s repentance
At the annual breakfast prayer meeting in the White House, President Clinton said with regard to his immorality, “I have repented.” In an almost tearful speech, which was larded with religious language, he said, “The sorrow I feel is genuine.” His performance, said one report, was uncannily like that of the 1980’s fallen TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart when he made his confession. In a broadcast he tearfully but unconvincingly said, “I have sinned.” The President, at the end of his speech, was given a “standing ovation”.
Only God knows what is in his heart, but from the press reports of his performance, and also from the full text of his speech, it seemed clear to this writer that he did not have the repentance which God requires, but rather was giving a skilled performance to keep himself in the seat of power.
He has asked three ministers to help him overcome such temptations as he has yielded to. Yet, one of these ministers himself had an adulterous affair some years ago, and another is calling on the church to accept homosexuality. The third member of this team of “spiritual advisers” has not yet been named. It shall certainly fare ill with the leader of the United States if he is to be led by spiritually blind churchmen. “They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch,” Matthew 15:14
Immoral decision by Health Board
THE Greater Glasgow Health Board, having run a pilot project at Drumchapel High School to give free contraception to pupils, has decided to extend the scheme to other schools in its area.
Once again we have a Health Board, in its attempt to prevent teenage pregnancies, sending out a message which is entirely wrong: that such conduct outwith marriage is acceptable, provided contraception is used. It is deplorable that, on the whole, those who are appointed by Health Boards to tackle these great problems, resolutely refuse to advocate the divine requirement of chastity outwith marriage and fidelity within marriage.
Such official policy, in Glasgow, the Highlands, and elsewhere, is proof positive that ours is indeed “a wicked and adulterous generation”, and that we are urgently in need of repentance.
Further attacks on the Sabbath in the Highlands
FOOTBALL clubs are increasingly making use of the Sabbath for matches and other activities. Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC has applied for planning permission to use its stadium car park for a “Sunday market”. The club says it will respond to the objections of churches in the North: a response which we fear will be at best a polite reply before they press on with their plans. No doubt the club is bolstered by the fact that, sadly, church attendance has greatly declined. But as Rev. M. Roberts, Inverness, said, “It may be true to say that many are not interested in the worship of God, yet alteration of public opinion does not alter the laws of God which bind or should bind our consciences.”
A ferry sailing from the Island of Barra to Mallaig on Sabbath evenings has been reinstated by ferry operators Caledonian MacBrayne. The reason. they say, is to meet the demands of Barra fishermen, who wanted a Monday morning sailing for transporting their shellfish to the mainland. The fishermen accepted the operator’s offer of a sailing on Sabbath evening. But both the operators and the fishermen are guilty of profaning the Lord’s day: and it is the Lord of the Sabbath who will take to do with them if they do not repent. As George Swinnock, the Puritan minister, has said, “The day of the Lord is likely to be a dreadful day to them that despise the Lord’s Day.”
In Stornoway, complaints were made by some people, including the Outer Isle Presbytery of our Church, to Lewis Offshore construction yard with regard to Sabbath work. Some of those who complained were accused, by one Lewis defender of working on the Lord’s Day, of “killing our community”. They were also castigated for pursuing a “Sabbatarian obsession” which, it was claimed, will be harmful to the population and economy of the Island. The fact is that Sabbath desecration is doing untold harm to our communities. Scripture shows clearly that Sabbath observance and prosperity (spiritual and material) are inseparably tied together.
Condemnation of cohabitation
A Church of Scotland minister, Rev. Alistair Malcolm, has spoken strongly against cohabitation, in an article in the Church’s magazine. How right he is when he says that “the Church of Scotland is popularly perceived as having little to say today about the unique value of lifelong marriage, or to be speaking with two voices. Many feel disappointed in, or even betrayed by, a church that seems to be mumbling incoherently on this as on other vital issues.” He asserts that the Church is less than candid about what he calls “the dark side of cohabitation” – the doubts and insecurity, especially when one party is unwilling to undertake the commitment that involves public vow-taking. and the greater likelihood of early divorce in case of those who have previously cohabited.
It is encouraging to hear such a voice being raised, and a call being given to Scotland’s national Church to make an uncompromising stand against this sinful way of living. Cohabitation is fearfully undermining society, as well as incurring the holy displeasure of God. It is He who declares: “Marriage is honourable in all. and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge,” Hebrews 13:4.
Return to Table of Contents for The Free Presbyterian Magazine – October 1998