The laying on of hands (Part 1).

Catharine Pakington reviews ‘The New Normal: The Transgender Agenda’ by Dr Lisa Nolland et al (2018, Wilberforce Publications).

‘The New Normal’ aims to help the Church face changing attitudes to gender and sexuality, being a follow-up to the November 2016 conference of the same name.¹

Since then, the campaign for ‘transgender rights’ has gathered pace with bewildering intensity but the Church seems to be largely ‘missing in action’. Theresa May has now launched the delayed consultation on removing safeguards to legally ‘change sex’. How will Christians respond?

Informative and Practical

This book is a vital tool to inform those willing to engage with the issue through the experienced contributors who have researched the background, development and implications of the movement. From the preface onwards, the reader is challenged to act on practical suggestions rather than be a passive observer. But as one author says, “we cannot know how to respond to something unless we first know what that something is”.

The 11 contributors come from backgrounds of theology, medicine, philosophy, sociology and literature to produce a work divided into two halves: ‘Other LGBT Issues’ helps to understand the context for ‘The Transgender Agenda’ and includes the personal experience of those who grew up with same-sex parenting and the abusive atmosphere of the LGBT movement.

It is shocking to read of the intensity of abuse faced by those who dare to resist or expose the lengths that this community will go to, whether against children or academics doing sound research.

This book is a vital informative tool, from experienced contributors who have researched the background, development and implications of the transgender movement.

Building a Comprehensive Picture

Chapters are naturally written in different styles, being the work of different authors. All are thought-provoking and worth reading while varying in accessibility, with some being more academic and others speaking more from personal experience. Together they build a picture by seeking answers to deep questions (although unbiased evidence may be hard to find). Why is it that this agenda is becoming the ‘new normal’ when a large proportion of the population in this secular society is not comfortable with it?

As Britain’s Christian foundations have weakened, individualism and demand for personal rights have grown. Laws are changed with concern for costly litigation under European directives without considering the impact on children and families, schools, healthcare, the integrity of official data and so many other areas of our society.

The final chapter, written by a literary critic, looks for evidence that homosexuals are ‘born that way’ (in the words of key LGBTQ+ authors) but finds graphic descriptions of negative upbringing and expectations and abusive sexual relations that result in individuals ‘turning gay’. These examples reveal confusion in the LGBTQ+ movement and are useful for that purpose but you may not wish to dwell on them.

Clearing the Fog

Definitions for terms are given but the book also highlights the difficulty in defining ‘gender identity’ in law when a fluid, chosen state of mind is being regarded as a more trustworthy indicator of identity than sex, a fixed, biological characteristic.

Is sex reassignment surgery even a proper medical procedure if the aim of medicine is to restore body faculties to their proper function or prevent dysfunction? Is it morally permissible? Yet we live in times when it is increasingly unacceptable to suggest that gender identity should be brought into line with biological truth.

All the chapters thought-provoking and worth reading while varying in accessibility, with some being more academic and others speaking more from personal experience.

The great confusion over defining terms such as ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ has been enough to create a fog that disables opposition. Can we recognise the lies perpetuated through the history of the movement that are promoted with such virulence in the Western world today? As we seek truth, we need to be prepared to support gender-conflicted people who come to us needing compassion and empathy while we hold to the biblical teaching that God created mankind in his image, male and female.

The book was launched with the view that the transgender movement could collapse if more people were prepared to challenge it, because it is so contrary to truth and science.² Be informed by reading the book, follow up with suggested websites, encourage others including church leaders and politicians to engage and, above all, pray.

‘The New Normal’ (211pp) is available on Amazon for £9.99 (paperback) or £5.99 (Kindle).

References

1 Christian Concern has created an online hub of resources to accompany the conference, available here.

2 Click here for coverage of the book's launch.

Full list of Contributors: Lisa S Nolland, Carys Moseley, Carlos D Flores, Robert Oscar Lopez, James D Lopez, Daniel Moody, John Nolland, Peter Saunders, Rick Thomas, Julia Gasper, Brittany Klein. As listed in the book cover.

A parallel on the spread of the Gospel.

Jesus says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow…" (Matt 6:28).

Dandelions, shining in the sun, gloriously golden yet silently set on their mission to multiply. After just a few days of flowering, they close up their petals and seeds form inside their bullet-shaped heads (click here for a wonderful short clip of the dandelion’s lifecycle).

Some are very visible while others, well camouflaged, lie low in the grass or lean on leaves around them. All the while they are preparing persistently for their invasion, ready to populate the landscape prolifically.

