Fraternising with Antichrist
The spectacle of leading politicians vying with one another in currying the favour of the Roman Catholic Church is now coming to be a common sight. The reason for this, of course, is that no political party dare antagonise or ignore its leading clerics as they are able to deliver thousands upon thousands of votes at times of Local and General Elections. In Scotland this was particularly evident in recent times. We have the Rt. Hon. Ian Lang, the Secretary of State for Scotland, entertaining Cardinal Winning at his official residence in Edinburgh, an event which the largely Romanist-dominated Press corps were not to let pass without giving it maximum publicity including, as might be expected, a photograph of the two shaking hands on the steps of Bute House. The two-and-a-half hour meeting was also attended by Lord Fraser of Carmylie who is a Minister of State at the Scottish Office. Now what were these two prominent members of our Government — one of them a Cabinet Minister — discussing with the Cardinal? We are, apparently, not entitled to know that. Mr Lang said it was a private visit; the Cardinal said that it had been a social visit and that both sides had agreed not to discuss details of it.
He did, however, say that Mr Lang “was someone he could do business with.” Whatever the matters discussed were, it is certain that such a meeting with this representative of Antichrist was neither in Mr Lang’s, nor in Scotland’s interests. The Roman Catholic Church will hitch its chariot to that of the political party which is most likely to advance its interests and widen its sphere of influence; that is all that matters. This politically-astute Cardinal will, meantime, be keeping all his options open.
Scottish Nationalist View of Roman Catholicism
Mr Alex Salmond, the Leader of the Scottish National party in a speech delivered at Stirling University has described the debarring of “every person who is or shall be reconciled to, or shall have communion with, the See or Church of Rome” from the British throne “a scandal of immense proportions”. He did not quote the Act of Security word for word, as we have done, but it is plain that he had its terms in mind and that this is what he thinks of that part of our nation’s Constitution which is in written form and fully ratified by law. Mr Salmond must surely know that this prohibition was enshrined in our Constitution in 1688 only because it had been found “by experience” — as the Bill of Rights expresses it — “that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant Kingdom” to be governed by such as owe their first allegiance to the Pope of Rome. The martyrdom of the many thousands who suffered and died in Scotland between 1660 and 1688 means very little to him when he speaks in this manner of a matter that was of paramount importance to them. It still remains a matter of great importance to us and it is thus with grave apprehension that we view the prospect of the restoration of a Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. It would be a smaller pool for Alex Salmond to swim in than the one in Westminster but the way things are going he would be a much bigger fish. So desperate is Mr Salmond to secure the favour and, hopefully, the votes of Roman Catholics in the central belt that he labours to project them as being discriminated against. We find that astounding. He also called for “an important Catholic grotto at Carfin in Monklands to be made into a national shrine”! And all this uttered in Stirling near the very spot where the first Covenanter martyr James Guthrie died on the scaffold in 1661! Guthrie was a true-hearted patriot and a martyr for Christ, whose famous last words were: “The Covenants! The Covenants! shall ye be Scotland’s reviving!”
APCs — Update
Who would have imagined seven years ago that ministers and elders then sitting in the Free Presbyterian Church’s Synod and approving reports and resolutions which set out the Church’s position vis-à-vis other Churches in the land and which shed light on the “old paths”, would so quickly depart to follow their own ways. We notice that the Aberdeen APC minister, who seems to be in the avant garde of those who are given to change, now refers to the first day of the week by its heathen name “Sunday” — something he and his companions would never dream of doing in the circles from which they departed in 1989. If, prior to their departure, the Free Presbyterian Magazine had carried articles with Scripture quotations taken from the NIV, NKJV or any other modern English version of the Bible, they would have been as surprised as the rest of us and would have supported any action taken to bring the Editor to task. Using them in the public worship of God would have been regarded as an even greater innovation and a complete departure from the Church’s practice. But now the APCs’ publications quote freely from them. No doubt this helps as far as ecumenical involvement is concerned and it is done on purpose. We do not know which version of the Bible the United Free Church minister, who preached in Alford Place on the Friday of the communion was using. Nor do we know what version was used on Sabbath morning when the Lord’s Supper was dispensed by Derek Prime, an itinerating Baptist minister. We do, however, know that in 1962, the Synod, of which some leading APCs were then members, approved the following statement anent the United Free Church: “It is made up largely