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A death sentence for following Jesus - 7 December 2010
You might like to pray today for Asia Bibi and her family, Christians in Pakistan. Asia (pictured below) has been sentenced to death for blasphemy following her conversion to Christ, and her husband Ashiq Masih and their five children are in danger from the followers of men like Imam Qari Mohammed Salim, who has said, “we will also take the law in our hands.”
According to the BBC, “A radical cleric has promised 500,000 Pakistani Rupees (£3,700; $5,800) to anyone prepared to ‘finish her’.”
Asia Bibi
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Jesus ain’t frightened - 1 December 2010
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Following today’s visit of the Not Ashamed delegation to 10 Downing Street, a healthy debate is raging on the BBC website under the heading, “Is Christianity under attack?”
Well, yes, of course it is. Like a school of goldfish attacking a whale. And guess what? Jesus ain’t frightened.
Definitely still not ashamed - 1 December 2010
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Today’s the day – when at 2 pm the Not Ashamed delegation will visit 10 Downing Street.
In case you’ve not done so, there’s still time to sign the declaration.
Not ashamed - 29 November 2010
There’s still time to sign the Not Ashamed declaration. You can find out about it here, read it online here, and sign it here.
Frankenstein’s monster - 21 November 2010
It couldn’t happen here. Could it?
Welcome to the “Kafka-esque world of state child-snatching … the Frankenstein’s monster created by Parliament in the 1989 Children Act.”
With justice like that… - 19 November 2010
Dr Sheila Matthews has lost her case against her former employers for religious discrimination.
Perhaps this isn’t surprising. What is surprising – no, actually, it’s outrageous – is the manner in which she lost it, in particular the conduct of Judge MacMillan, who passed the verdict.
Christian Concern reports that Judge Macmillan persistently failed to address Dr Matthews by her correct name, instead calling here “Dr Marshall”, and took a mere 15 minutes to deliver his verdict, “giving the appearance after a two day hearing that he had already written his judgment beforehand.”
With justice like that, who needs criminals?
A personal letter from Said Musa - 19 November 2010
The Barnabas Fund reports that Said Musa is an Afghan Christian, imprisoned in Kabul Provincian Jail following his conversion from Islam to Christ. Mr Musa has written a letter describing his treatment, which was passed by hand to a visitor who met him in jail.
Here’s an extract from the letter:
The authority and prisoners in jail did many bad behaviour with me about my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. [They] beat me by wood, by hands, by legs, put some things on my head, mocked me “He’s Jesus Christ”, spat on me, nobody let me for sleep night and day. Every person spat on me and beat me. Also the prosecutor wrote something wrong against me.
View the letter in full here.
Find out who you MP is – and write to them – here.
In court today - 15 November 2010
Christian doctor Sheila Matthews goes to court today after having been prevented from expressing her Christian convictions in her professional capacity as a medical advisor on the Northamptonshire Council Adoption Panel. More information available from Christian Concern For Our Nation.
Not Ashamed - 28 October 2010
If you think Jesus Christ is not good news for the United Kingdom; if you reckon that there is some other hope for our nation besides the proclamation of his gospel; if you believe that our government, employers and other leaders have no obligation before God to protect the freedom of Christians to live out the gospel in their daily lives and to promote the gospel of Christ; then you won’t be interested in the Not Ashamed declaration.
If, on the other hand, you believe what the Bible says about these things, you’ll want to sign the declaration, which you can do here.
For the record, here’s what the declaration says:
WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is good news for our nation. He is the only true hope and solid foundation for our society.
WE CALL on government, employers and other leaders in our country to protect the freedom of Christians to participate in public life without compromising biblical teaching and to promote in our society the values that are revealed through Jesus Christ and that have so shaped our nation, for the good of all.
You can also like Not Ashamed on Facebook and follow Not Ashamed on Twitter.
People in glass houses… - 17 September 2010
The government has responded to a petition to “Uphold that parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing and development of their child.”
They say some sensible things, for example: “Parents have the primary duty to ensure that their child receives a suitable education and home education is a well established alternative to school which allows them to fulfil that duty,” and, “The Government respects the right of parents to home educate their children.” View the response in full here.
But there’s one glaring howler that needs to be addressed briefly. The Government issues this warning: Homeschooling parents “must provide their child with an education that is suitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have.”
Is the government really confident that such an education is provided in state schools? Since when did the government’s educational performance give it the right to start giving advice to homeschooling families?
Perhaps the government believes that the best way to take account of children’s educational needs is to provide access to explicit sex websites while rarely talking to parents about sex ed lessons; to provide the morning-after pill on demand, to require faith schools to teach a position on human sexuality that conflicts with their religious beliefs, and to allow the Christian heritage of Britain’s primary schools to be eroded despite evidence that the Christian ethos of Church schools actually improves their academic standards.
I doubt many Christian homeschooling parents will be keen to take the advice of a government that regards this as a “suitable education.”
Bad science - 27 August 2010
Richard Dawkins accuses faith schools of “indoctrinating” children, ahead of a TV documentary that accuses them of being “socially damaging” (HT: Christian Institute).