The spherical seed heads appear, cunningly crafted with tiny, mature seeds clustered around the centre, each equipped with a perfect parachute - ready for the slightest breath of a breeze to lift them aloft. Drifting dreamily, yet dangling determinedly their deft little depth charges, the seeds are destined to drop into the unsuspecting soil, rapidly reproduce and quickly conquer their new territory.

Love them or loathe them, colonisation has begun! Gardeners growl at them, farmers fling finance at them - billions and billions are spent on herbicides - but the war on dandelions is unwinnable!

Unstoppable Seed Factories

Out in the garden, one dandelion is hardly remarkable - what difference can just one make? But consider: how many dandelions would it take to cover an entire garden? Just one - with a little time and the occasional help of a fascinated child who can't wait to puff on it! Just one seed head can produce 50-170 seeds. Just one plant can produce 2,000 seeds in a year and 20,000 in its lifetime! Dandelions are unstoppable seed factories.

The only way to interrupt their efficiency is to dig deep and uproot the whole plant. 'Off with its head!' won't do as another will appear. And removing the flowers before the seeds form is no quick fix either - dispersal can still take place as the seeds can develop entirely separately from the plant (as this one, found on the ground and abandoned on the banister; such a work of art!).

The Dandelion Effect

These marvels of God's Creation surely have a message for us: just as art reflects the character of an artist, Creation reflects the character of the Creator. Jesus often used His Creation as a parable to explain the Kingdom of God, employing such everyday things as a mustard seed, yeast, wheat, weeds - and flowers – to teach important lessons.

Consider, then, the ‘Dandelion Effect’: a living seed of faith in Christ is sown in the soil of a hungry heart. It anchors itself by growing a deep root - a foundation of reading and studying God's word, and communicating with Him through prayer. The delight of being found by God and a whole new life of belonging to Him can emanate in an irresistible shining - a blossoming from within. And even though faith may be brand new, its seeds are rapidly ready to share. The wind of the Holy Spirit takes them wherever He wills, to whoever is ready to receive Him.

Dandelions can grow just about anywhere, whatever the soil conditions. So also the Gospel of Christ can flourish in the most unlikely and difficult of places. It cannot be thwarted, multiplying marvellously even where efforts are made to stamp it out, as in many nations today, especially in the east.

Just one plant…2,000 seeds a year…20,000 in its lifetime…

Jesus said, "I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18).

Author: Sally Bolton

Prince William’s vehicle stoned by children taught to hate

As support for the Palestinian cause drops even in the Arab world, news that Australia has cut a $7 million ‘lifeline’ to a PLO death-cult is welcome indeed. Maybe it’s also time for Britain to get real – especially in the wake of the barely reported stoning of Prince William’s vehicle – and acknowledge the need to stop encouraging terror with taxpayers’ money.

Australia has decided to discontinue direct aid to the Palestinian Authority because it suspects the cash is freeing up funds used to back political violence.¹ And we have recently learnt that the UK gave £20 million in aid to Palestinian schools, where they teach children to hate Jews and Jihad (holy war) and martyrdom.²

Learning to Kill

A report by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education reveals that the PA school curriculum “utilizes a variety of tools to convince children – mostly boys – to risk their lives and die as martyrs”.

The UK has given £20 million in aid to Paestinian schools, where children are taught to hate Jews.

It goes on to highlight some of the lessons being funded by British aid. For example, a science textbook explains Newton’s second law of physics – on power, mass and tensile strength – by using an image of a boy with a slingshot targeting soldiers.

Meanwhile jihadists continue their desperate attempts to engage Western sympathy by stoking up further flames in Gaza, sending burning kites to destroy Israeli crops while also trying to force their way through the border fence in order to kill Jews.

Arab Leaders Losing Patience with PalestiniansJerusalem

The Saudi Crown Prince and heir to the throne indicated something of current Arab frustration with the Palestinians by saying that it was about time they accepted offers of peace and agreed to come to the negotiating table “or they should shut up and stop complaining.”³ Mohammed bin Salman, during a meeting with American Jewish community leaders, stressed: “There are much more urgent and more important issues to deal with – such as Iran.”

Clearly, the riots in Gaza are designed to provoke Israel to war, which would inevitably draw further criticism of the Jewish state for what the world is expected to regard as disproportionate response. And this would in turn elicit fresh sympathy for the Hamas intention of destroying Israel.

PLO Support Crumbling

But as a 46-year-old Palestinian put it: “Most people want nothing to do with the riots at the border fence. Hamas does not care how many Palestinians perish. What’s important to them is that the media continues to cover it.”⁴

Bassem Eid, a Jerusalem-based Palestinian and political analyst, speaks from experience when he says that Israel “was the only nation that had given us a chance of a better life. In my opinion, the Palestinian cause has nearly reached its conclusion…I am calling on my Palestinian colleagues to wake up to the truth. The time has come for us to value life over death.”⁵

Some Palestinians are bravely speaking the truth and calling on their colleagues to wake up to it.