of former United Presbyterians and is an out and out Voluntary organisation. Its relation to the Confession is of a very doubtful nature. The Confession is received in the light of the Declaratory Acts of the United Presbyterian Church (1879) and of the Free Church (1892).” The Alford Place Church is a place of worship which rightfully belongs to the Free Presbyterian Church but, being unlawfully held by the APCs, we are unable to exercise our right to determine who is and who is not permitted to enter its pulpit. The Aberdeen APC minister will not, of course, be taken to task for his conduct and as for his use of modern versions, unlike the Inverness APCs, there does not appear to be in Aberdeen any office-bearers prepared to oppose their minister and take a stand on this issue. The Scottish representative of the Trinitarian Bible Society, who is also an APC missionary, must find himself in a very anomalous situation and surely in real difficulties if and when he visits places like Aberdeen where the AV is displaced. In Fort William our small but faithful congregation has to worship in a hired local Red Cross hall while the APCs continue to occupy, unlawfully, not only our church building, but our manse. Their missionary has taken up residence in the manse and for good measure has had his name inscribed on the notice board outside the church. One elder, on leaving the Free Presbyterian Church in 1989, wrote a resignation letter to his minister in which, among other things, he said: “I do not know what some people within the church are doing with their consciences.” In our view, it is now, as an APC elder, that he should be saying it.
Further Sabbath Desecration
This Government seems to be bent on removing from the nation’s Statute Book all that remains of laws which in the past upheld the Divine law with regard to keeping the Sabbath Day holy to God. We now have gambling at recourses on the Lord’s Day legalised and betting shops throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom are being allowed to trade on that day. Gambling is a sin which is heinous in the sight of God on any day of the week but on the Sabbath is even more heinous. We are fast becoming a nation of gamblers and revellers. We thought better of Michael Forsyth, the Home Office minister, but it is he who has now published plans “to reform what he called ‘outdated restrictions’ in the Sunday Observance Act of 1780 which prevent charging for public dancing.” The changes are designed to be in place before next year so that Christmas eve and Hogmany (they both fall on a Sabbath this year) revellers may “celebrate the festivities on the dance floor.” Sadly, in Scotland, where there were no restrictions at all — they were thought unnecessary, on account of the way the Sabbath was kept throughout the land — we are now told that after Saturday and Friday, the Sabbath has proved to be the third most popular day for dancing and that those who provide the facilities are finding it very profitable. The time of reckoning with Lord of the Sabbath is yet to come. The individual and nation that will not serve Him shall perish. Spiritual darkness has really descended on our nation when we find those in authority over us setting aside the Law of God and appointing themselves judges of what is morally right and wrong. In a public consultation document recently issued we find the following comment on the 1780 Act: “The Government considers this an unjustified constraint on legitimate pastimes. People should be allowed to spend their leisure as they wish.” Where, where, we may well ask, is our nation heading?
The Commemoration of VE Day
On the 8th day of May, as part of the VE Day commemoration arrangements, loyal addresses from the House of Lords and the House of Commons were presented to the Queen at a ceremony held in Westminster Hall. We were glad to hear the Lord Chancellor acknowledging “Almighty God” in his address and speech. His counterpart, the Speaker of the House of Commons, did not mention nor acknowledge the Divine Being in any way! We would have rejoiced to hear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ mentioned. He is, after all, the One to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth. We were sad to hear the Queen mention prayer in such a way as to imply that it was proper to pray for the dead. It is to be feared that praying for the dead, although plainly forbidden by the Word of God, is a common practice on these occasions and, alas, acceptable to multitudes. When, however, a Roman Catholic priest went so far as to pray for Adolf Hitler there was an outcry from various quarters. Forced to defend himself, this benighted priest, among other things, said “We always pray for the dead in the Catholic Church, good and bad, because they need our prayers.” The soul of poor Adolf Hitler, who died by his own hand after living a wicked life, is now, as far as we are able to judge, in hell, and on the remote side from heaven of that “great gulf fixed” that the Saviour spoke of, and no amount of masses and prayers offered up by deluded, papish priests is going to alter that. The Lord delivered our nation out of the hands of its enemies in 1945 but is it not the case that we have not properly acknowledged His great goodness and kindness to us in doing so? Nor have we repented of our sins? The appointment of a national day of humiliation and prayer is what would be appropriate in our present circumstances.