Zimbabwe
THE Rev. John MacLeod, in his capacity as a deputy from the home Church, arrived in Zimbabwe on September 5th.
It was with great alarm and a heavy heart that we heard that Rev. A. Ndebele was knocked down by a bus near Inkai, on 9th September. We understand that he and Mr MacLeod, on their way to Mbuma by car, pulled off the road and got out of their car. Mr Ndebele, who was standing on the gravel verge, was struck by the bus as it swerved to avoid another two vehicles and mounted the verge. He was taken to Inkai hospital, and then to a hospital in Bulawayo. There it was discovered that his injuries were not as serious as was first feared. He has a broken rib and a slight fracture of the skull, but is recovering. We have great reason for thankfulness to the Lord that his life has been preserved and that he is making progress. We hope and pray that he will make a full and speedy recovery, if it be the Lord’s will.
Mr Macleod expects to assist at the communion season at Ingwenya, which is to be earlier than usual. He will remain in Zimbabwe until September 20th and then go to Kenya to be present at the Induction, by the Zimbabwean Presbytery, of Rev. John Goldby to his charge at Sengera Mission on September 25th, God willing. Mr MacLeod will be accompanied by Mr. Ian MacLean (senior), Inverness, and Mr. Buthi Mziya, Bulawayo, as well as the minister who will take the place of Mr Ndebele.
Norma MacLean returned to Zimbabwe on September 3rd, and Marion Graham on September 9th, after their visit to Scotland. A letter was received by one of the teachers at the John Tallach School quite recently from a former pupil who had been showing a real interest in the gospel. He says, “I am more worried about my family’s lives than I am for myself because I am the only one who seems to practise Christianity whilst the rest mix it with ancestral worship, and worse still, I am the last born and cannot teach them. I do not know how to convince them to leave ancestral worship. They know something about God but they want to mix the two. I know it is wrong because the Word of God says you cannot serve God and Mammon.”
This letter brings forcibly before one’s mind the difficulties young people experience when they are moved by the truth of the Gospel, but are in a family circle where the same old family superstitious practices are continuing. Witchcraft and ancestral worship are still very widely practised in Zimbabwe. It is believed that when a person dies his spirit leaves the body and continues in an after life and is thought to have an influence on the
community it has left in the world. Immediately after death the spirit is thought to be unpredictable and dangerous and therefore rituals are gone through to purify those involved in the funeral and to prevent the spirit returning to trouble those left behind. A few weeks later, further ceremonies are gone through. A year or more after the death, a final and more important ritual is gone through which is thought to bring the spirit home. It is now settled, they believe, among the ancestral spirits. Family spirits are thought to have some control over all that affects the physical welfare of the community they have left behind, but no control over more powerful spirits and can be defeated by witchcraft. It is believed that no witch can kill without the consent of the spirit guardians of the victims.
Only the Spirit of God can deliver people from the dread influence of ancestral worship and witchcraft. The prayers of the Lord’s people for those young people anxious to follow the truth would be valued. J.N.
Kenya
THE Rev. John and Mrs Goldby and their two children, Shona and Jennifer, arrived safely in Kenya on 31st July. Having previously spent some months there at the end of 1994 and beginning of 1995, they were given a very warm welcome by the friends at our Sengera Mission.
I quote from a letter of Mr Goldby: “Services have been well attended so far. There is a great deal of building going on to provide housing for additional staff, and to complete the Medical Centre…”
Soon after he arrived he was asked to conduct the worship at a funeral of a little child of one of the workmen. It was an opportunity to impress on the large gathering of people the necessity of thinking seriously of death and of their need of Christ. It was an especially sad occasion for Mr Goldby as the child, who died of malaria, was named after him.
The local community are more and more appreciative of the Mission and its staff, and gratitude has been expressed by the community leaders for the help being sent to the hospital and the church.
We hear that Sisters Truus and Celia have made good progress in learning the local dialect, Eke-gusii, despite their nursing and other mission activities.
There is an urgent need at Sengera for a teacher to teach the missionaries’ children there. They are: Ian Charles MacLean, 13; Jonathan MacLean, 9; Shona Goldby, 13; and Jennifer Goldby, 5. When Dr de Jong and his family arrive, his 5-year-old son will be added to the roll. We hope that a missionary-hearted teacher will offer his or her services for such a worthwhile work. J.N.
Protestant View
The Pope and the Virgin Mary
THE Pope has emphatically reasserted Roman Catholic claims that Mary the mother of Jesus had no other children. Indeed, many Protestant writers have understood the passages in the Gospels which refer to His brethren (James and Joses and Simon and Judas) and His sisters as referring to other close relations such as cousins – although it seems more natural to understand that they were Joseph and Mary’s four sons and their daughters. The Pope, however, has gone further. In line with Roman Catholic ideas he has also repeated the assertion that Mary remained a virgin to the end of her days. For this there is not one shred of Scriptural evidence. In fact, the suggestion is preposterous in the light of such a scripture as: “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled.” (Heb 13:4). But such claims are very much in line with the dangerous Roman Catholic teaching that celibacy is a higher state of spirituality than marriage.
On the other hand, a Church of England spokesman, referring to “His brethren . . . and His sisters”, said that most New Testament scholars, including some Roman Catholics, “see no need to speculate about their being half-brothers, half-sisters, or cousins”. Obviously he believes that Jesus was the natural son of Joseph and therefore denies the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Christ, as clearly revealed in Scripture. The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God”; and the relationship of Joseph and Mary is thus described: he “knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son”. Whatever modern scholars may write in their unbelieving speculation, the One who came to be the Saviour of the world must not be tainted with original sin; He must be holy, harmless and undefiled.
