Category: Politics

BBC News – David Cameron speaks of Christian faith in Easter message

BBC News – David Cameron speaks of Christian faith in Easter message.

David’s Message embedded below for your education – not edification.

What a good fellow David is to share his message of Easter with the Nation. I say his message because it isn’t the message of the Bible. The message of Easter is about Jesus the Son of God coming into the world to bleed and die in the place of sinners. The message of the Gospel is to Repent & Believe the Gospel. It’s good that people are neighbourly and help one another, but being neighbourly doesn’t make anyone a Christian – this is implied is his Easter message. One way to distinguish between true & false is not what’s said, but what is not said. The Bible is very plain – and honest – in telling sinners (that’s all of us) that without The Saviour (there is only one) we are lost and undone and will end up in hell.

There’s a lot more to it, but for now please notice, there are two very exclusive aspects to the Christian message. 1. We are all sinners, no exceptions, all of us are guilty before a Holy & Righteous God and deserving of being cast into hell. 2. Jesus is the ONLY Saviour and the ONLY way to be right with God. This is contrary to Islam and EVERY other faith. To say otherwise, as David does, is to deceive and to be dishonest. I have to tell you the truth. The sad truth is David Cameron may well be deceived himself. Before you can have the peace of God, you, me, all of us need Peace with God. (Romans 5:1-2) That Peace is only obtained by the Grace of God through Jesus Christ and NO other way. Now if he were to share that…

If we could save ourselves or were good enough to enter heaven – why did Jesus have to die? Like the rest of us then, David needs to Repent & Believe the Gospel. (Mark 1:14-15). 

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Where will Nelson Mandela spend Eternity?

President Bill Clinton with Nelson Mandela, Ju...
President Bill Clinton with Nelson Mandela, July 4 1993. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There’s no getting away from the fact that a great man has just died. There’s no question that what he accomplished politically has been remarkable. In terms of world history Mandela will go down as one of the great Statesmen. Quite Gandhi like in his – latter – non-violent stance against apartheid. World leaders sought an audience with him as if something of his popularity would ‘rub-off’ on them. As if merely associating with Mandela would somehow make them popular as well. Such was the charisma of Nelson Mandela.

And yet, given his political achievements, in the final analysis it’s the only question worth asking – Where will Nelson Mandela spend Eternity? The short answer of course is that I do not know. But cutting to the chase; if Mandela had no faith in The Lord Jesus Christ then he will be lost and will spend all eternity in hell. It’s not going to play well in the Liberal heartlands but the frightening lesson – and the lesson of the Bible – is that no matter what we do it will not make us right with a Holy God. Even Archbishop Cranmer on his blog writes as if Mandela were a Christian without a shred of evidence. In the blog post by his grace Mandela talked about God being the Father of all – not true. Talked about worshiping as well, but politicians are skilled at using words that impress but (I’m talking Christianity here) actually means nothing. They are vacuous empty words. There is only ONE way to God. There is only ONE Saviour. You will never hear a politician say these things but they will use the language of religion. It’s all smoke and mirrors. I don’t want to take anything away from what Mandela achieved politically but it had nothing to do with the Christian faith or with Jesus.

I’ve done a quick scan of the online press and there’s not a lot of negative comment about him. There are a few pretty raw comments about him though. His approval of violence prior to his incarceration at Robben Island is mentioned but from then on it’s all positive. On Radio 4 this morning a Bishop (didn’t catch the name) said Nelson Mandela was the ’embodiment of love’. I understand hyperbole but that is just not true. Only one person could be described that way and it’s Jesus Christ not Mandala. A Churchman should have known better but given these degenerative days where ‘truth has fallen in the streets’ it’s common to hear such ridiculous statements. If it were possible Mandela would be deified and this tells us more about our current political leaders than Nelson Mandela!

Simply put, the Gospel isn’t about rewarding people for their accomplishments, whatever those accomplishments are, or for being nice! The Gospel is Good News for sinners. Nelson Mandela in the eyes of the world (by and large) is a Saint. The world does not have the foggiest idea of what a Saint is. The Bible use of the word is simply a believer in Jesus, a sinner that has placed their trust in what Jesus accomplished on the Cross not what they have accomplished.

The problem the political world has created as it drools over the Mandela legacy is the problem of how righteousness is defined. But it has ever been so. The world defines holiness, righteousness, goodness, forgiveness & love on its own terms, not at all by the law God and the person of Jesus Christ. Associating with Nelson Mandela will not make a person good. Talking warmly about Nelson Mandela will not make a person good. Only faith in Jesus will make a person right or acceptable in the sight of God. But it’s not what the world wants to hear – even at Christmas!

