Debate in Parliament on Persecution of Christians
It is encouraging that the House of Commons has debated the persecution of Christians worldwide. In introducing a motion on behalf of the Democratic Unionist Party, MP Jim Shannon said that “100 000 Christians will be massacred this year because of their beliefs, and 200 million will be persecuted due to their faith”. The motion called on the Government to do more through foreign policy and aid work to support Christians.
In giving many well-informed examples of persecution in numerous countries, Mr Shannon said, “In Africa, due to Islamic extremism, the persecution of Christians has increased significantly in 2012 and 2013, most notably in Mali, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Niger. Sharia family courts have been introduced, which ignore Christians and their beliefs. The north of Mali is similar to Saudi Arabia in that Christians are simply no longer allowed there or to practise their beliefs. In the Maldives, one cannot read one’s Bible; indeed, people are not allowed to have one.”
Although a very broad definition of Christians was used, the House was informed “that the persecution of Christians is increasing, that one Christian is killed around every 11 minutes around the world, and that Christianity is the ‘most persecuted religion globally’”. MP Nigel Dodds said that the “persecution of Christians is not new” but that it is “staggering” how many Christians are killed today. It was vexing that the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, in responding to the motion, deflected attention from the seriousness of the situation for Christians by referring several times to people of other religions being persecuted – and this despite the debate being specifically on the Persecution of Christians.
The motion was passed, but it remains to be seen if the Government will give substantive help to persecuted Christians when it is generally so dismissive of Christianity. However, the debate is a call to us to “remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them” (Heb 13:3), and to pray for those who are “persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (Mt 5:10). NMR
Abortion Clinic Closures and Drop in Teenage Pregnancies
It is heartening that, from 1994 to 2010, the teenage pregnancy rate dropped by almost half in 16 of the 26 counties of the Panhandle region of Texas, according to Texas government figures. The principal reason is that, during that period, the 19 abortion clinics of American Planned Parenthood in these 16 counties ceased operating, due to strong opposition from communities and the promotion of abstinence among teenagers.
The agenda of Planned Parenthood, says one pro-life organisation, is to promote promiscuity “but that resultant pregnancies are to be avoided or eliminated at all cost”. Business is thus generated for their abortion clinics. It is estimated that in 2011, abortions accounted for 57% of the income of American Planned Parenthood’s clinics nationwide.
Small wonder that “abstinence before marriage and faithfulness within marriage” – the essence of the advice given to young people by pro-family groups and various churches – is detested and scorned by the Planned Parenthood Federation, which has much to answer for in promoting sexual immorality and undermining proper parenthood. How solemn were the divine woes pronounced on those who “made Israel to sin”! NMR
Right to Refuse to Work on Sabbath Upheld
Many Christians will be glad to know that the Court of Appeal in London has recognised the right of Christians to observe the Christian Sabbath as a day of rest. The court ruled in the case of a Miss Mba, who was pressured to work on the Lord’s Day but refused. When her employers refused her offer to “take unpopular shifts and work anti-socials” instead, she had to resign.
An employment tribunal found against her, arguing that, “because not all Christians observe Sunday as a day of rest, it could not be considered a core component of the Christian faith”. The Court of Appeal, however, found “that Sunday observance is an important part of the worship and practices of many millions of Christians, and cannot therefore be simply dismissed”.
The Christian Legal Centre said, “We pray that the tide is turning. Many Christians will now be able to argue that their employer must respect their rights of Sabbath worship.” May it indeed be so. “The Lord saith . . . Them that honour Me I will honour” (1 Sam 2:30). NMR
A “Church” for Atheists
Richard Dawkins and other atheists are well known for their vociferous attacks on Christians. He cannot tolerate theism in any form; his lifework seems to be one continuous campaign to eradicate the concept from people’s minds. Possibly the last place where this man would want to be found is in a church. Yet strangely, within the last few months, we have heard of those who, equally as atheistic as Dawkins, have set up a “church” for atheists in several parts of the world. There is no end to the schemes that Satan uses to deceive souls for eternity and here is another: a “church” without God, a place of “worship” for the faithless.
British comedians, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans founded the so-called godless “church” last January in Islington, London, when about 200 people gathered. They wanted a forum where “non-religious folks” could “commune and edify” one another. The “church”, called the “Sunday Assembly”, has been “championed as a chance for disillusioned former believers, nostalgic atheists and anybody searching for a sense of community, to meet and turn good intentions into actions”. At their first meeting the “congregation” focused on “beginnings”, discussing how success can be achieved by letting past failures go. How solemn! No God, no Saviour, and no confession of past failures to the God against whom we all have sinned.
