25 January 2017

“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

[1] 1954 Covenant Renewal of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America

[2] In 500^th Anniversary Year of Protestant Reformation, Reformed Church in America President the Rev. Daniel Gillett All But Swims the Tiber

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[1] 1954 Covenant Renewal of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America

A BRIEF COVENANT
DECLARATION OF FAITH

In this out Covenant, we are the members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) subscribe to the following declaration of faith.

We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired Word of God, the only rule of faith and life.

We believe in the one living and true God─Father, Son, and Holy Spirit─as revealed in the Scriptures; we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour from sin; and we acknowledge Him as our Lord.

We believe in and accept the standards of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America as being in agreement with and founded upon the Scriptures. In particular we believe in the Reformed faith, emphasizing the sovereignty of Christ, the Presbyterian form of church government, and the New Testament pattern of worship with its exclusive use of the Psalms, sung a capella.

CONFESSION OF SIN

We humbly confess that we have transgressed the Law of God, and have come short of performing out duty. We confess that we have not measured up to our Covenants. We confess that too often our faith has been weak, our works ineffectual, our loyalty wavering, and our love too cold. We confess that, knowing the right, we have too often done wrong.

COVENANT OBLIGATIONS

Accepting the Covenant of Grace we do understand the following obligations of this our covenant.

We do Covenant with God that we will seek to conform our lives to the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ: we will endeavor to forsake all that is sinful and that would compromise our witness for him; that we will separate ourselves from all associations, especially secret societies, which would hinder the development of Christian character; and that we will encourage by our example temperance, love and godliness.

We do promise to avail ourselves of opportunities, public and private, for growth in grace and for Christian service, including worship, prayer, study of the Scriptures, keeping holy the Sabbath day, observing the appointed sacraments, giving regularly to the Lord’s work, and seeking to win others ti Him.

We do solemnly purpose to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness in all the relationships of life. We therefore oppose all the systems, religious and secular that undermine faith in the Scriptures, in the deity of Jesus Christ, and His redemptive work. We will continue to advocate the separation of church and state, and strive to bring each to the proper acknowledgement of Christ’s sovereignty. We therefore will not avail ourselves of those rights and privileges of citizenship that may tend to neutralize our testimony of the rights and claims of Christ over the nations.

We make this our profession of faith, confession of sin, and purpose of life in the presence of God, in humble reliance upon His grace, committing to the keeping of our souls to Him who is able to work in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. AMEN.

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Additional information about this covenant is available in the RPCNA 1954 Minutes of Synod:

http://www.rparchives.org/data/1954%20Minutes.pdf

and in an article in the April 21, 1954 Covenanter Witness by J. Boyd
Tweed:

http://www.rparchives.org/data/New/Covenanter_Witness_Vol_52_S.pdf


+ Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-1177, Fax: 412-731-8861


[2] In 500^th Anniversary Year of Protestant Reformation, Reformed Church in America President the Rev. Daniel Gillett All But Swims the Tiber

Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter XXV - Of the Church – Section VI. There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God. [https://freechurch.org/assets/documents/2014/Westminster_Confession_of_Faith.pdf]

A 22 January 2017 Holland Sentinel article by Lori Timmer titled “Holland's Daniel Gillett has Emotional Interaction with Pope” reports that Reformed Church in America (RCA) President and lead pastor at First Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, the Rev. Daniel Gillett while in Italy on 7 December 2016 on RCA business was given the opportunity to meet Roman Catholic pontiff Pope Francis during the pontiff’s weekly audience.

Gillett told the pope that several committees of the RCA General Synod had asked that he, Gillett, celebrate the Reformation and that he had refused. Gillett said to the pope:

"I will propose that we commemorate the Reformation and that we also apologize to our Catholic brothers and sisters for how we have treated them and use this time as a season of growing and serving together, and that this be a time of reconciliation.”

The pope then asked Gillett to pray for him.


