Contents

FEATURES

Are we talking enough about the resurrection?

Matthew Maury: Pathfinder of the Seas

Paganism in its new colours

A biblical response to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Persecution – the unwanted blessing

Facing doubts as a Christian

COMMENT

GUEST COLUMN: A meeting to be avoided

A SHRINK THINKS... Was Job depressed?

THINKING IT THROUGH: Summer Camps ’22: a plea for prayer

A WALK WITH MR O: Why am I still sinning so much?

CRUNCH POINTS: Should Christians speak differently to the world about relationships? Is the boyfriend/girlfriend concept biblical, or is it just an issue of terminology?

NEWS

News in brief

Pray for peace: Evangelicals in Ukraine ask us to give support

Scottish equalities committee wants extreme law that could criminalise parents who don’t back sex changes

Conversion therapy ban will have a wide scope, government letter by equalities minister states

Abortion reversal doctor vindicated as medical watchdog drops investigation shortly ahead of High Court hearing

Scotland launches radical ‘choose your own gender’ bill

Landmark Down’s syndrome case will be heard by the Court of Appeal

Christian school worker case to be heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal

Publishers of the ‘Christian Hymns’ hymnbook seek volunteers to help develop and expand the resource

Trinity Grace Conference equips young evangelicals

Dare to be a Daniel! Thornton Heath holds holiday Bible club

Reformation and Revival conference held in Swannick

Evangelism continues at Hyde Park despite stabbing

Trinitarian Bible Society auxiliary meets for its AGM in Oulton Broad

Tom Allen is the new pastor at Eastbourne Free Church

China: Authorities crack down on religious content online

Iran: Nine Christians acquitted of ‘endangering the state’ in appeal court ruling, but three still face other charges

Canada: Women hospitalised by at-home abortion pills

Nigeria: More Christians killed in Borno State

Europe: Legalising euthanasia will cause a spike in all forms of suicide

OBITUARIES

Dr Michael Griffiths (1928–2022)

REVIEWS

Were You There? See Jesus’ cross and resurrection through the eyes of those who were there

Deacons: How they serve and strengthen the church

The Resurrection: its message and meaning

All Things are Ready: Understanding the gospel in its fullness and freeness

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural amnesia, expressive individualism, and the road to sexual revolution

What Happens When We Worship

FEATURES

Are we talking enough about the resurrection?

‘The resurrection is the most important article of our faith.’

– John Calvin

The resurrection receives special attention in the Gospels because it lies at the heart of the Christian faith.

Take it away and all that’s left of Christianity is another religion whose founder is dead and whose teachings can be superseded in the years to come.

However, honest readers of the Bible must agree that Scripture teaches without reservation or contradiction that Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day.

A group of women arrived at Jesus’s tomb early on Sunday morning to continue their burial preparations on Jesus’s body. They expected to find a corpse just where they had laid it two days before, but they found the stone rolled away and the tomb vacant (Luke 24:1-3).

The Bible states that an angel of God had removed the stone (Matthew 28:2). A short time later, the risen Saviour appeared to Mary Magdalene.

The Bible proclaims the fact of Christ’s resurrection, but it does not attempt to describe the process. It simply tells us what happened and expects us to believe it. To reject Christ’s resurrection is to reject the testimony of the Holy Scriptures.

Resurrection is the triumph of Jesus Christ over ‘the last enemy’, death (1 Corinthians 15:26). Because of this, believers can be confident that they will rise as he did on the last day.

Christ defeated Satan, who had the power of death. This power was taken from him at the cross (Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 2:14-15).

When the final Day of Resurrection arrives, believers will be given bodies like that of the risen Saviour. These new bodies will be perfect, fitted for a spiritual existence and with the power of an endless life (1 Corinthians 15:50-55).

Here is the solution to death and its humiliation. Those who believe the words ‘I am the resurrection and the life’ (John 11:25) will share in Christ’s everlasting victory.

Opportunity

Christians must oppose all attempts to deny, invalidate, or rewrite the resurrection accounts as found in the Gospels.

Such attempts are common today. There is much literature produced by Islamic sources to discredit the Gospels’ historical accounts of Christ returning from the dead.

One such effort is centred on the New Testament phrase, ‘the sign of the prophet Jonah’. This saying is exploited by Muslims to deny the actual death and resurrection of our Saviour.

However, while opponents of the Christian faith major on the denial of our Lord’s resurrection, why is treatment of this glorious topic generally limited by preachers to sermons around Easter time? This must be addressed.

