“But if the watchman
see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if
the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his
iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]
“For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Presbyterians Week Headlines
[2] Police
Apologise after Breaking Up Legal Church Broadcast and Prosecuting Pastor on
His Doorstep
[3] How
Reformed Theologians’ Commitment To Self-Rule And Resisting Tyranny Helped Form
America
[4] Banner
of Truth Offering Several Box Sets
[5] Southern Baptist President
Says Christians Are Cursed for Not Fighting for “Gender Justice”
Just in time for
Thanksgiving, a new video on the Pilgrims has been released. The Pilgrims,
17th-Century English Emigrants is a 30-minute documentary in
celebration of the 400th anniversary this year of the voyage of Mayflower.
Among the topics are the doctrine,
worship, and ecclesiology of the Pilgrims; the Mayflower Compact; the Pilgrims’
relations with the native Americans; the legacy of the Pilgrims; the Pilgrims
as inspiration for a wide spectrum of Christians and others; and the Pilgrims
and popular culture.
The video was produced by Dr.
Frank J. Smith, Lecturer of History at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) and
Pastor of Atlanta Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA). It also features an
introduction by the Provost of GGC, Dr. T.J. Arant.
To access the video, use this
link: https://youtu.be/DzDeCLpJkYE.
+ Georgia Gwinnett College, 1000 University
Center Lane, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-407-5000,
+ Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America
(RPCNA), 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania 15208,
412-731-1177, Fax: 412-731-8861
[2] Police
Apologise after Breaking Up Legal Church Broadcast and Prosecuting Pastor on
His Doorstep
29 November 2020
Issued by: Christian Concern
Thames Valley Police have
apologised after a Milton Keynes pastor became the first church leader to be
prosecuted for allegedly breaking covid-19 regulations despite holding a legal
church broadcast in line with government guidance.
At 7.15pm on Friday 20
November, two police officers demanded access to Kingdom Faith Ministries
International Church in Milton Keynes, a Pentecostal ministry that has
over 4,000 followers worldwide, after reports of ‘loud music.’
Rev. Daniel Mateola, 49, who
is being supported by the Christian Legal Centre, was holding a legal broadcast
service in the church to 150 online members of his congregation.
The broadcast was part of a
Men’s Conference addressing the struggles his male congregants have suffered in
the pandemic.
Churches holding in-person
worship services have been criminalised under the current UK lockdown which
began on November 5.
122 church leaders, including
Pastor Mateola, are pursuing a judicial review against the government’s
decision.
However, government guidance
clearly stipulates that church leaders can broadcast to their congregation
online from their buildings and can work with support staff, such as singers
and sound engineers, that it judges are essential to the running of the
service, with no limit placed on that number.
Attending a place of
worship for broadcasting or filming an act of worship is permitted but should
only involve those people working or volunteering who are essential for the
content of the service, and for technical support to enable people to watch and
worship online or via a television or radio.
If musicians or singers
usually form part of the act of worship that is being broadcast, they may
participate but only if they are essential to the delivery of that act of
worship. The numbers or people involved should be kept as small as possible to
minimise risks and participants should follow social distancing guidance.
However, video footage
revealed two officers entering the church building and demanding that the
support staff leave claiming that they were breaking the regulations.
Pastor Mateola tried to show
the officers the government guidance on his laptop, but they refused to look.
When Pastor Mateola continued
to politely insist that what they were doing was legal, the officer radioed in
for more support and a further 7 police officers were called to the scene.
Both officers then began to
dictate to Pastor Mateola how he should hold the service and said that he only needed
two people in the building: ‘one to speak and one to hold the phone and
record.’
The officers claimed that
there were 30 people in the building, but Pastor Mateola insists that there was
half this amount, each with their specific role as part of the online broadcast
and each in separate rooms socially distancing.
Pastor Mateola told the
officers that ‘you have escalated this unnecessarily’. Support
staff then faced no alternative but to leave and the service after an hour of
disruption was forced to end.
‘Music breaks covid
regulations’
After dark on Tuesday 24
November, video footage has also revealed two police officers from Thames
Valley police arriving on Pastor Mateola’s doorstep.
With documentation in her
hand, a female officer read him his rights and notified him that he would be
prosecuted for breaking covid-19 regulations, stating:
“I am here to tell you
that you are going to be formerly reported to court for what happened…you do
not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention now
something you later rely on in court…you will receive something in the post to
tell you what happens next.”
Pastor Mateola responded
saying: “You have totally disregarded government guidelines, I kept showing
them to you… but you said it didn’t matter and you were going to go ahead
whatever the sergeant said…I complied with you, you totally destroyed
everything we were trying to do with the broadcast…you didn’t even know the
guidelines and we have ended up being harassed for no reason.”
Incredibly, a male officer
then said: “you have broken coronavirus regulations…the music was
blaring out loud.”
Pastor Mateola then said:
“This is becoming a nightmare, I’m a reverend…we have over 4,000 followers who
cannot go to church…there has been so much unnecessary harassment…but there is
no negativity against you as officers, we love you and we thank you for what
you do in the community.”
“I was treated like a
criminal”
Pastor Mateola, who is one
of 122 church leaders pursuing a judicial review against
the English and Welsh government’s decision to close churches, said: “I
am deeply shocked and hurt by what has happened.
