The General Assemblies 2024
Not so long ago, the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland were considered newsworthy by the Scottish media, but now it is hard to find any report. Unless the Assemblies touch on topics like sodomy or “transgenderism”, they are ignored.
Under pressure from those who like to agitate on the subject, the Free Church Assembly issued a statement on “Historical Slavery”, expressing “regret over the interaction between members of a Free Church delegation that visited the USA in 1844 and some of their US associates.” The statement goes on: “We grieve that the Free Church decided to receive funds as a result of the delegation. Even though we, as the Free Church today, are unlikely to be the beneficiaries of these funds due to the various transfers of property to other denominations, yet as their successors we acknowledge with sorrow the actions of our forebears who held the name of Free Church office holders. We express gratitude for the many Free Church members and office holders who actively opposed the slave trade and expressed opposition to it.” This issue has been running for a while, with some people who claim to be “heirs” of the slaves virtually trying to extort money from the Free Church. We expect that there will be more to come on the subject.
Another Church of Scotland congregation (Newton Mearns), with its minister, has joined the Free Church. The poor Church of Scotland must be getting worse and worse as its better people leave, but the ethos of the Free Church must be changing too. The ethos of the whole nation is rapidly changing, with an increasing proportion of people who have no historic connection with Scotland, and no interest in her past, especially her religious past. The earth is the Lord’s, however, and His purposes in reorganising the nations and races of the world may be very different from what anyone expects. DWBS
Westminster General Election
The 2024 Westminster Parliamentary election is now drawing near, and the nation has the opportunity to cast its vote and choose who will govern the United Kingdom for the next five years. Sadly the God-fearing in the UK will find it difficult to choose between parties, as they see in their manifestos no acknowledgement of the fact that there is a supreme Lawgiver.
They also know that laws which ignore the claims of the Most High, or are contrary to His Word, are dishonouring to Him and detrimental to the true interests of the nation, bringing His righteous judgements upon us. There are a few exceptions among the candidates who are practising Christians and, where it is possible, such people are worthy of our support.
Christ is King of nations, as well as King of saints, and therefore civil rulers, in their official capacity, should honour and serve Him by recognising His truth and promoting His cause. “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God” (2 Sam 23:3). “Kings shall be thy nursing fathers” (Is 49:23). The New Testament confirms that it is the duty of magistrates to do all within their power and sphere of influence to promote the interests of Christ’s cause and kingdom. The duty is laid upon Christians to pray “for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Tim 2:2). Magistrates should govern in a way that will lead to quietness and peace, and should actively promote godliness and honesty, the morality which expresses itself in love to God and one’s neighbour.
We mourn to see little evidence or acknowledgement among our politicians of their scriptural duty. Many of the laws which have been enacted in recent years are positively God-dishonouring and fly in the face of the Commandments: laws on marriage, homosexuality, abortion, the reasonable chastisement of children and the death penalty. Successive governments express pride in how “progressive” they are.
We must pray that the Lord will raise up godly men to govern our nation and that the people of the country would carefully and prayerfully take note of who are being proposed for election. We, as the electorate, often feel powerless to influence any changes, but there is One who can. He is the hearer of prayer, and we should plead with Him that, in His mercy, He would not leave us to ourselves and to the consequences of a godless society, but that He would “restore to [us] the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25) and turn us to Himself.
FRD
Sin makes our services black, and the blood of Christ makes both our persons and services white.
Stephen Charnock