I am convinced that the resurrection is becoming a lost topic and is the least preached of gospel themes. However, it is the most needed.

Why is this neglect happening? Yes, the resurrection may be mentioned, but precious little time is given to expounding its significance for believers. Paradoxically, it is so important that preachers tend to explain it less!

We know the resurrection story, and its proclamation brings much joy and hope to Christians. Why should it be laid aside for most of the year? To hear it preached and to meditate on its glory of victory over death, hell, and Satan is a year-round tonic which encourages hope in the gospel.

Moreover, the resurrection is surely the happiest note to sound before those among the unsaved who are plagued by the fear of death and the afterlife.

Resurrection is the sweetest melody to those close to dying in faith, and it is the crescendo of the greatest story ever told.

This door opens great New Testament topics which are often neglected. If more attention is given to it, then we would preach on Jesus’s ascension, his heavenly session and high priestly rule, his coming again, the hope of heaven, and the intermediate state, while correcting the Roman Catholic dogma of Purgatory.

Resurrection preaching in Acts

The resurrection was the central theme of the preaching of the apostles in Acts. Their words were not the invention of Luke (the author of Acts as well as the third Gospel), but written accounts of the apostles’ preaching collated by the Greek physician and historian.

The discourses recorded by Luke are faithful records containing unity in terms of their historicity and theology. We are to trust the inspired Scripture which sets before us the true history of the resurrection and the apostolic passion to make it known.

The centrality of the resurrection in the preaching in Acts is clearly seen by the observant reader. In three passages, Luke relates the early church’s stress on the resurrection in debate with the Jews and Greeks.

Acts 23:7ff refers to the well-known dispute between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The latter denied any kind of bodily resurrection. The apostles preached ‘in Jesus the resurrection from the dead’ and the main opposition came from the Sadducees (Acts 4:1ff). The Pharisees, however, were less ready to condemn the Christians before they were heard (Acts 5:33ff.). Representatives of both parties, however, were converted to the faith (Acts 6:7).

Acts 24:15-21 shows that Paul (a Pharisee) became a Christian as there was nothing inconsistent about a claim that Christian belief was, in effect, the fulfilment of Judaism (Acts 28:20).

Acts 17:30-32 shows that Paul, who believed the Scriptures, rejected Greek ideas and argues for the proof and legitimacy of Old Testament prophecy by declaring to his listeners the implications of the resurrection of Jesus on the third day, and that some believed (v. 34). To reject the resurrection as truth is gospel-denying and faith-destroying.

1 Corinthians 15:58

It is needful that the third day resurrection story is told still. This was made clear by Paul in his application at the end of a passage about resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15.

In verse 58, he writes, ‘Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.’

In 1 Corinthians 15, the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is expounded carefully. Paul was writing to encourage faith and bring hope because the idea of ‘resurrection’ is against all logic and previous human experience.

Paul also wants the churches to proclaim the physical resurrection with persevering zeal (v. 58). We need to grasp that, without the historical reality of the resurrection, then faith in Christ is in vain (v. 14).

We should take heed to his words, because faith has no benefit if Jesus is still in the tomb. ‘What advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”’ (v. 32b).

It is obvious that the resurrection story was central to the exponential growth of the church as it met the need in the heart of people who hope for the afterlife.

It is therefore the message that we should also major on in our contemporary evangelism. ‘He is not here; he has risen indeed!’

This message is the reason for Paul’s words, ‘Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord’ (v. 58).

This loving exclamation is to remind them of the implications of what he has just written.

He then adds a practical application to be unwavering, unbending, and always abounding in gospel work. He wants the Corinthians to take to heart the significance of the resurrection and to be active in Easter story evangelism; not only at Easter but in all their outreach.

Paul preaches that a momentous change is coming and that all things will be affected: ‘we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet’ (vv. 51-52a). The phrase ‘we shall all be changed’ speaks of the end of time, and the Resurrection Day which will come ‘in a moment’.

This contrasts with evolutionary theory that believes it takes long, long ages for corporeal flesh to change from one form into another. We are to tell others that there is hope offered in Jesus Christ before the Second Coming and the Day of Judgment dawns.

In a millisecond – ‘at the twinkling of an eye, we shall all be changed’! This means that there will be no time left to change our minds, or repent, or say sorry.

We shall not all perish however, but believers shall be changed by the power of God and raised in the likeness of the risen Son, and his perfect holiness will be imparted to us.