The really scary thing is how good a person can be – or seem to be – and yet not be a Christian. The Church ought to be saying this over & over again. The death of Nelson Mandela as sad as it is for his family and followers is a warning to those that seek a righteousness of their own and not the righteousness that God provides in Christ. It is futile to put any eternal hope in man, any man. Our hope must be in Christ alone.

And you, dear reader. Nelson Mandela will not rescue you from the wrath to come, he cannot save you, he cannot forgive your sins. Only Jesus Christ can rescue you from the wrath to come, only Jesus Christ can save you, only Jesus Christ can forgive your sins. Only Jesus paid the price on the Cross to rescue sinners. Call upon Jesus for Salvation.

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More on Conservatives attack Free Speech

Before you read this I need to put a very large Caveat in here: Our God is Sovereign, Jesus is the only Saviour, Our God is in control. The Gospel of the grace of God is our priority. But we are also citizens, tax payers if you will, and as such we ought to be involved at some level in the political discussion. After all, we will be asked to vote in the next General Election. If our tick is good enough at the ballot box then so should our comments be good enough now.

Had an update on this come through the post from The Christian Institute yesterday morning (Saturday 16/11/13). We are being encouraged to write again to our Member of Parliament (MP). Just the other day I received a reply from my MP to a previous letter – not connected to the CI.

In it he extolled the virtues of our countries past history blah blah blah. Then he talked about how he supported Christians winning the right to wear a crucifix. (but as I argued before on this blog, what use is it to be allowed to wear a crucifix if you can’t preach the Cross of Christ –  Two very different things!) But the final sentence took it all away. Here’s his last sentence. This MP by the way is ‘Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice’. A friend then of Theresa May if he wants to keep his job. He writes:

Likewise it is legitimate for political leaders to speak about religious institutions as they see them affecting our society, not least in the vital area of equality and tolerance.

There are many ways to unpack that. Am I right to be very concerned about what he has written? The words ‘equality’ and ‘tolerance’ are very loaded words depending on who uses them and how they are used. The letter from my MP arrived a few days before the announcement by Theresa May. He must have known she was going to announce this. We know the words ‘equality’ and ‘tolerance’ mean nothing of the sort.

Who would have thought in our day we would be seeing such things. Truth has already fallen in the streets – Parliament doesn’t want to hear any truth that conflicts with its agenda. It’s an agenda that doesn’t want God or Christians except mealy-mouthed platitudes. It doesn’t want the Gospel and you can be sure it won’t get it from the established church either! I’m sure he’s a nice bloke and I’m told that he is a Christian but if only Justin Welby would forget the politics, forget the economy and get on with preaching the Gospel to sinners (all of us) – but he won’t. Or at least not the unadulterated Gospel of the Bible. He will preach – and many like him do – what the Bible calls another Gospel and not the Gospel at all. Remember it’s not just what is said that we need to guard against but what is NOT said.

To read more on this subject go here and for resources from the Christian Institute go here.

Christians face new free speech threat from ASBO law | News | The Christian Institute

Christians face new free speech threat from ASBO law | News | The Christian Institute.

I’ll post this because it was ready, but there’s more info to follow on this. Here’s more commentary related to the previous post from The Christian Institute. If you follow the above link note this paragraph (my emphasis):

‘I am sure this was not the intention of the Government, but this legislation was badly conceived, is badly written and will stop many reasonable and hitherto lawful activities.”’

That’s being very polite but I would beg to differ on the above: I am sure it WAS (and IS) the intention of the Government. Josh Williamson makes the point that all changed with the passing of Same-Sex Marriage. There can be NO dissent despite Cameron wishing he hadn’t forced it through. It was the trouble it caused but not the issue – he’s (Cameron) fully persuaded it’s the right thing. If Gospel preachers rightly insist Homosexuality is a Sin as the Bible clearly teaches, you can be sure according to the State the Bible must be wrong, or the interpretation must be wrong and not Homosexuality.

It’s impossible for no-one to be offended. It’s purely subjective – different things offend different people. The State is going to decide what is offensive. So an offense will be whatever the State decides and there is no defense against that. Sounds a lot like Stalinist Russia to me. Christians are always being offended, it’s a staple for a great many comedians. That’s Democracy, that’s Free Speech! I’m offended and annoyed by power-hungry, greedy, lying, thieving, dis-loyal, hypocritical immoral manipulative propagandist politicians (a bit of free flowing subjectivity).