It is always the tendency of Rome, when she proclaims a doctrine of Scripture like the Virgin Birth, to add to the truth. The present Pope has been a particularly enthusiastic promoter of the cult of Mary. He claims it was due to Mary that he survived the assassination attempt against him in 1981. That attempt was made on “the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima”, and he donated the bullet to the shrine at Fatima.
As to her soul, Mary is indeed in heaven, a sinner saved by grace, through the merits of Christ — although as recently as 1950 the then pope ruled that the doctrine of her bodily assumption to heaven (that is, both her soul and body were taken to heaven at the time of her death or shortly
afterwards) was a dogma of the Roman Catholic faith. There is no suggestion whatever in the Scriptures that this was to take place. We can therefore be sure that it never happened. O that those who are deceived by Rome’s false doctrines would follow the faith of Mary, who exclaimed, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour!”
The evil of enforced celibacy
THE ordination of former Anglican clergy, who are married, as priests of Rome, has had a double effect on many Roman Catholic priests. It has lowered the morale of those of them who have been struggling with the problems caused by compulsory celibacy. Secondly, it gives hope to some of them that celibacy will yet be dropped as a requirement.
How realistic their hope is remains to be seen, but the fact is that “forbidding to marry” marks out the Roman Catholic church as a body that has long departed from the faith.
Increasing reports of sexual abuse
WHATEVER Rome may say about celibacy being a higher state of spirituality than marriage, it is a fact that were it not for enforced celibacy, far fewer priests would stand convicted of vile crimes of a sexual nature.
Far from being a rarity, as an editorial in The Herald would have us believe, sexual abuse cases in the Church of Rome are being reported more frequently. The National Conference of Priests recently considered a report which accused the Roman hierarchy of sweeping such cases under the carpet by, for example, moving offending priests to another parish, and some of the priests at the conference are concerned about what the report condemns as a “culture of disbelief” among them regarding these cases.
It would be their wisdom, in their concern, to heed the call of Scripture, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”
Vatican influence in the United Nations
A report to the World Alliance of Reformed Churches criticises the “unique and certainly questionable” status enjoyed at the United Nations by the Vatican. No other religious body, Christian or otherwise, has the same privileges there as the Vatican. Its right to have a voice (although not a vote) allows it to influence debate at the highest level and impose its own political and moral agenda.
Of course, the Papacy has meddled in the affairs of nations for centuries. Its power is seen today in the European Union also, where it constantly and effectively influences social policy especially. Let us not underestimate the influence of the power-hungry Man of Sin.
Notes and Comments
A challenge to the ordination of women priests
A Church of England vicar, Rev. Paul Williamson, has been challenging the lawfulness of ordaining women priests. He has now taken his case to the Court of Appeal, claiming that the Queen has broken her coronation oath by allowing such ordinations and agreeing to this “theological heresy”, now enshrined in the canon enacted for this purpose.
At her coronation she was asked: “Will you preserve inviolably the settlement of the Church of England and the doctrine, worship, discipline, and government thereof as by law established in England?”
The Appeal Court judges dismissed his appeal, a decision that is not surprising in the light of the Church Society already failing to prevent Parliament agreeing to the introduction of the canon.
However, the fact of “theological heresy” cannot be denied. Scripture so plainly prohibits the woman from usurping authority over the man in the spheres of the Church and the home. Nothing short of obstinate obtuseness in both the Church of England and many other churches throughout the world lies behind their repudiating Scripture and ordaining women to hold office in the Church.
Lord Runcie and the Prince of Wales
THE forthcoming biography of the former Archbishop of Canterbury confirms what many suspected, and what the Dimbleby interview with the Prince of Wales made clear — that the Prince of Wales has no enthusiasm about being head of the Church of England, preferring to have a pluralistic approach to religion. This approach evidently does not include love for the Protestant faith.
The Hindu and Muslim communities in Britain are buoyed by his multi-faith enthusiasm and his manifest goodwill towards their religions.
It augurs ill for a nation when its rulers or rulers-to-be do not hide their low esteem for the faith once delivered to the saints. May the Lord bring them to truly value our Reformed heritage.
Television and the subversion of morality
IN Britain today, we have “a militant, well-organised and influential movement which wants to smash taboos and push them aside, a movement which is currently scoring success after success.” So said a recent press article — and it is true.
The article was drawing attention to the latest depths to which the TV programme, Brookside, has descended by featuring incest in one episode. One producer declared that the clip broke the “last taboo”, but added, “I’m sure
there are no more. But if there are we will find them, I’m sure.”
Scripture speaks of those who defiantly say, “Our lips are ours, who is lord over us,” and who show the spirit of the Pharaoh who asked, “Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” Those who broadcast corrupting material with evil intent will yet discover that God Himself will deal with them.
The Lord Chancellor’s defence of the Family Law Act
SCRIPTURE allows divorce, but only on the ground of the adultery or wilful desertion of one of the parties. The implication of this fact is that in God’s sight a court is obliged to ascertain which of the parties is at fault before granting a divorce. The removal of the fault element from the divorce process is the glaring flaw in the Family Law Act.
It is therefore difficult for those who believe the Scripture teaching on divorce to understand how the Lord Chancellor can defend the absence of the no-fault element from the Family Law Bill. This he did recently at the annual meeting of Family Mediation Highland.
He also asserted that the Bill would “support the institution of marriage”. We think otherwise. Legislation which is contrary to Scripture, while it may bring some benefits, must sooner or later and overall, have an undermining effect.