On earth, the incarnate God-man – Christ Jesus – was not able to sin, and all the saints will be wholly transformed and conformed at the Resurrection Day. They will be as Christ is, secured for eternity in a holy recreation and new humanity.

One thing is clear: Christ redeemed the whole person, and thus the consummation of redemption must involve the redemption of the body (Romans 8:23; cf. Ephesians 1:14).

It is in the integrity of personal life, reconstructed by resurrection, that the saints will enter into and eternally enjoy the inheritance ‘incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading’.

John 20

John tells us that on the resurrection morning the linen bandages which were wrapped around Jesus’s corpse by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were lying unfilled for all who entered the tomb to see.

If the body had been stolen or Jesus had revived in the cool of the tomb, then the grave clothes would have been removed or discarded. But not so; rather, they were lying just where the body was placed but without a body wrapped in them (John 20:6-8, Luke 24:12).

The believer’s hope depends on whether or not Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day. The believer’s trust is in the one who said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ (John 11:25-26).

Ian McNaughton Author of Getting to grips with prayer (Day One, 2017).

Matthew Maury: Pathfinder of the Seas

Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in Virginia into a family of nine on 14 January 1806. His father, Richard Maury, was a farmer of Huguenot stock. The family read the Psalms morning and evening, and Matthew learned them by heart.

It became clear from his subsequent actions that he also believed them. A childhood accident made it impossible for him to endure the rigours of a life on the land. His elder brother John served in the American Navy but died of yellow fever in 1824.

Sailor

Matthew joined the Navy the following year. He served on the USS Vincennes on its four-year voyage as it became the first US warship to circumnavigate the earth. In 1831, Maury became master of the sloop Falmouth.

Seeking information on the winds and currents it would encounter on a voyage from New York to Rio de Janeiro, he found that there was nothing published. Even so, sailors had much information on the courses to take to ensure the swiftest passage between various ports. This was simply passed on by word of mouth.

Maury’s sea-going career was ended by a stagecoach accident two years later which shattered one leg. He continued in the Navy, and in 1842 was appointed as head of Depot of Charts and Instruments in Washington, D.C. In 1844, the Depot became the Naval Observatory; Maury became its Superintendent.

Ocean currents

Already it was known that ocean currents existed in certain places on the globe. The Gulf Stream from the Caribbean to the eastern North Atlantic had been known about since early in the ‘age of exploration’ in the 16th century.

Benjamin Franklin had published a map of it in 1786. In his new position it became possible for Maury’s belief in the inspiration of Scripture to have important consequences.

Psalm 8

In Psalm 8 we are taught that God ‘madest him [man] to have dominion over the works of thy hands… and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea’. Maury believed from this that God had placed ‘paths’ in the sea, which man is meant to discover and use to his advantage.

The naval observatory possessed a vast collection of old ships’ logs and charts, dating right back to the foundation of the Navy itself. Ship masters had learnt lessons about both the positive and negative effects of winds and currents on the paths of their ships.

These logbooks were stored, but never studied. Maury sought to both use and add to this body of knowledge. He began to ensure that all naval vessels carried logs (which he designed) to record the direction and speed of the currents which they encountered. Maury instigated a rigorous programme for civilian ships to do the same. To keep such records became the norm.

Mapping the oceans

From this vast collection of data, Maury set out to produce comprehensive worldwide charts to show the ways in which currents flowed in the different seasons.

His purpose was to enable captains to have this information available so that ships could make faster and safer journeys. They could seek to avoid battling adverse seas or taking unnecessary risks to save time. The first edition of these charts was published in 1847.

The benefits were striking. To sail from New York to San Francisco via Cape Horn typically took six months. By using the information Maury produced, this time was reduced by a quarter.

Maury realised that international co-operation in this new science of hydrography would be immensely beneficial. He became the prime mover of the first international conference on the subject, held in Brussels in 1853.

Soon, nations which owned three-quarters of the world’s shipping had put in place measures to send their oceanographic observations to Maury. These were evaluated and the results freely distributed.

Whales

Maury also used the old ships’ logs to chart the migration of whales. Whalers at the time went to sea, sometimes for years, without knowing that whales migrate in predictable ways and that these paths could be charted.

Effectively, one man had both invented a science and done all the work possible during his lifetime on advancing it. Indeed, Maury became known as ‘Pathfinder of the Seas’.

Maury was interested in other aspects of the oceans. He studied depth data which was collected at his instigation by American and British ships in the North Atlantic.