United Nations Blamed

Col Richard Kemp, a former British Army commander, laid the blame for Gaza bloodshed squarely with the United Nations when he addressed that body in May, saying: “Your failure to admit that Hamas is responsible for every drop of blood spilt on the Gaza border encourages their violence and use of human shields. It makes you complicit in further bloodshed.”⁶

The self-inflicted wounding of Palestinian aspirations – caused by stubbornness to recognise Israel’s right to exist – will no doubt be reflected in President Trump’s much-heralded peace deal.

Prince William’s Car Stoned

The stoning of Prince William’s vehicle during his visit to PA headquarters in Ramallah may perhaps jolt British officials into some sense of reality. The children responsible for the outrage are taught to hate Jews and to blame Britain for handing ‘their’ country over to ‘infidels’ (non-Muslims).

Britain has consistently been a soft touch for Arab terror – riots and threats of mayhem have led successive Governments to capitulate to pressure and deny justice to Israel in the process. But a first-ever official visit to Israel of a British royal is surely time to repent of reneging on our Balfour⁷ policy of supporting the Jews, which brought blessing upon our nation (Gen 12:3).

Britain has consistently been a soft touch for Arab terror.

The Prince Promises Support

During his tour Prince William told the story of how his great-grandmother Princess Alice selflessly saved members of the Cohen family from the Nazis. He said it was “a matter of great pride” for his whole family. And after being horrified at what he witnessed during his visit to Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, he said: “I am well aware that the responsibility falls now to my generation to keep the memory alive of that great crime as the Holocaust generation passes on. And I commit myself to doing this.”⁸

Israel is currently surrounded by implacable enemies committed to condemning them to another Holocaust. It’s not just a memory we need to keep alive – it’s also today’s Jewish people who are under increasing threat from anti-Semitism. We need to wake up as a nation and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, as the Word of God commands us (Ps 122:6).

References

1 World Israel News, 2 July 2018
2 Torch magazine, Christians United for Israel, June 2018
3 Israel Today magazine, June 2018
4 Ibid
5 Ibid
6 Torch magazine, June 2018
7 Balfour Declaration of 1917 through which Britain promised to do all in its power to create a homeland for the Jewish people
8 Jerusalem News Network, 28 June 2018

A parallel on the spread of the Gospel.

Jesus says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow…" (Matt 6:28).

Dandelions, shining in the sun, gloriously golden yet silently set on their mission to multiply. After just a few days of flowering, they close up their petals and seeds form inside their bullet-shaped heads (click here for a wonderful short clip of the dandelion’s lifecycle).

Some are very visible while others, well camouflaged, lie low in the grass or lean on leaves around them. All the while they are preparing persistently for their invasion, ready to populate the landscape prolifically.

The spherical seed heads appear, cunningly crafted with tiny, mature seeds clustered around the centre, each equipped with a perfect parachute - ready for the slightest breath of a breeze to lift them aloft. Drifting dreamily, yet dangling determinedly their deft little depth charges, the seeds are destined to drop into the unsuspecting soil, rapidly reproduce and quickly conquer their new territory.

Love them or loathe them, colonisation has begun! Gardeners growl at them, farmers fling finance at them - billions and billions are spent on herbicides - but the war on dandelions is unwinnable!

Unstoppable Seed Factories

Out in the garden, one dandelion is hardly remarkable - what difference can just one make? But consider: how many dandelions would it take to cover an entire garden? Just one - with a little time and the occasional help of a fascinated child who can't wait to puff on it! Just one seed head can produce 50-170 seeds. Just one plant can produce 2,000 seeds in a year and 20,000 in its lifetime! Dandelions are unstoppable seed factories.

The only way to interrupt their efficiency is to dig deep and uproot the whole plant. 'Off with its head!' won't do as another will appear. And removing the flowers before the seeds form is no quick fix either - dispersal can still take place as the seeds can develop entirely separately from the plant (as this one, found on the ground and abandoned on the banister; such a work of art!).

The Dandelion Effect

These marvels of God's Creation surely have a message for us: just as art reflects the character of an artist, Creation reflects the character of the Creator. Jesus often used His Creation as a parable to explain the Kingdom of God, employing such everyday things as a mustard seed, yeast, wheat, weeds - and flowers – to teach important lessons.