Just one important point to note here. If this goes through it will affect us all – the humanist religion as well. So unless you dislike Free Speech and prefer a Police State you better get used to being offended.

There’s a good interview with Josh Williamson (Arrested for street preaching in UK) on Janet Mefford that’s well worth a listen. Josh is first up and speaks with a lot of sense in this. There could be another Humanist / Christian alliance on this!

More to come on this topic.

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Cranmer: Theresa May seeks to outlaw Christian street preachers

Cranmer: Theresa May seeks to outlaw Christian street preachers.

I didn’t expect such a quick follow-up to yesterdays post about Free Speech & Religious Liberty. I was alerted to the latest move against Free Speech & Religious Liberty in our ever more Totalitarian country through listening to Janet Mefford. Interesting how our American friends see us.

The above link to Cranmer says it all. Some interesting comments as well.

Remembrance Day Hypocracy

Dad with MedalsIt’s Remembrance Day today. The Eleventh Hour, of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month.

What were (and are) these people fighting for? We are told with serious countenance and hushed tones that they (and subsequently) were fighting for Freedom. My Dad died in his Eighties trusting in The Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour. He (with my Mum) became a Christian much later in life. I can remember as a youngster sometimes hearing him moan in his sleep as he relived the horror of war. From a historical perspective he didn’t talk too much about the war and I now wish that I’d ‘interviewed’ him about his experience. He managed to write a few pages though (I could post his words in a later post) At just 17, he was a dispatch rider in the Reconnaissance Corps – always at the front!

Over the years he had many invitations to various ‘old soldier’ meetings and could have gone over to Europe to re-visit some of the sites of the conflict. He turned them all down because the memories were so bad. It was only a few years before he died that he even went to the Remembrance Sunday parade though he always watched the Remembrance Day service on TV. Watching him march with the old soldiers did make me proud of him. The picture is of him at an 11, 11, 11 meeting. He said they gave out medals like sweets and it was only at the encouragement of a serving Christian soldier in the Church that he got them out of the drawer and had them mounted. This same soldier (Ian Fraser – now retired) also encouraged Dad to attend the Remembrance Sunday service.

RIP free speechWhat is the point of saying all this? I know my Dad would be appalled at the steady but relentless loss of Religious Liberty we are experiencing in this country (and the US) and that he thought he was fighting for. And so on the news we see Prime Minister Cameron and cronies ‘Remembering’ the fight for freedom while all the while steadily taking it away. It appalls and sickens me but we must trust in our God & Saviour. As Christians we must speak out while we can. The night is coming. The world hates Christ, hates The Gospel and hates the Word of God.

David Cameron: I wish I hadn’t forced through gay marriage law | Mail Online

David Cameron: I wish I hadn’t forced through gay marriage law | Mail Online.

Radical Islam in the House

I’ve started listening to The Janet Mefford Show, downloading (Available through iPlayer) to listen on the way to work. I listened for the first time to Dr Oliphint (Covenantal Apologetics) on the show and was pretty shocked by some of the other stuff – particularly the Homosexual ideology and Islam. I was a bit skeptical to begin with, the concern was if Janet was a fundamentalist nutcase. Some of her callers gave me that impression. But I have to say she has some excellent guests and to be honest I now lament afresh the fact there is nothing like it over here in the UK. It would probably be shut down over here as a show that promotes hate speech – even though that’s far from the truth. Disagreement is becoming more and more problematic. I heard via another online broadcaster (not Janet) the term ‘Gaystapo’ for the first time to describe the Homosexual lobby / agenda / ideology. Whilst the term may not be that helpful I think we get the point. Basically, disagree and expect to be dealt with. And it’s really no different when it comes to Islam. The cry of Islamophobe is fairly common here – we had it from the BBC Question Time audience just last Thursday – compete with (measured) applause.

Back to the point of the post. It was on Janet’s show (yesterday I think) I heard an interview with Dr Michael Coffman to discuss his book ‘Radical Islam in the House’. Whether he went too far in his prognosis is hard to say, but if 10% of what he says is true America (Could be too late for us, unless the Lord graciously steps in) seriously needs to wake up – and fast. I know nothing of Michael Coffman but I’m about to order the book on kindle – here’s the blurb below:

Product DetailsProduct Description
Radical Islam In the House exposes the very real Islamist threat to America. It’s no longer lurking at America’s door, it has already penetrated deeply into the federal government and our culture. The over arching goal of the leadership of every major Islamic sect is to create a global Caliphate or world government.