This revealed a major submarine mountain range – we call it the Mid-Atlantic ridge (it is where material comes up from beneath the ocean floor as the continents still slowly drift apart – a result of the ‘fountains of the great deep’ breaking open during Noah’s Flood, Genesis 7:11).

In 1853, Maury was consulted as to whether in the light of this discovery it would be possible to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable. He asserted his view that it would be possible, as indeed it proved.

In 1855, Maury published The Physical Geography. The science was unanswerable, and the book proved very popular with the general public, and was translated into several European languages.

Opposition

Yet many scientists criticised it because of its biblical references. Maury was a man who openly avowed his Christian faith. He kept up family worship, including reading the Psalms every morning to his wife and children.

He once affirmed in a public address, ‘I have been blamed by men of science, both in this country and in England, for quoting the Bible in confirmation of the doctrines of physical geography.

‘The Bible, they say, was not written for scientific purposes, and is therefore of no authority in matters of science. I beg pardon: the Bible is authority for everything it touches.

‘What would you think of the historian who should refuse to consult the historical records of the Bible because the Bible was not written for the purposes of history?

‘The Bible is true; and science is true… they are both true… and when your man of science with vain and hasty conceit announces the discovery of disagreement between them, rely upon it the fault is not with the witness of his records, but with the “worm” who essays to interpret evidence which he does not understand.’

Legacy

Maury died at his home on 1 February 1873. His last recorded words were the frequently-used naval expression in response to signals: ‘All’s well.’ He was buried in Richmond, Virginia, between two presidents of the USA.

Matthew Maury was honoured many times in his lifetime. Four US Navy ships have since been named after him, and a reservoir in his home state. He served in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War, and never advocated the abolition of slavery. His statue in Richmond, Virginia, was removed in response to the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020.

Matthew Maury achieved what he did for mankind because he believed the Scriptures are true and reliable and useful. He did not take Psalm 8:8 to be mere poetry with no basis in fact. Of course, much biblical poetry utilises metaphor, but Maury stands as one who unashamedly took the Lord at his word. His bold stand for the Bible in the face of popular ridicule should challenge us to do likewise.

John Palmer, a retired pastor who lives in Leigh.

Paganism in its new colours

In the days of the apostles, paganism was rife.

Everywhere Paul went in the Mediterranean world he was confronted with idolatry and a distinctive lifestyle that was associated with it.

At Lystra, following the healing of the crippled man, the people were ready to explain the event as ‘the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men’, and called Barnabas ‘Zeus’ and Paul ‘Hermes’ (Acts 14:8-14).

On entering Athens, ‘his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols’ (Acts 17:1).

The silversmiths in Ephesus who made shrines of Diana were furious with Paul because they were losing their customers. They stirred up a riot (Acts 19:21-41).

Idolatry was deep-rooted and had prevailed for hundreds of years.

Some years ago my wife and I visited Sicily. We spent some time at one of the island’s most famous historical attractions, the Valle dei Templi. Here we saw the ruined remains of temples devoted to various gods and goddesses. Such temples were a familiar sight throughout the Roman Empire.

The idolatry of the ancient world was closely linked to gross immorality and drunken debauchery. Corinth was notorious for such activities. Indeed, to ‘Corinthianise’ somebody was to draw them into a promiscuous lifestyle.

The ‘new’ paganism

Paganism is alive and well today. It is now rife in the Western world and our children are in danger of being marinated in all things pagan.

There have been several movements in the last sixty or seventy years that are now commonplace in our culture. First, there is feminism, which in various ways overturns the biblical ideal of womanhood.

Second, there is sexual libertinism which severs sex from marriage and encourages people to act freely, without any reference to morality.

Third, there is the promotion of a gay lifestyle and same-sex ‘marriage’ that revolts against the sacred order of sexual identity and practice.

Finally, there is transgenderism, which rejects any idea of divine design in terms of personal identity and appearance.

These movements are all closely linked, and they are usually fierce in defending themselves.

On the one hand, they call for tolerance and demand that everyone must accept any and every kind of belief and practice.

On the other hand, anyone who opposes this kind of tolerance is not to be tolerated.

If you speak out, then expect recrimination and intense opposition. Solomon in his wisdom observed, ‘If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace’ (Proverbs 29:9).

The roots of this worldview

We do not need to read far into our Bibles to find the roots of this new expression of paganism. In fact, there is nothing new about it. It is as old as the entrance of sin into the world.