Consider, then, the ‘Dandelion Effect’: a living seed of faith in Christ is sown in the soil of a hungry heart. It anchors itself by growing a deep root - a foundation of reading and studying God's word, and communicating with Him through prayer. The delight of being found by God and a whole new life of belonging to Him can emanate in an irresistible shining - a blossoming from within. And even though faith may be brand new, its seeds are rapidly ready to share. The wind of the Holy Spirit takes them wherever He wills, to whoever is ready to receive Him.

Dandelions can grow just about anywhere, whatever the soil conditions. So also the Gospel of Christ can flourish in the most unlikely and difficult of places. It cannot be thwarted, multiplying marvellously even where efforts are made to stamp it out, as in many nations today, especially in the east.

Just one plant…2,000 seeds a year…20,000 in its lifetime…

Jesus said, "I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18).

Author: Sally Bolton

Warnings from God.

For more than 30 years this ministry has sought to interpret the signs of the times that point the way back to God. Bringing warnings to a people falling away and turning from God has been central to the prophetic ministry throughout history. God does not delight in removing his protection that, like a wall that has crumbled, allows our spiritual enemy to bring confusion and harm.

Earlier Signs

If we look through the pages of Prophecy Today over all these years we will discover many signs that were interpreted as warnings to the nation during an era of decline. Sometimes they seemed to the natural eye like ordinary occurrences, accidents that happen from time to time in our world, such as the BSE that infected our cattle in the late 1980s, or the fire in Kings Cross station in 1987 and the Windsor Castle fire of 1992.

Sometimes there was an incident that could have been seen as a 'natural coincidence' such the bolt of lightning that came from a clear blue sky to strike York Minster at the time when the liberal Bishop Jenkins of Durham had been consecrated there. Taken together, we see that a catalogue of warning signs has been given to our nation over this generation.

For more than thirty years this ministry has sought to interpret the signs of the times that point the way back to God.

Biblical Precedent

We, who read our Bibles, should not be surprised. The Prophet Amos interpreted similar signs to ancient Israel prior to their being scattered as a nation by the Assyrians. They had become a nation who oppressed the poor, crushed the needy and revelled in drunkenness (Amos 4:1). God sent signs of hunger, strange weather patterns, blight and mildew, plagues like those in the days of Moses in Egypt, and judgements on those whose behaviour was similar to Sodom and Gomorrah.

After each of a catalogue of signs came the words, “Yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord.” (Amos 4:6-11). These signs were a call for Israel to return to God and avoid inevitable disaster, but the signs were not heeded, and so eventually God removed his protection and allowed Assyria to take the Northern Kingdom of Israel captive to be lost even to this day.

In our day, God’s signs are among the Gentile nations at a time close to fulfilment of his final covenant purposes including the restoration of Israel (Amos 9:14).

Signs all Around us

Britain’s position before God has been one of great blessing but now there is a falling away just as in the days of ancient Israel, so it should be no surprise that the signs continue to be seen all around us for those who have eyes to see. Consider the confusion over Brexit, our withdrawal from Europe hanging at times by a thin thread. Surely a spiritual battle is raging for the soul of our country! Consider the difficulties that our country faces financially so that there are insufficient resources to fund the National Health Service which is itself sick.

A spiritual battle is raging for the soul of our country!

We may yet have further economic tremors in the nation that will make it even harder to maintain our services. Look across the nation and consider the sad situation of many of the poor and needy. There is a catalogue of situations that would make one weep if they were brought to our attention.

Consider the strange weather patterns of this year; a long winter, a late spring that seemed to merge with summer, characterised by unusual hot days in June with no water for our gardens which are already showing early signs of autumn. Consider the fire on the Lancashire moors that cannot be easily extinguished but could be extinguished in one day if God sent a heavy shower – such as are common in the Manchester area. Then two other fires coincided with the anniversary of the Grenfell disaster. Are these not similar signs to those interpreted by the Prophet Amos when God was calling a stubborn sinful people to return to him? Are these not signs that show us how impotent we are without the help of God?

Prepare!

In Prophecy Today we have recognised an important moment in our own ministry and we are beginning preparations for the future when there will be a renewed call to prayer and study to take us through days of spiritual warfare similar to those behind the World Wars of the last Century. We recognise that there is only a limited window of opportunity for continued warning to our nation, possibly coinciding with the remaining years of our Queen’s life.

There is only a limited window of opportunity.

With a new monarch who lacks the biblical faith of our Queen, once-blessed Britain could fall even farther from God. But days of opportunity have not yet fully passed. I have taken responsibility for this week’s Editorial while Dr Clifford Hill puts the finishing touches to his latest book, which in my opinion has a great significance. He has written a personal review of the many years of ministry both he and his wife Monica have exercised. It has spanned the Queen’s reign and that of four Archbishops whom he knew personally, so that he has first hand experience of the Church and State over these years leading to the present decline in our nation. We expect this book to bring a significant contribution to the rallying cry for our nation to turn to the Lord, in the time that is still available.