+ Holland Sentinel, 54 West 8th Street, Holland, Michigan 49423, 616-546-4200, Fax: 616-393-6710, peter.esser@hollandsentinel.com

+ Reformed Church in America, 4500 60th Street Southeast, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512, 800-968-6065, questions@rca.org

+ Free Church of Scotland, 15 North Bank Street, The Mound, Edinburgh, Scotland EH1 2LS, 0131-226-5286, Fax: 0131-220-0597, catherine@freechurchofscotland.org.uk

+ The Vatican, Città del Vaticano, Rome, Italy, 39-6-69-88-35-11, Fax: 39-6-69-88-54-47, Contact Page

4 January 2017

“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

[1] New Christian Observer Articles for January 2017

[2] American Pastor Andrew Brunson Formally Charged in Turkey

[3] New Year’s Message to Ghanaian Christians from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana

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[1] New Christian Observer Articles for January 2017

New Christian Observer articles for January 2017 include:

-- Who is This God? - by Christian Observer Contributing Editor David Brand - At the beginning of this new year, we do well to ask ourselves, “Who is this God whom we serve and whose we are, and what makes Him, and Him alone, accountable to no created being, and worthy of the worship and obedience of all mortals?”;

-- The Educational Message of Christmas - by Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro - Even if you aren’t religious, it is impossible to deny America is culturally a Christian nation.;

Plus, links to ReVision devotionals on the Fellowship of Ailbe website by Christian Observer Contributing Editor T.M. Moore.


+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 24450, christianobserver@christianobserver.org


[2] American Pastor Andrew Brunson Formally Charged in Turkey

Greenville, SC, December 21 — Andrew Brunson, a former [Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church] pastor, graduate of Erskine Seminary, and son of longtime Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church missionaries, has been charged in Turkey with membership in an armed terrorist organization and sent to prison by the officiating judge. Before being charged* Brunson had been held without charge in a detention center in Turkey since October 7. He was interrogated without notice on December 9 and imprisoned.

When he was originally detained, his activities were considered by the Turkish government to be “against national security,” but no other reason was given for Andrew’s incarceration and no formal charges had been filed against him.

As of December 8, he had been held without charges for 63 days. In more than two months of detention, Andrew has been permitted only two U.S. consular visits.

The U.S. State Department, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and other U.S. government officials have been working with leaders of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Brunson’s current church, to gain Brunson’s release. Leaders in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church have also sought to be of assistance during this time.

Brunson was raised as member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and was employed as a pastor of the ARP church, in Turkey, from 1993-2010. He now works as a pastor of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. At the time of his detention, the Brunsons had been trying for five months to renew their resident visas but had not received any response.

The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church joins the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the firm belief that Andrew Brunson’s detention is unfounded. The Brunsons have absolutely no connection to any armed terrorist organization in the country where he has lived peacefully for twenty-three years and where they raised their three children.

Update: For more information and for an opportunity to participate in an online petition seeking Rev. Brunson’s release, please visit: www.aclj.org.

Rev. C. Ronald Beard

Principal Clerk, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

Mr. Phil Williams

Moderator

Rev. Lee Shelnutt

Moderator-Elect



For more information:

Rev. C. Ronald Beard

Principal Clerk, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

918 S. Pleasantburg Dr. #127

Greenville, SC 29607

1-864-232-8297

www.arpchurch.org


+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 918 South Pleasantburg Drive, Suite 127, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729

+ Erskine College and Theological Seminary, 2 Washington Street, Due West, South Carolina 29639, 864-379-2131, Fax: 864-379-2167, jguyette@erskine.edu


[3] New Year’s Message to Ghanaian Christians from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana

Dear People of God,

I wish you all a New Year of peace, security, productivity, and prosperity. Ghanaians have entered the year 2017 with very high expectations.

God has seen the country safely through an electioneering campaign period which was characterized by tension, acrimony and apprehension. But we have bounced back as a people. The Ghanaian over the years has demonstrated the capacity for reconciliation and the love for peace. As Apostle Paul said …but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead... (Philippians 3:13).