It is ‘the fool’ who says in his heart that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). When the human race fell into sin through Adam’s transgression, it was a declaration of human autonomy. The distinction between God the Creator and man the creature was removed. Man effectively put himself in the place of God and was thus free to make his own interpretations and decisions about life; his reason and his feelings determined everything.

It is nothing less than a form of idolatry, marked by pride and haughtiness, whereby human beings have become lovers of themselves rather than lovers of God.

In our own culture God has become irrelevant in the eyes of many.

Many people, flexing their muscles in this new-found ‘freedom’, have changed the face of our nation, introducing what is essentially a pagan perspective on life.

If God is banished from the scene, then there is no Creator, and no divine design and purpose. There is no male or female distinction. Guidelines for human sexuality are abandoned.

The idea of God-designed marriage and family life is removed. The notion of a family with a father and mother, with the father being the head of the home, is rejected. Patriarchy is regarded as an evil.

Children no longer need to respect and honour their parents and parents have no need to nurture their children with care, or to protect their children.

There is no longer right or wrong because moral absolutes have been discarded. There is no judge of evil and there is no Saviour or Lord.

Of course, not everyone conforms to all these ‘freedoms’. Nevertheless these are the logical conclusions that take place once God is rejected as Creator.

Some people may hold on to certain aspects of the order God has established, but that is simply a personal decision.

Essentially, all this is the anti-wisdom of the Serpent that deconstructs the reality that God has established.

In this way, a new ‘order’ is established which increasingly becomes associated with political correctness.

Because we are human beings, it is necessary for us to have some order to invest life with meaning and purpose. So what happens in this situation? We invent our own order, reinventing gender (defined by the new paganism as being how you identify yourself) and sexuality (defined as who you are attracted to). You are then ‘free’ to be whatever you want to be.

Sexuality and gender are about how you feel and how you choose to identify yourself.

Individuals, and especially the younger generation, are encouraged to choose which label they feel comfortable with. Another option is to choose no label at all.

Over time you may feel differently and then you can change the label you choose. This is not only the individual exercising their autonomy but it is a desperate search for true identity.

You, the individual, are the focal point and as such are encouraged to create your own identity and sexuality. There are now many options being offered to us besides being simply ‘male’ or ‘female.’ Just check out a website on sexuality to discover these human inventions.

This also explains why a climate of tolerance has to be created, so that everybody is free to follow their own feelings and chosen lifestyle without being judged by others for the way they feel and the choices they have made.

The present attempts to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’ are one of the latest efforts to extend this tolerance.

The big problem

This modern so-called ‘freedom’, however, is a myth. The problem for autonomous human beings is human sinfulness. Everybody acts according to their own sinful heart and nature.

Before the judgment of the flood, God took note: ‘The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually’ (Genesis 6:5).

The Lord Jesus Christ accurately describes the inward defilement of the heart, ‘for from within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within and defile a man’ (Mark 7:21-23).

The new paganism takes no account of the devastating effects of human sinfulness. It is brushed out of the picture together with the living and true God, the Creator of the human race.

What God’s Word records in Genesis 6:5 and Mark 7:21-23 has been true of man since the Fall. It is what characterised the world of Paul’s day. It was expressed in the paganism that confronted him wherever he went.

Paganism has re-emerged in our culture in new colours, not in stone deities and man-made temples.

Pagan worship now thrives as our generation denies the existence of God and engages in spiritual and bodily rebellion against him, rejecting him and the wise order he has given for our good and happiness.

Instead, often unwittingly, it follows the path of Satan and creates an anti-order that persists in rebelling against God the Creator.

The god of this age continues to blind the minds of unbelievers ‘lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine in them’ (2 Corinthians 4:4). Tragically, it is the path of darkness that leads to judgment, condemnation, and hell.

Instead of the anticipated freedom, bondage to sin remains the reality. There is defilement before a holy God. Thinking they have now found themselves and their identity, they believe they are free to live as they please.

But instead of being happy men and women, sooner or later they discover that it has resolved nothing and it brings only more confusion, sadness, disappointment, and even despair.

Far from resolving the problems, the outcome is that the problems are increased and intensified.

This is the sad consequence of acting the part of ‘the fool’, denying God’s very existence, trying to chart your own course, and thus setting yourself up as the final authority.

What should Christians do?

The first task of the Christian church is to hold fast to the truth and not give way to the pressures of what is often termed ‘cultural Marxism’.

The new paganism is but one way of describing this ideology. The church will lose its message and identity unless it maintains the distinction between the Creator and the creature, and the dignity of man and woman made in the image of God.