Trumpet Call

This is also a rallying cry, a trumpet call, to all of God’s people especially those with prophetic and intercessory ministries, to bring a wake-up call to the Church and as a consequence to the Nation while there is still time. We must not be like the people of Jesus’ day who knew how to forecast the weather but did not know how to interpret the signs of the times (Matt 16:3-4). We must be like the wise virgins in the parable of Matthew 25:1-13. Jesus’ serious command to us is watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming (Matt 25:13).

Same-sex marriage and the Church.

There is increasing pressure for the Church to adopt the secular world’s agenda and to ‘show love’ by agreeing to conduct same-sex marriages and show unequivocal support for LGBTQ+ people.

The LGBT agenda has already infiltrated the mainstream media and is increasingly directing Government policy, while any opposition is considered both unjust and immoral. Worryingly, this is extending forcefully into education where OFSTED is now penalising schools that do not teach LGBTQ+ lifestyles as ‘normal’.

No bastion of our society is exempt from this relentless onslaught, including the Established Church, where there are already determined efforts afoot to get it to accept same-sex marriage, following the examples of the Episcopal Churches in the USA and Scotland. As anticipated, the legalising of same-sex marriage in 2013 was the thin end of the wedge – and clauses allowing the Church’s right to opt out on grounds of conscience were never a final guarantee of safety.

Enormous Pressure to Succumb

Although the official policy of the Church of England is that same-sex marriage should not be performed in Anglican churches, some churches already offer services of blessing following civil ceremonies (indeed, the Diocese of Hereford has put forward a proposal that the Church should produce a formal liturgy for these services).

The General Synod has so far toed the official line, although it recently rejected a report upholding the traditional teaching on marriage and, last year, ‘sadness’ was expressed at discipline that had to be meted out on the Scottish Episcopal Church for its decision to flout the current rules.¹

There seems little doubt that the issue will be pushed repeatedly in Synod until opposition gives way. Earlier this year a Government Minister castigated the Church of England for not sanctioning same-sex marriage. Unless Bible-believing Christians wake up and call the Church of England to account, it will likely succumb to the enormous pressure – indeed, many bishops are already in favour.

Unless Bible-believing Christians wake up and call the Church of England to account, it will likely succumb to the enormous pressure.

The recent Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) resulted in a letter being written urging the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak the truth about the Gospel and sexuality - but Justin Welby gives the impression of striving for unity above all else, including biblical truth.Already, Ugandan Anglican bishops have said that they will not attend the 2020 Lambeth Conference because of the woolly thinking of the Church of England and it is likely that other African bishops will do likewise.

If so, the LGBTQ+ movement will have caused a major split within the worldwide Anglican community.

What Scripture Says

So what does the word have to say about marriage and homosexual practices? Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness” (remembering that Paul’s scripture was our Old Testament). In Genesis 2:24 it says “Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh” (and God graciously provided the anatomy to make this possible – and enjoyable). Jesus corroborated this statement in Matthew 19:4, so the principle is established that marriage is between a man and a woman.

What does the Bible say about homosexual practice? Leviticus condemns it - not once, but twice (18:22 and 20:13) - including it with various other sexual prohibitions. As homosexual practice was commonplace in the ancient world, this was radical teaching. In Romans 1:18-32 Paul describes a deterioration in moral behaviour as man abandoned what he knew about God:

Because of this God gave them over to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.

This shows us that a rise in homosexual behaviour is actually a stage in the disintegration of society. Strong stuff, but a scripture we should take to heart.

A Truly Christian Approach

Should we then ban people who practise homosexuality from our churches? By no means – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23), yet we are all welcomed into the church. But as church members we should acknowledge our sinful ways and, with God’s help, give them up – even if we fall woefully short. We would not welcome a bank robber and suggest that next time he has a job on we will drive his getaway car! We would try to get him to change his ways.

Romans 1 shows us that a rise in homosexual behaviour is actually a stage in the disintegration of society.

The LGBTQ+ agenda says that ‘love’ is paramount, and therefore so long as the couple is in a loving relationship the Church should welcome it. But Jesus said (in John 14:15-21) that love means obeying his commands – and the Father’s love will follow. His commands appear in Scripture, so to say that love conquers all does not wash.

Sexual behaviour is a matter of choice. Archbishop Hope, at a time when bishops were being ‘outed’ by the homosexual community, said that his sexuality was a grey area but that he chose to remain celibate. We live in a sex-mad society, but sexual activity is not the be-all-and-end-all of our existence. Self-control is essential if we are to prosper.