Change in government is an inevitable part of the governance process. Just as years come and go, governments in a democracy also come and go. I wish to admonish all Ghanaians, especially, the over ninety-eight percent that profess faith in God, to reorient our lives in the spirit of the change we have voted for.

Change in leadership without corresponding change in the attitude and behavior of the citizenry is a meaningless trip to nowhere. Therefore, as we enter a new year, I call on all Ghanaians, to seek to be more responsible citizens than we have so far been. Collectively, over many years, we have not demonstrated sufficient sense of responsibility as a people; and we have suffered for it.

There are signs that unless we all launch out on a project of changing attitudes and behaviors, things can become worse in our country.

Our collective irresponsibility as citizens manifest in the endemic corruption that is eating up our public service at all levels; our misuse of power that tends to intimidate law abiding but powerless members of our society; the vitriols that pour out of our radio and television stations; the indiscipline and inconsiderate behaviors on our roads; blatant disrespect for the aged, unprofessional attitude towards work, unethical conduct at our work places and in our communities, the contempt with which we treat the environment and many other pool of vices in which most of us seem to be swimming with pleasure.

On the first day of the year 2017, we in Ghana have enough motivation to work toward change. A New Year's Day offers us the opportunity to make resolutions to be better persons; and as we welcome a new government into office, we do not only expect change but we are motivated to work toward a constructive change.

This idea of change; of newness and renewal, with the opportunities to make fresh attempts at reaching our aspirations and achieving our goals in life, finds its most solid foundation in the call of God to us to receive new life in Jesus Christ. This is a call that goes out to all peoples everywhere, offering to them the hope that unfavorable circumstances and difficult conditions are surmountable and that change for a better life is always possible.

While it is good and potentially, productive for each of us to make resolutions to improve upon our lives and overcome self-destructive habits, it is important for us to realize that making resolutions to be better citizens, with adequate sense of responsibility toward our fellow citizens and our country is also a divine calling.

Therefore, in addition to our own individual New Year resolutions, let each of us also resolve to commit ourselves to adopting attitudes and behaviors that will contribute towards achieving the greater aspirations of our country: eradication of poverty; improved and accessible health-care for all; accessible quality education for all; quality and sustainable jobs for all who desire to work; greater national unity and harmony; greater concern and care for the vulnerable, including people with disability.

We as Presbyterians, and indeed Christians must be guided by the core values of Christianity in all spheres of life. Furthermore, as citizens of Ghana we should model leadership in our place of work, and in our communities and this will inevitably support institutional efforts at civic education.

God’s blessed dealings with us in the past year, especially, answering our fervent prayers to take us through the elections peacefully, must give us the confidence to continue to hold together and press on as one people. We must continue to hope, pray and work toward better quality of life for each citizen and foreigners who find themselves living among us.

May we humbly seek God’s blessings;
May God protect each and every one of us;
May He guide our Leaders in the days to come;
May the beginning of a new year and a new era be a time of rectitude, righteousness, progress and prosperity of Ghana;
May each of us receive grace and strength to achieve our New Year resolutions.

Happy and prosperous New Year.


+ Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Post Office Box GP 1800, Accra, Ghana, 233-21-662511, Fax: 233-21-665594, pcghg@yahoo.com

+ Peace FM, Post Office Box 17470, Mile 7 Junction, Achimota – Accra, Ghana, 00233-21-406677, Contact Page

7 December 2016

“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


[1] New Christian Observer Articles for December 2016

New Christian Observer articles for December 2016 include:

-- “Self-Evident Truths” and “Inalienable Rights” – by Christian Observer Contributing Editor David Brand – “Can it be that homosexual unions (incapable of producing life), government sponsored  “healthcare” (lacking regard for the sanctity of life), and elective abortion (the intentional destruction of human life), have now become the twenty-first century’s version of “self-evident truths” and “inalienable rights” bestowed upon “all men” by their Creator?”;

-- Educating for Revolution or Revolution in Education – by Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro - “Our schools are educating for revolution rather than really seeking a revolution in education.”;

Plus links to ReVision devotionals on the Fellowship of Ailbe website by Christian Observer Contributing Editor T.M. Moore.