But a 2009 report by Prof David Jesson of the University of York found that faith schools promoted better community cohesion than secular schools.
Don’t the the evidence get in the way of a good bit of prejudice…
Killing babies - 26 June 2010
A recent report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists claim that unborn children cannot feel pain before the 24th week of pregnancy. They are “undeveloped and sedated,” in “a state of induced sleep, like unconsciousness.” Consequently, say the RCOG, there is no reason to reduce the current 24-week abortion limit.
There’s a lot of things one would like to say to the pro-abortion lobby, but let’s try to focus narrowly (for now) on the matter in hand.
The logic of the RCOG’s report is alarming. Just look at the reasoning: such young children can’t feel pain (being “unconscious and sedated”), therefore there’s no reason to stop killing them (I understand “terminate the pregnancy” is the preferred phrase, but let barbarous things have barbarous names). Even if this research were accurate (and it’s disputed by other doctors), perhaps the RCOG would be kind enough to explain why the inability to feel pain should have become a criterion for allowing a child to be killed. After all, “a state of induced sleep” can easily be induced artificially. Would the RCOG apply the same logic in those cases? If not, why apply it here?
Tick the box - 23 April 2010
The Christian Institute has produced a helpful-looking guide to the policies of the major political parties ahead of the forthcoming election. Download your copy free here, or take a look at the introductory video.
The day of reckoning - 20 April 2010
When it comes to deciding how to vote in the General Election, past performance is a pretty good guide to the future. With this in mind, the Christian Institute have produced a useful guide to the voting records of all current MPs. It highlight the issues they (the Christian Institute, that is) regard as ethically significant, and simplifies matters immensely by giving a big green tick for what they regard as a “morally right” vote and a chunky red cross for a “morally wrong” one.
For the convenience of people living in or around Emmanuel (Southgate, North London), the data for MP’s in this (Enfield Southgate) and the surrounding constituencies can be accessed via the links below. All these MPs are standing for re-election in May.
And here’s a national map of Parliamentary constituencies.
But first, some caveats: Obviously anyone who decides how to vote solely on the basis of this information needs their head examined. Maybe the Christian Institute’s data should have covered other issues. Maybe their assessment of “morally right” or “morally wrong” is mistaken. There are dozens of other relevant factors. And, for the avoidance of all doubt, let me emphasise that all this data is in the public domain. There’s nothing here that you couldn’t find out some other way.
Having said all that, here goes:
David Burrowes (Con), Enfield Southgate
Theresa Villiers (Con), Chipping Barnet
Lynne Featherstone (Lib Dem), Hornsey and Wood Green
Joan Ryan (Lab), Enfield North
James Clappison (Con), Hertsmere
A brief reprieve from the lunacy - 7 April 2010
The Christian Institute reports today that the government has “withdrawn its highly controversial home education and sex education plans for England.” These plans would have made Whitehall-controlled sex education “a statutory part of the national curriculum” and given government officials the right to interview home-educated children without their parents being present. The abandonment of this proposed legislation is most definitely a good thing.
Here’s one interpretation of today’s events: The government was forced into a “humiliating U-turn” during negotiations with opposition parties, and abandoned this part of the Children, Schools and Families Bill in order to force the rest of it through in the “wash-up” – that’s the period just before the dissolution of Parliament when (sadly) some (though fortunately not all) politicians seem tempted to abandon the job they’re supposed to be doing (carefully and thoughtfully scrutinising proposed legislation, for example) and concentrate instead on getting re-elected.
That’s one way of looking at it, and it’s true enough as far as it goes.
Here’s another way:
The God who taught his people not to put their trust in princes has answered their prayers and spared them (and the rest of the country) for the time being from one small piece of oppressive lunacy flying in the direction of godly mums and dads who are just trying to bring up their kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
The God who taught his people to pray “Your kingdom come” has extended his gracious rule an inch or so further into an area of British public life where the devil was about to get his own way (temporarily) by enlisting the support of the powers that be in pursuit of his (doomed) project to overthrow the rule of the risen and exalted Lord Jesus Christ.
The God who commands all the earth to pay homage to his exalted Son and worship him with all their heart and soul and mind and strength has mercifully delivered us from being yet more deeply mired in slavery to the idolatrous and self-destructive statism that will one day ruin this nation if her people don’t repent in a big way.
The God whose people are too often tempted to doubt that the hearts of kings are in his hands has gently reminded us that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.
One or two civil rulers who apparently do not realise that they, like the rest of us, are required to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ in every area of their lives, and who have therefore apparently forgotten that their job is to enact the laws that God commands, not to make up their own, have received a less-than-gentle reminder that there is no authority except that which God has established, and that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, and that anyone who thinks he is standing firm needs to take care that he doesn’t fall, and that the Lord drowned Pharoah and his host in the Red Sea, and that with an overflowing flood he will make an end of all his adversaries.
Pass the band-aids, I’ve got gangrene - 16 March 2010
Stanislav Mishin makes some pretty pessimistic observations about the current and likely future condition of England.