The World’s Agenda

We should take great care whenever an agenda popular in the world’s eyes is foisted on the Church, even from within. Over the years many spiritual authorities have issued warnings about this:

• “Almost everything the Church is doing these days has been suggested to her by the world.” (AW Tozer)
• “I looked for the Church and I found it in the world. I looked for the world and I found it in the Church.” (Horatius Bonar)
• “Worldliness is rampant in the Church. The devil is not fighting churches He is joining them! He is not persecuting Christianity he is professing it.” (Vance Havner)
• “That which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors.” (Charles Spurgeon)
• Finally, “God brings about reformation when his people return to the word of God as their sole source of doctrine and practice.” (John H Armstrong)

Within Scripture, there are many warnings against false, worldly doctrines infiltrating the Church. Paul writes, for example: “For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths” (2 Tim 4:3-4). Peter also warns against false teachers in his second letter (chapter 2).

We should take great care whenever an agenda popular in the world’s eyes is foisted on the Church, even from within.

Also noteworthy are the number of warnings in Scripture against outward displays of religion which mask and encourage underlying rebellion. For instance, Jeremiah warned (chapter 7) about complacency in the Temple, where there was an assumption that as long as people went through the external rituals of worship, everything would be all right – they could live how they pleased. And Jesus gave a stark warning in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven”.

The Road Ahead

The Established Church has so far chosen gradual compromise and synthesis with the ways of the world, when in fact stark decisions to hold firm to Scripture in the face of huge opposition are what is needed. It was Spurgeon who said:

Human wisdom delights to trim and arrange the doctrine of the cross into a system more artificial and more congenial with the depraved taste of fallen nature: instead however of improving the Gospel, carnal nature pollutes it, until it becomes another gospel and not the truth of God at all.

In months and years to come, God will sift and test the hearts and minds of all within the Church of England, to find out where they truly stand. How they respond will decide the fate of this once-great institution.

References

1 Mbakwe, T. Welby 'sad' to discipline Scottish Episcopal Church. Premier News, 3 October 2017.

All Bible quotes from the New Revised Standard Version.

The ‘Truth and Clarity’ series seeks to shed light on difficult issues.

This ‘Truth and Clarity’ series of short booklets on interesting topics may be of use to study groups which like to discuss issues that are often ignored or deemed controversial. As a former police detective, Michael Fryer’s aim is to present us with the evidence - not only to support his points, but to help us make our own minds up.

Study group leaders may want to supplement the information in the booklets by looking at other sources - but the booklets nevertheless provide useful starting points for a lively debate and further investigation.

The Truth about Food

The author provides a full and clear explanation of all the main biblical texts on the interesting topic of what the Bible has to say about food. Fryer’s aim is to answer the related questions of what Christians should eat and what they shouldn’t. This he achieves in an unambiguous way, steering a clear path through the equally thorny territory of how Christians should regard Torah today.

His starting point (based upon Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14) is to regard the phrases ‘clean and unclean’ when referring to creatures as ‘animals which are and are not food’. There is plenty in the rest of the booklet to stimulate much discussion and, possibly, to encourage people towards a healthier and Godlier lifestyle. This is a topic we have covered on Prophecy Today before, recommending other good resources, but here is a useful starter based upon a sound exposition of Scripture.

Legalism: Whose Sabbath Laws Do We Keep?

This booklet should provoke a lot of discussion (and argument!) on the issue of the Sabbath. However, be aware that it does not cover legalism more generally - only within the context of this particular topic.

Fryer asks all the right questions regarding how Christian freedom sits alongside honouring God through his unchanging requirements concerning the Sabbath and the Feasts. However, somehow the answers never seem to fully emerge. Fryer does provide a comprehensive survey on the various laws that have been in place throughout history concerning Sunday (and Saturday), but there is not the thorough biblical investigation into what God requires today that would help us work our way through this thorny issue.

I wasn’t sure I was any further forward by the end of the booklet, and any group leader would certainly need to find other material to make the discussion more worthwhile.

Anti-Zionism: The New Anti-Semitism

He begins with a working definition of anti-Semitism (basically, Jew-hatred in its various manifestations) and then shows how it is often linked to the State of Israel in an attempt to justify anti-Semitic activities under a new guise.This booklet arose from Fryer’s concern that Christian anti-Zionism is being portrayed as an accepted and approved theology based on social justice for the Palestinian people, when in reality it is a new form of anti-Semitism.