+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 24450, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

30 November 2016

D.V., Presbyterians Week will return on December 7, 2016

23 November 2016

“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

[1] Christ Is the Ruler of Nations Published Online

[2] Great Britain Denies Visit of Pakistani Christians to Twin Church in Scotland Citing Pakistani’s “Poverty”

[3] Evangelical Church in Germany Abandons Mission to Jews

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[1] Christ Is the Ruler of Nations Published Online

R. Andrew Myers who attends Grace & Truth Reformed Presbyterian Church (Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America) in Harrisonburg, Virginia, has published online “Christ Is the Ruler of Nations,” a book that is a compilation of the broad witness of the church on the Mediatorial Kingship of Christ from the times of Calvin to the present day. The book is available for reading at no cost at the following link:

          www.MediatorialKingship.com


+ Christ's Mediatorial Kingship, Contact Page

+ Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-1177, Fax: 412-731-8861


[2] Great Britain Denies Visit of Pakistani Christians to Twin Church in Scotland Citing Pakistani’s “Poverty”

A 23 November 2016 Pakistan Christian Post article titled “U.K. Denies Entry in Church Conference Reasoning Poverty of Two Pakistani Christian Delegates” reports that Great Britain has denied entry visas to two Pakistani Christians who had planned to visit their twin church in Scotland as part of a long standing exchange program in the Church of Scotland with churches in the developing world, blaming the Pakistani’s “poverty” for the rejection.

Wilson Chowdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association commented:

"We are appalled that peaceful and legitimate Christian leaders and clerics are not being allowed into the country for a meeting with a well-established church that has long experience of handling such matters, particularly when the Home Office recently let in two Pakistani Muslim clerics, Muhammad Naqib ur Rehman and his son Haseeb Ur Rehman, with a long record of inciting hatred against Christians and other objectionable behaviour for an extensive speaking tour of the nation, and meetings with prominent individuals including the Archbishop of Canterbury.

“The Church of Scotland has had an exemplary record for a long time in such matters, with many people coming over on such programs from very poor countries, and not a single one absconding to stay here, apparently. Why specifically Pakistani Christian clerics have been denied entry is a worrying question. Of course, Home Office officials say they were only applying the rules, but in the limited material released, it seems to imply that the clerics produced bank evidence that they met the criteria and that this has been dismissed as somehow fraudulent or inaccurate, imputing dishonesty to these clerics, and, we are informed, naturally has left them shocked and depressed.”


+ Pakistan Christian Post, pakistanchristianpost@yahoo.com

+ British Pakistani Christian Association, 57 Green Lane, Ilford, Essex IG1 1XG, England, 020-8514-0861, info@britishpakistanichristians.co.uk

+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN, Scotland, 0131-225-5722


[3] Evangelical Church in Germany Abandons Mission to Jews

A 22 November 2016 The Gospel Herald article by Suzette Gutierrez-Cachila titled “German Protestants Pass Resolution to Stop Converting Jews to Christianity: 'We Leave Up to God'” reports that the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) has abandoned their “Mission to the Jews,” and will no longer “…show Israel the path to God and his salvation.”

An EKD resolution states:

“All efforts to convert Jews contradict our commitment to the faithfulness of God and the election of Israel,”

And, says that Christians seeing Jesus as their Savior and the Jews not sharing the same perspective is “a fact we leave up to God.”


+ The Gospel Herald, 1250 Oakmead Parkway, Suite 210, Sunnyvale, California 94085, 650-336-7086, Contact Page

+ Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Church Office, Herrenhäuser Straße 12, D-30419 Hanover, Germany, 49-511-2796-0, Fax: 49-511-2796-707, info@ekd.de

16 November 2016

“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

[1] Death of the Rev. Zeb Carson Williams

Retired Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) minister the Rev. Zeb Carson Williams died 14 November 2016 after suffering a massive stroke several weeks earlier. During his fifty-five years as an ordained minister, Pastor Williams served several churches in the Carolinas and Virginia, and served as editor of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church’s magazine The ARP from 1975 to 1980. His last two pastoral calls brought him to Lexington, Virginia, where he first served Lauderdale ARP Church in downtown Lexington. After retiring from the Lauderdale church, he began supplying the pulpit of the now 226-year-old Ebenezer ARP Church located three miles west of Lexington, and served there several years until health problems forced him to retire “for real” at the end of 2007.