Iran wants to create world chaos to allow the Shi’ite Muslims to form a Shia Caliphate. While allowing Iran to obtain the nuclear bomb will be catastrophic, there is an equally dangerous Islamist cancer that is systematically Islamizing American politics and culture; Wahhabi Islam.

Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi Islam is the foundation of al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. Al Qaeda uses violence, while the Muslim Brotherhood uses stealth and deception. By preying on political correctness, they have convinced most Americans they are peaceful, share the same God and want to coexist. While peaceful coexistence may be what the average Muslim wants, it is not true of the Islamic Brotherhood leadership. The Brotherhood has a well-developed, step-by-step plan to turn America into an Islamic controlled nation within a few years as part of their world Caliphate.

Nearly all Muslims believe that the return of the Mahdi, their messiah, is eminent. When that happens he will lead Islam into global conquest and a global Caliphate. This story quite literally leaps off the pages of the Bible in ways non-Jews, Christians and even Muslims will find shocking.

Very few Americans know that Obama’s Kenyan family is steeped in Wahhabi Islam, or that prior to the 2008 election Egyptian TV and radio bragged that a Muslim was going to be president. The implications are stunning and should be understood by everyone — before it is too late.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Here’s two articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What’s troubling about these statements is not the statements but the lack of application here in the UK. We shouldn’t kid ourselves, despite assurances from politicians (e.g. my MP), as the arrest of Tony Miano demonstrates, Christians are slowly losing the rights laid out in the UN Declaration below. I guess the Declaration is OK as long as it’s kept in a glass case or worshiped from afar. But it’s problematic for the State when several rights are set in conflict. Something has to give way because now the Government has or is creating a precedent for hierarchy of rights. It’s pretty clear that where and when Christian teaching is in conflict with other – more attractive – materialistic, homosexual or Islamic rights Christians will have to get used to the idea of giving way.

Critics are sure to come back and say something like ‘Christians have had it their way for far too long’. I can appreciate the sentiment even though it’s not actually true. But opponents of Christianity should realise that by allowing a Christian ‘influence’ to slip away they will be losing far more than they think they are gaining. At the heart of the Christian faith is fundamentally to be opposed to any oppression of thought. Becoming a Christian in the first place means thinking differently, counter-culturally to almost everyone else. By actually having as our ‘Ultimate Authority’ The Bible we are declaring complete independence of thought, certainly from the majority of people and especially from the State. Being a Christian means ‘not being like everyone else’. All those free thinkers aren’t free at all – they just think they are. The reality is that so-called ‘Free Thinkers’ are just like the rest and not having an individual thought at all.

Me, I’m glad to have the Bible as my ‘Ultimate Authority’ at least it’s being honest. What’s your ultimate authority when there’s nothing left to turn to? I’ll tell you, it’s yourself, just like everyone else. And why should I listen to someone that’s just like the rest?

Now Jesus, here’s someone to be trusted, followed, loved & obeyed. He stands out – not like anyone else at all! He gave His all for rebels and so as Jesus says ‘if the Son (Jesus) shall make you free, you shall be free indeed’.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

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Obama calls from Air Force One / God calls from Heaven

Been meaning to post this even if it is a little bit of an ‘old news’ story now but just the other week we had – even over here on the news – Obama calling from Air Force One to support a Lesbian marriage – ‘we’re proud of you guys’ I think Obama says over the phone.

But God calls from heaven through His Word:

‘For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men’ Rom 1:26 & 26.

There really is no way of getting round it – the Bible is very plain. God says one thing and they say another! Anyone that can say ‘God bless America’ while at the same time promoting the exact opposite of the clear will of God as reveled in the Bible is engaging in hypocrisy of the highest order.

Thinking about our own Prim Minister and Barak Obama the first two verses of Psalm 2 come to mind:

Psalm 2

Why do the nations rage[a]
and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”

The reason why the Same-Sex Marriage debate and all its associated issues draw so much comment is well illustrated by the above verses from Psalm 2. It’s just blatant rebellion behind a veneer or facade of religiosity. I’d have more respect for these men if they were just honest Atheists.

But God holds them in derision, He laughs at these leaders and their petty power plays. Yes, the law under these men may well have some Christians brought before the law courts but Jesus says: I will tell you who to fear, fear Him who is able to cast both body and soul into hell (Matthew 10.28). By the way, James White mentions the arrest of Tony Miano, commenting that ‘The Gospel is now illegal in the UK’. This is effectively what these two men are doing (Obama & Cameron) while hiding behind a cloak of religion.

Cameron & Obama clearly have no fear of God. Let’s pray that God may yet be gracious to them and they will come to their senses and bow without hypocrisy before King Jesus.