Fryer asks how anti-Zionism is connected to anti-Semitism and concludes that they are without doubt bedfellows that cannot be cleanly separated. Further key questions include whether Christians can (or should) be anti-Zionist and how we can identify anti-Semitic trends operating among Christians today.

This is a huge topic which is also well-explored in many other writings, but once more the author has done us a service by opening up a debate that might otherwise be regarded as taboo.

The Truth about Kabbalah

The author is concerned that elements of the Kabbalah can be identified within some strands of the charismatic prophetic movement. Without naming names, he asserts that ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ have entered the Body of Christ with deceptive teachings which are largely based upon the mystical, meditative and magical teachings of the Kabbalah. These so-called paths to spiritual enlightenment are highly dangerous and will lead Christians astray.

Whatever we conclude from his arguments, the booklet provides a very useful explanation of what the Kabbalah is, what the Kabbalistic texts are like and what Kabbalists teach. It also alerts us to the need to keep our eyes open for false teaching and to make discernment a key feature of our Christian lives.

Buy the booklets: Each of the above booklets are available from the Father’s House website, priced at £2.50 each + P&P.

About the author: Michael Fryer is a retired police detective and now a pastor in North Wales. Click here to read more about him.

The doctrine of baptisms. (Part 2)

Last week Campbell MacAlpine unpacked the importance of baptism into the Body of Christ, water baptism and baptism in the Holy Spirit. We continue with the second part of this study on baptism.

3. Baptism with the Holy Spirit (continued): Indwelling vs Filling

The baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs the first time a person already indwelt by the Spirit, is filled with the Spirit. There is a difference between indwelling and filling. During my travels in many countries I have stayed in many homes. I gained entry to the home by knocking on the door and being invited in. Immediately I started to indwell the home. How did we become Christians? Jesus knocked on our heart's door, we invited him in and he began to indwell us.

Now, although I am indwelling the home and been given the guest room, I cannot do what I like. I cannot wander into my host’s and hostess’s bedroom and open the cupboards and drawers. I have not been given that right. However, supposing they say to me one day, ‘Campbell, we don’t want you just to have the guest room, we want you to have the whole house. Here are all the keys, it is yours.’ Immediately my status changes. Now I can do what I wish. I can control every activity in the house now that I am in full possession.

Just as there are different words used for being saved (such as ‘born again’; ‘he that believes’; ‘converted’; ‘new creature in Christ Jesus’), there are different descriptions for the experience of being initially filled with the Holy Spirit (‘received’; ‘came upon’; ‘poured out’; ‘fell on’; ‘baptised with’). As we saw in the teaching on water baptism, that it was not a suggestion but a command, so we are exhorted: “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph 5:18).

The baptism with the Holy Spirit occurs the first time a person already indwelt by the Spirit is filled with the Spirit.

Why should a Christian be filled with the Spirit?

• Jesus assured his disciples that they would receive power to be his witnesses and we, like them, need that enablement.
• We need to be filled so that there can be greater expression of the ‘fruit of the Spirit’: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23).
• We need to be filled to enable him to have liberty to manifest ‘the gifts of the Spirit’: the word of wisdom; the word of knowledge; faith; healings; miracles; prophecy; discerning of spirits; tongues; interpretation of tongues (1 Cor 12:7-10).

Someone once asked a Spirit-filled Christian the question, ‘do you think you are better than other Christians?’ His reply was, ‘Oh no, just better equipped’.

How can a Christian be filled with the Holy Spirit?

(a) A clean heart: The Holy Spirit can never fill any area of our life where there is sin. There is an interesting account in Leviticus 14 of the actions of the priest when a person had been healed of leprosy. Part of the ceremony included the priest taking the blood of the offering and placing it on the right ear, the right thumb and the big toe on the right foot. Then he took oil and placed it on the right ear, the right thumb and the big toe on the right foot. The oil, which is an emblem of the Holy Spirit, never went where the blood had not been. So the first essential is that the life is clean and right with God.

(b) A sense of need: The Lord Jesus, during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, offered a wonderful invitation and promise: “’If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him’. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37-39). 

We see from the Lord’s statement that we must be thirsty. To be thirsty is to feel dry and know it. It means a consciousness of need. Many times in our Christian lives, circumstances, behaviour and problems underline the fact that we have needs. Thirst is also a desire to know God better. David expressed his longing in this way, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps 42:1-2).

(c) Come to Jesus: He is the source of all that we need. He is the Saviour. He is the baptiser in the Holy Spirit. His loving heart calls out, ‘come to me’.

(d) Drink: To drink means to receive. When one is thirsty and is given a glass of water, all that is needed to quench the thirst is to receive that which is offered.