Pastor Zeb Williams was a dear friend of the Christian Observer editor, and as the editor’s pastor at Ebenezer greatly encouraged the editor on the long road to his 2013 ordination. The editor traveled with Zeb on several occasions, once to an ARP Synod meeting near Zeb’s boyhood home in western North Carolina where he took the editor to the cemetery west of Hendersonville where the marble angel memorialized in Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward Angel now resides.

On another occasion, the editor drove Zeb over the Blue Ridge mountains to Lynchburg to the original Thomas Road Baptist Church to see Ergun Caner installed as the president of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, the editor’s seminary alma mater. While there, the editor had the enjoyable opportunity to introduce Zeb to Dr. Elmer Towns, one of the editor’s seminary professor’s and the minister credited with developing the original Sunday School bus ministries of the 1960’s.

Zeb was known for his wonderful yarn-spinning abilities. One of the editor’s favorites was Zeb describing his presbytery examination when he first was called to pastor an ARP church. Zeb described an overly-serious ruling elder who asked him question after question. When Zeb was asked if there was anything in the Bible with which he did not agree, he answered, “yes.” The overly-serious elder looked at him in shock and asked Zeb what it was with which he didn’t agree. Zeb replied that he disagreed with the Apostle Paul calling himself the “Chief of Sinners,” saying that in fact he, Zeb Carson Williams, was the chief of sinners. He then looked straight in the eye of the questioning elder and said, “And you ain’t far behind.” Zeb said that after some nervous laughter a motion to sustain the examination was made and voted upon in the affirmative, and Zeb thus became an ARP minister.

On another occasion, the editor fondly remembers a session meeting at Ebenezer when Zeb was sitting at the head of a rectangular table and began telling the session in detail about his visit to the audiologist where he was told that he had lost hearing in the frequency range of his wife’s voice. The editor then leaned forward, looked Zeb straight in the eye, and said to him, “And the problem is…?”

Zeb was an accomplished musician as an organist, pianist, and vocalist. Zeb could easily sing all four parts in the hymnal, and often switched parts on each verse. One of the editor’s favorite musical memories of Zeb was during one December as his health was fading when the editor invited Zeb to sing tenor in an impromptu quartet and piano rendition of Silent Night.

Zeb several years ago asked the editor’s church-pianist wife to keep a list of the music he wanted played and sang at his funeral. D.V., all his selections will be played and sang at Zeb’s funeral service on Saturday 19 November 2016 at 3:00 p.m. eastern standard time at Ebenezer ARP Church. The editor is sad to lose such a dear friend this side of eternity, but rejoices that Zeb is now out of pain, no longer bedridden, and is in the arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 24450, christianobserver@christianobserver.org

+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, 918 South Pleasantburg Drive, Suite 127, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729

9 November 2016

“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

[1] New Christian Observer Articles for November 2017

[2] The Real Significance of the Ashers Ruling

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[1] New Christian Observer Articles for November 2017

New Christian Observer articles for November 2016 include:

-- How Should a Christian Vote on 8 November 2016? – by Christian Observer Managing Editor Bob Williams – What the Bible teaches about voting;

-- Hopocan of Ohio and Saul of Tarsus – by Christian Observer Contributing Editor David Brand – A tale of colonial Ohio Indian chief Hopocan in contrast to Saul of Tarsus;

-- Educating to Discern Between the Lesser of Two Evils - by Christian Observer Contributing Editor Dr. Joe Renfro – Another perspective on what the Bible teaches about exercising one’s franchise;

Plus links to ReVision devotionals on the Fellowship of Ailbe website by Christian Observer Contributing Editor T.M. Moore.