Jones reveals his fearful ignorance when he states that he went to a church six years previously and “there was so much about it that I loved. . . It’s a shame because, at the heart of it, it’s something I don’t believe in. If you think about church, there is very little that is bad. It is singing awesome songs, hearing interesting talks, thinking about improving yourself and helping other people and doing that in a community with wonderful relationships. What part of this is not to like?” He wants “the best things” from public worship “without the one thing I am uncomfortable with . . . the religious part”.
A typical gathering led by the duo would have Evans enter the assembly, with a band playing a pop song. People sit clapping; more songs are sung; there are readings, discussions, reflections with periods of silence, and then comes the “sermon” on some scientific topic such as quantum physics or the origins of the universe. Money is gathered in collection bags before talks are given on gratitude and helping one’s neighbour. One particularly sacrilegious meeting had a poem read while a cup of wine was passed around the “congregation”. This was followed by a talk on “the fruits of the vine”. We should tremble at the God-provoking depths of such profanity.
Such blasphemous confusion has spread across North America and beyond. The comedians have embarked on a tour called “40 days, 40 nights” raising money to build churches so that godless Americans can become “church-goers”. In Los Angeles last November, 400 people gathered at an inaugural assembly. Similar gatherings have taken place across Canada and Australia and are growing weekly into “large churches”. The idea is to use “spiritual” language without God. In this “day of blasphemy and rebuke” atheism has become a pseudo-religion.
Jones and Evans sum up their aims on their website: “The Sunday Assembly is a godless congregation that celebrates life. Our mottos are: live better, help often, and wonder more. Our mission is to help everyone find and fulfil their full potential. Our vision is a godless congregation in every town, city and village that wants one.”
Long ago the inspired psalmist spoke of such people: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Ps 14:1). However, Paul wrote to the Philippians of the fact “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10,11). How good if these spiritually-blind men and women, and indeed all of us, would bow the knee whilst still on mercy’s ground, and come to believe that God “is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb 11:6). KHM
Two Kingdoms
A writer in The Herald, commenting on the case of Mr and Mrs Bull (who were ordered to pay £3600 in damages to a homosexual couple for refusing to allow them to share a double room in their guest house), said that watching their case being appealed to the Supreme Court was “like watching two worlds colliding – the sceptical, confident, secular modern world where widely supported societal values are asserted by Supreme Court judges, and the increasingly weak and marginalised faith-based world of old in which a higher authority holds sway. It was obvious which would win.”
To the Herald writer, it was obvious that the “secular modern world” was more powerful and was going to win. But to the Christian, who takes a longer view – surveying the whole history of the world – and a higher view, incorporating not only earth but heaven, it is equally obvious that the apparently “weak and marginalised” kingdom of Christ will prevail, and that the “sceptical, confident, secular” kingdom of Satan will be destroyed. It was interesting that the journalist was constrained to speak in these terms, although she came to the wrong conclusion. “Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Dan 2:35). DWBS
Continuing Declension in the Free Church
The Kiltarlity Free Church website announces, unashamedly, a carol service and a carol-singing outing in the village. Perhaps these unbiblical activities, though recently introduced, are now not uncommon in the Free Church. Error tends to spread, and “a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Cor 5:6). More surprising, however, was the announcement on the website that a woman in the congregation had been baptised by immersion in the River Beauly under the supervision of a local Baptist pastor. This, it seems, was the way of welcoming her into Kiltarlity Free Church. Furthermore the website virtually conceded the position that baptism by immersion was original: “It is amazing to think that the first missionaries who came to Kiltarlity so long ago probably baptised the first Christians in Kiltarlity in the river”. These happenings were endorsed by the Free Church website, so there seems to be little prospect of restraint or discipline from the wider Church.
Baptism by immersion is allowed by The Westminster Confession of Faith, but there is no necessity for great quantities of water to be used in this sacrament, nor for the ostentation of going out into the middle of a river. We are reminded of the thoughts of Neil Macmichael, quoted by Principal John Macleod, on the fathers being baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor 10:2). “1. The Israelites were baptised, both adults and infants; for the apostle declares it. 2. They were not immersed, a fact which Moses and other inspired writers testify. 3. The Egyptians who pursued them were immersed. 4. The Israelites had baptism without immersion, and the Egyptians had immersion without baptism. 5. The baptism of the Israelites was salvation, and the immersion of the Egyptians was drowning.” Since the Reformation, baptism in the Reformed Church of Scotland has been “rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water on the person”, and this is the practice that should be maintained.
DWBS