Sectarian ? Or True ?

It was very sad for me to receive a message from an old acquaintance back in N.Ireland who felt my posts about the Papal visit to Scotland were sectarian and inappropriate. Sadly it seems that to write as I did about the Roman Catholic Church is to be unwilling to move on and to be somehow stuck in the past of N.Ireland's past.

How should I respond? What should I say? Should I retract my perspectives about the Roman Catholic Church? Should I dumb down my concern for Scotland? Why would a guy that I have regard for and respect for get so offended at what I wrote?

Well at one level I understand it, he is a Roman Catholic and no doubt views my position as hostile to him personally. In reality nothing could be further from the truth. In reality my pointing out the fallacy of the Roman religious system is not to be hostile to any of my Roman Catholic friends, but rather a desire to have them consider what they believe and why? Just like anyone born into a Protestant family, the religion of your fathers needs to be evaluated against the word of God to see if it is according to the truth.

The tragedy and disappointment for me is that there is not really a willingness to consider the issues. Why? Because prejudice is deep-rooted in all our hearts and to examine the traditions of our fathers might result in forsaking them and such a possibility brings with it a price too high to pay. Whether you read my blogs about the Papal visit to Scotland as a Roman Catholic or a Protestant who has grown up in the deeply divided and bitter society like N.Ireland, realize that the Bible defines truth and Jesus Christ alone is the only Savior from sin and one day you and I shall give an account to Him for what we have believed and what we have done with our lives.

For those who might read my blog and think that I only believe Roman Catholicism is a false system, let me make it clear, Liberal Protestantism is no better. God will not ask you when you face Him in judgment whether you were a Roman Catholic or a Protestant, He will ask you if your are trusting only in His Son for the forgiveness of your sins and peace with Him and He will look for the proof of this in the way you have lived your life.

Reflections of the Papal visit to Scotland !

As a Scottish evangelical Protestant Christian it is hard to watch the Papal visit to Scotland without deep sorrow and sadness of heart !

The Head of the Roman Catholic Church is a frail 90 year old German who comes across very gently and softly when he speaks.He struck some solid notes regarding the danger my homeland is in from aggressive secularism and he was correct about the Christian heritage of the land of my birth. However there is much more to who this man is than is frail, gentle appearance.

What he represents is what people need to understand. Reflecting on what the Pope represents is very important. Why? because the solutions to the aggressive secularism of the modern day are not to be found in the Roman Catholic Church or its heretical dogma.

Sitting watching the celebration of the Mass in Bellahouston Park in Glasgow,which is located only a few miles from the hospital where I was born and the street my father grew up in during the Second World War I was both sobered and moved. Perhaps there was a measure of sentiment and homesickness in my heart, but there was more !

Why did I find it sobering ? I was reminded of the fact that the Roman Mass has not changed. It is still a wrong understanding and wrong practice of the Lord's Supper. The doctrine of 'transubstantiation' is a doctrine of Romanism not of Christ. This is not a mere theological footnote to be ignored. Roman Catholicism is sacramentalism, it is the idea that the saving grace of God comes to us through the observation of religious rites, ie baptism and eucharist. It teaches sinners to be dependent upon sacraments and priests and upon the church for their salvation and not upon the one who saves us from our sins, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not an insignificant issue. If God in His word calls us to believe in His Son for the forgiveness of our sins and peace with Him it is plainly wrong to teach people anything else in the name of Christ.

All across Scotland lie the earthly remains of many who in refusing to embrace the heresy of Rome were murdered by her. (See my earliest blog about Patrick Hamilton). Rome has never acknowledged this reality and unless she does any talk of unity with those who understand the issues is merely talk.

Why was a I moved ? Not for the reasons some may have been moved. I was moved to sorrow and heaviness of heart for my fellow countrymen who in sincerity are duped by the Vatican and its advocates. I watched the old, the young, the healthy and the sick, the lofty and the lowly participate sincerely in the Mass, delight in the presence of the Pope and I was reminded of how tragic my homeland is. Rome offers no assurance of salvation, Rome does not preach salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, Rome does not bring the true hope of the gospel to the people. Instead of keeps the people dependent upon a system that is full of pomp and ceremony but empty in terms of spiritual power and grace.

The true voice of the Protestant evangelical Christian in Scotland has been silenced. Few if any will speak up on these issues. Most will keep their head down and plough away in their little corner of Scotland and that is perhaps all they can do at this time in history. Yet today in the city whose motto is 'Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of His word and the praising of His name', thousands gathered to participate in a ritual that in reality denies the gospel rather than proclaims it !

My prayer is that if nothing else the Pope's visit will thrust the issue of Christianity to the fore in Scottish life and give an opportunity for the true gospel to be explained and proclaimed. May the Lord yet raise up true ministers of the gospel and visit a nation once so singularly blessed with evangelical and biblical Christianity but now so lost in religious formalism and secular relativism. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes......!

The Pope visits Scotland

At the time of writing the Pope is about to visit my homeland of Scotland. The land of the Patrick Hamilton, John Knox and the Covenanters is no longer a land that truly believes the gospel of Christ or understands what biblical Christianity is all about.

Now a nation of secularism and liberalism with Romanism seeking a resurgence with the Pope's visit. The nation is languishing in darkness and the people are perishing. Secularism and liberalism have no answers for the addictions of alcohol and drugs...Romanism has no answers for the sexual immorality.

Scotland needs the true gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Does it need a political protest from Free Presbyterians? No, i don't think so. How confused such things leave people. I do object to the tax payers money paying for the visit, I do believe the Pope is the embodiment of the spirit of Anti-Christ, but it is the gospel of Christ Scotland needs above all.