+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 24450, christianobserver@christianobserver.org


[2] The Real Significance of the Ashers Ruling

[Editor’s Note: The Christian owners of Ashers Bakery in Belfast, Northern Ireland, when asked to ice a cake with a pro-homosexual message, refused to do so. After a complaint was lodged against the Ashers for their refusal to ice the cake, the bakery was prosecuted and fined for what the court deemed to be discrimination against homosexuals. The Ashers appealed the decision which was ultimately upheld by an appeals court. The following article by Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) minister the Rev. E. Trevor Kirkland addresses the significance of this ruling.]

(Originally published at: http://www.freechurchcontinuing.org/)

How have we arrived at a point in our nation when Christians engaged in commerce are found guilty of having broken the law because they refused to fulfil an order promoting a specific form of sexual activity?

Reason

First, the real reason for the ruling. The Lee-v-Ashers Baking Co judgment runs to a lengthy 106 sections of legal analysis and argumentation, as one expects. However, in section 18 there is a rather curious argument made that few have paid attention to. Regarding the ruling against Ashers, it is stated: “To do otherwise would be to allow a religious belief to dictate what the law is”.

Readers must pause and study that statement carefully. Here surely is the nub of the issue. Religion, at least as far as these judges so define it, cannot be allowed to ‘dictate’.

Ironically, that is precisely what is happening. Substitute ‘religion’ by its equivalent term ‘belief’, and what we see is that one form of belief, namely secularism, must have precedence over another, namely Christianity. Hiding behind the word ‘religion’, judges have given the appearance of fairness. In reality they have announced that the belief of secularism will override the belief of Christians.

Voluntaryism

How has it happened that Christians are now the law-breakers? In 1836, during a debate with Voluntaryists, Henry Cooke, in defending the Establishment principle, stated that should rulers adopt Voluntaryism the consequences would be radical. In general the moral code of Christ would be abolished as an infringement of civil liberty. Cooke warned of the following consequences should this happen:

First, laws respecting the Lord’s Day would be amended.

Second, laws respecting marriage would be changed.

Third, laws respecting commerce would be altered.

Over the past generation Cooke’s warnings have come to pass:

Under John Major, laws regarding the Lord’s Day were changed.

Under David Cameron marriage was redefined.

Now it is unlawful for Christians to trade in the public square following their Christian principles.

We are witnessing the full fruit of atheism.

Choice

Astonishingly, Michael Wardlow, chairman of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, pontificated that Christians will have to choose between beliefs and profits. This is not something new, but why should it be so? Why should Christians be forced to choose between the two? Why should Christians be criminalised for following their beliefs in the commercial world? After all, that is exactly what every atheist does! He follows his beliefs, and all without any criminal office being committed.

As Henry Cooke warned, you may disestablish Christianity, but you do not thereby disestablish belief; you merely substitute another belief. But few Christians in the 20th century paid any heed. James Begg saw the same danger when the Church of Ireland was disestablished. Not that he was defending an Anglican Establishment; rather he was for defending a truly Christian Establishment, because the alternative was either papist or atheist. As it turned out, the atheist has thus far triumphed.

The true significance of the Ashers ruling is more serious than many Christians have grasped. One observant letter writer to the Daily Telegraph noted: “if religion cannot be allowed to dictate the law why do we have halal meet in shops?” We could also ask, what about Hindu funeral pyres, and a host of other practices? In other words, religion does dictate the law. It is why we have the constitution we have. It is why there are daily prayers in parliament. It is why we have the Bible in schools. And on it goes.

Abolition

The judges’ ruling is for the wholesale abolition of Christian belief from society. Ultimately their ruling means that even lawmakers must be free of ‘religious belief’: if not, why should they be excluded?

What we have here is the fruit of the tree of Voluntaryism, where atheistic belief governs the legal profession, demanding that Christians comply or face the consequences.

And that is the real significance of the Ashers ruling for any who care to pay attention.


+ Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), Rev. John MacLeod, Free Church Manse, Portmahomack, Ross-shire, Scotland, principalclerk@fccontinuing.org