I haven’t checked the facts, but I’m suspicious about the claim that “one in 8 stores has closed down.” And it’s not true that the government has “forcably nationalized all major banks on the island.” Just some bits of some of them. So far. But that aside, the prediction of short-term national decline is probably fairly accurate.
But he’s dead wrong about the solution. Our hope does not lie “in small parties … like the English Defense League.” Pass the band-aids, I’ve got gangrene.
Bizarrely, Mishin is simultaneously too pessimistic and too optimistic. Too pessimistic if he thinks that the present decline is terminal, and too optimistic if he thinks that mere politics can do anything to halt the slide.
The only hope for this nation – like any other nation – is the gospel of Christ. Any nation that refuses to worship the LORD of Hosts will, sooner or later, be brought down to the dust by the God who said, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2:12).
So hear the word of the LORD:
3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish. 5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God. (Psalm 146:3-5)
And:
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)
A real test of character - 22 February 2010
The time is coming – indeed, in some quarters it has already come – when evangelicals, especially evangelical leaders, will need to take a stand against unbiblical attitudes in the public square. This will require courage, since proclaiming the gospel to people who don’t want to hear it seldom results in increased popularity, and no one enjoys being despised.
At the same time, we should remember that the true test of Christian integrity comes not when we need to stand against those who hate us, but when we need to challenge our friends. It’s one thing to confront the unbelieving world, whose opinion of us we have rightly learned to disregard. It’s another matter to expose deceit and ungodliness among those close to us, whose good opinion we may be tempted to covet just a little too much.
After all, generations of wicked Israelites managed to summon up contempt for the Pagan nations of the world. But Phinehas received a covenant of eternal priesthood when he slayed the fornicator within the camp (Numbers 25), and the Levites were set apart for Temple service because they put to death their idolatrous brothers (Exodus 32).
The true test of character for an evangelical leader is not public, but private. Frankly, if doesn’t take much to stand up to the predictable and yawn-inducing hostility of the mainstream press, since at this point his Christian friends (his real audience?) can be relied upon to cheer from the sidelines. But will he have the courage to expose the hidden deceit of behind-the-scenes church politics, when to do so may cost him friends (and preferment) he really values?
Children are being nationalised - 2 February 2010
Gerald Warner has some sharp observations about the decision of the US authorities to grant political asylum to a German family who were (to quote Judge Lawrence O. Burman, who made the decision) facing ‘a well-founded fear of persecution’ because of their decision to homeschool their children.
This is something we in the UK should be worried about, says Warner. For ‘our rulers subscribe to the same tyrannical statist philosophy’ that underlies state opposition to homeschooling in Germany. Whether or not we happen to be homeschoolers – or for that matter, whether or not we even have children – all of us ought to be share the Americans’ concern about ‘the creeping totalitarianism that has engulfed Europe.’
‘Children are being nationalised,’ claims Warner. The British government’s most recent attempt came in the shape of the Badman Report. After that, they might try just about anything.
If this blog had a category called ‘Shameless Appeals,’ I might just think to mention this…
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One and a half cheers - 2 February 2010
Pope Benedict has drawn howls of protest from the secularists again, this time by attacking the UK government’s proposed Equality Bill. The Pope said that the UK ‘is well-known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society,’ yet warns that ‘the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.’
Well, one and a half cheers.
The problem with the Pope’s statement is the reasoning on which it is based. In his view, the bill is bad because it violates ‘natural law’ and therefore compromises the freedoms of ‘religious communities.’ But the real problem with the the bill is that it violates the word of God and compromises the right of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed as the King of the whole earth.
Ironically, the Pope’s reasoning places him squarely in the camp of the liberals he is attempting to oppose. When he says that the proposed legislation ‘violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded,’ he sounds indistinguishable from the Government Equalities Office spokesman who declared, ‘everyone should have a fair chance in life and not be discriminated against.’
So at first glance the Pope looks like he’s standing against the government by defending the gospel; while in fact he’s standing alongside them by defending ‘equality’, and merely claiming that he’s got a better idea of how to achieve it. This was spotted by a sharp-eyed British official, who pointed out that ‘the Pope acknowledges our country’s firm commitment to equality for all members of society.’ So there we are – we all agree really, and the Pope should just be reasonable and stop complaining.
To defend the gospel on the ground that it secures other values (such as ‘equality’ defined in terms upon which we’re all supposed to be able to agree) in effect turns those values into our gospel, transforming the Lordship of Jesus Christ into a means designed to secure some other end. We should defend the gospel on the grounds that it is true (since Jesus is, in fact, Lord), not because a consistent liberal ought to like it.
A doomed experiment - 10 December 2009
Is it too cynical to believe that the western world, with its increasingly hostile attitude to all things distinctively Christian, really is headed for a whole lot of trouble?
T. S. Eliot thought not:
« Previous Entries Next Entries »The World is trying to experiment with attempting to form a civilised but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilisation, and save the world from suicide. (Quoted in P. J. Leithart, The Kingdom and the Power, p. 217)