May the Lord raise up faithful preachers of the gospel and visit the nation with mercy and grace instead of the judgment that is evidently upon the land in this generation !

California Same-Sex marriage rises again....

Today in California a Federal judge overturned the Prop 8 vote regarding Same-Sex marriage deeming it to be unconstitutional.

It is not a surprise to many of us that the issue is raising its ugly head again. Our land languishes in the mire of moral darkness and the USA is not a true republic or democracy. It is governed in the end by a liberal elite who are intentionally anti-Christian.

The Same-Sex issue will no doubt gain front page news again as the Gay-Lesbian lobby seek to have their way. As a Christian I am not disheartened by the fact sinners are pursuing their sin. It only serves to affirm the truthfulness of the Scriptures. It serves to stir me to greater evangelistic activity. Our hope is not in Federal courts, or political campaigns, our hope is the power of the gospel.

We must strive to love the homosexuals of our generation and offer them the deliverance they so badly need. Deliverance from the enslavement to sinful lusts and practices that are extremely powerful and extremely blinding. Only Jesus Christ by the power of His Spirit can bring any of us out of the darkness of sin and the bondage of our own depravity. We must preach Him, we must live according to His ways and seek to see those lost in their sins rescued before it is too late.

The hostility to our message is intense, it is mighty, but the God of our message is Almighty. Let us commit ourselves to prayer and let us not fight a spiritual war with carnal weapons. The Lord is our strength and the gospel is our confidence. Let us show it by preaching it and living it in the days ahead ! Let us love our enemies and let us tell them of our Savior and let us suffer their vitriol refusing to give in to their carnal demands to recognise that homosexuality is acceptable before God and that same-sex marriage is a civil right, when in reality it is a redefining of a God-given institution.

Upholding the Sanctity of Marriage

Over these past weeks since the close of the 2009 and into 2010 I have been absorbed in studying the subject of divorce and remarriage. My normal expositions of Mark brought me to Mark 10 where our Lord is confronted again by the Pharisees. Their questions regarding divorce faced me with the task of looking again at a subject I had long since thought I settled.

In my deliberations, which I am still in as I write, certain things became clearer to me and some things gave me new perspectives. Perhaps the clearest issues came in terms of what Scripture really says in terms of divorce and what it does not say. The new perspectives came in the realm of emphasis and focus when it comes to this subject.

It was good to see afresh that divorce is not something that is commanded or required of us. In fact God hates it and sin causes it. Those who experience divorce experience something tragic and painful and something that no doubt cuts deep.

When we raise the subject of divorce the issue needs to be done in the context of the biblical emphasis on the sanctity of marriage and not how many reasons does someone have to get out of their marriage. Mark 10 and Matt 19 indicate that when our Lord was asked about lawful divorce He responded by speaking about the sanctity of marriage.

The exception of Matt 19;9 has caused much disagreement in the church, but I am persuaded that DA Carson is spot on when he says it should simply be allowed to have its normative force in the text. The sin of porneia does give concessionary right to divorce and therefore remarriage, if you understand the inseparable connection between the two. The Lord does not command divorce on such terms, nor recommend it, He simply concedes it.

No doubt marriages that can exercise gospel grace and forgiveness when porneia arises are to be encouraged, but the hardness of heart that can exist does mean that divorce will occur. We must work with those whose marriages are tarnished by such sin, but realise that we still must deal with some harsh realities in the realm of broken marriages.

The True Christian by John Calvin

I had the great privilege this past Saturday, Oct 24 2009 to participate in a Reformation Conference at Covenant Reformed Church in Sacramento. As part of the commeration of the great Genevan Reformer John Calvin I was asked to present a paper on Calvin's view of the Christian life.

The past couple of months have been both encouraging and heart searching as I delved into both Calvin's Institutes, Book 2:6-11 and the 'Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life'. What a rich treasure of succinct biblical teaching Calvin gives us on the true nature of the Christian life.

I set out my paper around Calvin's main points as the actual five points of Calvin regarding what it means to be a true Christian. The five points Calvin believed that mark a true Christian's life are...

1. The Pursuit of Holiness

2.The Exercising of Self-Denial

3.The Cultivation of Patient Endurance

4.The Possesion of an Eternal Hope

5.The Wise Maintaining of an Orderly Life

A few weeks before he entered glory in 1564 Calvin wrote to Farel 'It is enough that I live and die for Christ who is to all His followers a gain both in life and death...'

His motto was as ours should be to 'I offer my heart to you Lord, promptly and sincerely...', Christian are you living as Christ calls you to?

A Church departed from the Faith....a Nation perishing in sin....

Pray for Scotland ! The Church of Scotland have allowed the installation of an openly practicing homosexual to the ministry. Scott Rennie (pictured right) is in need of repentance and true faith in Christ and to forsake his sin. Sadly he has been recognized as a minister of Christ !

I have long believed my homeland's national church to be apostate and this does nothing to change my view. There are good solid Christian brothers and sisters within her ranks but alas is it not time to separate as those in 1843 ?

The testimony of a church that is muddied and unclean is no testimony at all. A willingness to suffer for the gospel materially and socially will surely bring greater honor to God than the fudging engagement in a discussion about whether or not same sex relationships are viable. A Christian surely has no business sitting down to even pretend to discuss such sin as if it were an open question before a holy God!

Where are the voices of truth and righteousness in the land ? The nation languishes in darkness and evil continues to abound and we think signing a petitition is all we can do to promote the gospel, little wonder the darkness is so great !