“I am relieved that the
police have recognised their mistake and have apologised. I have been treated
like a criminal while legally seeking to be a blessing and to bring hope to my
fellow citizens at a time of great need physically, emotionally and
spiritually.
“Sadly, the government and
police appear to have no understanding of what a church is, what it does and
why it is so important to our society, especially for the most vulnerable and
the lonely.
“Although I have joined a
legal challenge against the government’s decision to close churches, I have
nevertheless followed the regulations that have been in force. Despite this I
still found myself facing prosecution. If the police do not understand the
regulations it is small wonder that church leaders are confused.”
‘Almost unbelievable’
Andrea Williams, chief
executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “If someone had said at
the start of 2020 that by November the police would be interpreting and
enforcing government rules which involved closing down legal broadcasts from a
church and prosecuting a pastor, no one would have believed them.
“Yet this is the current
reality for church leaders seeking to legally function and faithfully serve
their congregation and communities in need under government covid-19
regulations.
“It is astonishing and
disturbing in its own right to see nine police officers breaking up a church
broadcast and treating it’s leader with such disrespect. But to then turn up
unannounced at Pastor Mateola’s family home and prosecute him, is sinister and
almost unbelievable.
“There are so many other
things the police could be doing to support and protect our communities at this
time of crisis. Why go to so much effort to shut down an online church
broadcast?
“The wider issue and
principle at stake is that the forced closure of churches and interference by
the secular government violates centuries of constitutional tradition. The
church serves at the heart of our public life and as well as seeking to meet
the physical needs of many it exists to bring the Good News and hope of Jesus
Christ in the middle of a national crisis.
“We call on the government
and the police to urgently engage and seek to fully understand what a church
is, why they are so important to our communities, why the freedom to worship
matters and why churches are needed now more than ever at this unprecedented
time.
“Pastor Mateola is a
polite, kind and law-abiding citizen and we welcome the apology from the
police.”
Chief Superintendent Robert
France, Gold Commander for Thames Valley Police’s response to coronavirus,
said: ‘It appears… there has been a misunderstanding by our officers of
the legislation in place in what is an ever-changing and complex area of
enforcement.’
He added: ‘There has been
a mistake in the issuing of this ticket and I would like to apologise for the
distress I know this is likely to have caused.’
+ Christian Concern,
[3] How
Reformed Theologians’ Commitment To Self-Rule And Resisting Tyranny Helped Form
America
The following essay is
part of The Federalist’s 1620
Project, a symposium exploring the connections and contributions of the
early Pilgrim and Puritan settlers in New England to the uniquely American
synthesis of faith, family, freedom, and self-government.
Last year marked the
culmination of The New York Times’s
controversial 1619 Project. The project rightly brought attention to the
importance of the African American story of enslavement and the 400-year
struggle for freedom. Yet its original
claim that the United States was founded in 1619 rather than 1776 went
too far…
+ The Federalist, 611 Pennsylvania Ave SE,
#247, Washington DC 20003, 571-358-9028, info@thefederalist.com
[4] Banner
of Truth Offering Several Box Sets
Banner of Truth is offering
several box sets of classic Reformed works:
-- Treasures
of John Owen Box Set – Five Volume Set - US$100
https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/collected-workssets/treasures-of-john-owen-box-set/
-- Puritan
Classics Box Set – Ten Volume Set – US$200
https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/collected-workssets/puritan-classics-box-set/
Additionally, the forty-nine
volume Puritan
Paperback Series is available for US$270.
+ The Banner of Truth Trust, P.O. Box
621, Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013, 717-249-5747,
info@banneroftruth.org
[5] Southern Baptist President
Says Christians Are Cursed for Not Fighting for “Gender Justice”
Te following is excerpted
from “JD Greear Says,” Reformation Charlotte, Oct. 29, 2020: “JD Greear,
president of the Southern Baptist Convention-- who denounced Southern Baptists
as racists and white supremacists, called on Christians to stand up for LGBTQ
rights, and has a pro-choice woman leading Bible studies at his church and also
says that people who are followers of Jesus will think about the ‘rights of
immigrants’ while at the ballot box--has denounced the Church as ‘cursed’ like
Meroz for not fighting for ‘racial justice’ and ‘gender justice.’ Greear
recently complained in a sermon that Christians today, like Christians during
the time of American slavery, have a ‘malaise’ about matters of justice
because, he says, it doesn’t ‘directly affect them.’ ‘Whether we’re talking
about racial justice or gender justice or what have you,’ he says, ‘tragically
... there’s often been a malaise in the church ... because the injustice did
not directly affect those of us sitting in places of privilege. Like Meroz, it
didn’t affect our tribe.’ Of course, he doesn’t exactly explain what ‘gender
justice’ is, however, the website, Gender Justice U.S. defines it as ‘a world
where everyone can thrive regardless of their gender, gender expression, or
sexual orientation.’ And since Greear has called on Christians to stand up for
gay rights and says that using ‘preferred pronouns’ for transgender people is
‘pronoun hospitality’ and that he believes he should do it, one can draw his
own conclusion as to what Greear means by the term.”
+ Way of Life Literature, Post
Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