(e) Believe: The promise is to him who believes. Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matt 21:22). The promise is: “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”.

Someone once asked a Spirit-filled Christian the question, ‘do you think you are better than other Christians?’ His reply was, ‘Oh no, just better equipped’.

Be filled with the Spirit, thirst, come to Jesus, receive, believe. We came to him in a similar way for salvation. First we had a sense of need because of our sin, and we needed a Saviour. Then we came to the Lord Jesus, believing that he died for our sins, and rose again, and on the basis of his promise received him into our hearts and the Spirit witnessed with our spirits that we were saved.
What happened in the New Testament when Christians were initially filled with the Holy Spirit?

• On the day of Pentecost, the 120 “began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:4).
• Ananaias said to the newly converted Saul of Tarsus, “Brother Saul, the Lord - Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here - has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17-18). Although there is no mention of his speaking in tongues, he later told the Corinthians, “I speak in tongues more than you all”.
• In the house of Cornelius, it is recorded, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God” (Acts 10:44-46).
• Paul went to Ephesus and ministered to 12 men who responded to the teaching. “On hearing this, they were baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus…and they spoke in tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:5-6).

The usual result in those who were initially filled with the Spirit was they spoke in a new language given to them.

4. Baptism with Fire

The fourth expression used in the teaching of baptisms is baptism with fire. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire”. What does this mean? We read the rest of the verse, “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor; gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matt 3:11-12).

In the growth of wheat, chaff is necessary. However, there comes a time when it is no longer necessary and the farmer gets rid of it. In the Christian life the Lord, from time to time, through a variety of ways and circumstances, will lovingly deal with us and with things which would interfere with fruitfulness in our lives. Jesus said, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:2).

In the Christian life the Lord, from time to time, through a variety of ways and circumstances, will lovingly deal with us and with things which would interfere with fruitfulness in our lives.

There will be times in our lives of purging and purifying, when he lovingly shows us the non-essentials and things that would prevent us going on to maturity: the removal of chaff. It is good to know that in the life which desires to do the will of God, nothing will happen without a divine purpose.

When unusual circumstances come in to our lives the answer is not to run to the emergency exit but ask the question, ‘Lord, what are you trying to teach me? What is the reason for the heat? Is there something in my life needing correction or adjustment?’ Sometimes it is a ‘baptism of fire’.

When you read of the lives of men like Moses, Elijah, Elisha, David, Job, the prophets, the disciples, Paul and many others, you find their lives were punctuated by strange and adverse events in which they not only learned more about God, but more about themselves. Yes, there will be testing times, proving times, purging times, but in them all there is a loving Heavenly Father who only desires the very best for us.

5. Baptism of Suffering

We now come to the last teaching on this doctrine. We have seen that when we were saved we were ‘baptised by one Spirit into one body’, and given the privilege of openly confessing Christ in being baptised in water. He has made the power of the Holy Spirit available to us through being filled with the Spirit, and because he desires us to be holy, there will be times of learning through a baptism of fire. We are reminded that being a Christian will include suffering.

Jesus never tried to gain followers under false pretences but rather called on would-be followers to ‘count the cost’. One day, the mother of James and John came to Jesus to ask a special favour for her sons, “’Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom’. ‘You don’t know what you are asking’, Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’ ‘We can’, they answered. Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father’” (Matt 20:21-23).

We know that both disciples had a ‘baptism of suffering’. James was beheaded by King Herod and John was banished to Patmos and, if some historians are right, was eventually martyred. Paul wrote to Timothy and reminded him: “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim 3:12).

We are reminded that being a Christian will include suffering.

Multitudes have suffered, and today many still suffer for being Christians. Many have been martyred and many more will be, but we can thank God that whenever we need his grace or strength in times of suffering he is faithful to provide. He has promised, “I will never leave you, or forsake you”. Paul could write, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18).

Conclusion

These basic biblical truths need to be absorbed into the life of every believer to enable them to be committed members in their local churches.

If you have not been baptised in water, obey the Lord and he will bless you. If you have never been filled with the Holy Spirit, yield the totality of your life to the Lord. Ask him to fill you, believe his promise, and receive. Realise how much the Lord loves you and that from time to time he will lovingly deal with the non-essentials in your life. Embrace the implications of following Jesus even when that involves suffering for his Name's sake.

Questions

1. Explain your understanding of the ‘baptism with the Holy Spirit’, and has this happened to you? If not, what are the difficulties?
2. As you look back on your life, or perhaps in your present situation, can you recognise God’s purifying process? How have you responded? Is there any response required now?

This article is part of a series, re-publishing a booklet entitled 'The Biblical Basis of First Principles'. Click here for previous instalments.