The reality of sin rooted in the human heart is also a vital part of this message.

Genesis 1–3 is fundamental to our understanding of what to do and how to live. These chapters reveal not only a biblical creation order, but a unique beauty attached to biblical manhood and womanhood, and to marriage and sexuality. These things need to be taught and pressed home to the hearts and consciences of our children and young people lest they be sucked into this pagan vortex.

So much of sex education in our schools and social studies courses in our colleges and universities are awash with this pagan outlook.

The church also needs to boldly and unashamedly live out the order that God has given us. It hardly commends the gospel when the marriages of professing Christians break up due to unfaithfulness on the part of one or both partners.

It will be costly at times to live God’s way. Christians may lose their jobs or become the subject of scorn and derision. So be it; better that than lose our integrity and distinctiveness as the church of Christ.

The apostle Peter, urging his fellow Christians to live the rest of their time for the will of God, told his readers: ‘we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles – when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries’ (1 Peter 4:3).

He continued by saying that people will think this new pattern of life is strange, to say the least.

The Western world has to a large extent embraced cultural Marxism. It is a destructive ideology and is often severe in its intolerance. True love and forgiveness, goodness, righteousness, and truth are not to be found there.

The church needs to hold fast to the truth in Christ and then preach the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit with compassion and winsomeness to this dark world.

We can do so with confidence in the gospel of Jesus Christ. His death on the cross for our sins and his resurrection from the dead remain the wisdom and the power of God that always contradict the wisdom of this world.

Paul was not able to stay long in Thessalonica, but long enough to see how they ‘turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come’ (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul could say, ‘do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God’ (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

That is the power of the gospel, the life-transforming power of the Spirit of Christ.

Those who promote the abolition of ‘conversion therapy’ will never be able to overthrow the converting power of God.

Let us continually lay hold of God in faith and pray to the end that we might see that power at work pulling down seemingly impregnable pagan strongholds.

Austin Walker, former pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church, Crawley.

A biblical response to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

After more than 30 years in the making and numerous delays, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) finally launched from an Ariane 5 rocket on Christmas Day last year.

The $10B observatory, as large as a tennis court, is the most powerful telescope ever built. The launch began a one-month journey of the JWST to its final parking orbit, some 940,000 miles away from Earth.

JWST is considered the next chapter in space-based telescope astronomy and the highly anticipated (and much larger) replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Unlike Hubble with its single primary mirror, the JWST has an array of mirrors that have a collective diameter nearly three times larger (translating to about seven times more light-gathering ability) than Hubble. This will enable the JWST to gather more light from distant objects, thus gazing deeper into the cosmos than has ever been done before.

According to NASA, the JWST mission may last for over a decade, but before it even begins gathering data, the device needs to complete 344 single-point failures, with each procedure liable to ultimately doom the mission.

The evolutionary goals behind JWST

The JWST promises to produce some awesome observational science. However, as has been seen from the many news reports about the project, the overall objectives for JWST are saturated in evolutionary and naturalistic thinking.

NASA has stated, ‘The primary goals of Webb are to study galaxy, star, and planet formation in the universe. To see the very first stars and galaxies that formed in the early universe, we have to look deep into space to look back in time (because it takes light time to travel from there to here, the farther out we look, the further we look back in time).’

Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor that developed the JWST, also stated, ‘By extending our knowledge of the cosmos, the James Webb Space Telescope will play an important role in our quest to answer compelling questions such as: How did the universe begin? or When were the first stars and galaxies created? or How do planets form? and How do we fit in the cosmos?’

Note, these objectives fall into the category of science that’s called historical science (which necessitates assumptions about the past based on evidence in the present). Such an approach can be useful in certain applications (as forensic science when analysing crime-scene evidence) but only when used through a biblical ‘lens’ and logical worldview.

In this instance, however, these statements for the JWST are clearly secular and unbiblical, which inevitably means they’re also fallacious (this is actually the result of every unbiblical worldview).

Notice the claim of ‘looking’ back in time (when looking at objects deep in space) in order to see how everything in the universe began through cosmological evolution (i.e., the Big Bang). But in making this claim about cosmological evolution, cosmological evolution has already been assumed, (i.e. by assuming star/planet formation occurred in the early stages of galaxies). This is the logical fallacy of begging the question.

What’s the biblical response?

How should Christians respond to these claims? Aside from the arbitrary nature of the statements quoted, the implicit goals are obviously antithetical to the biblical worldview.

Rather than relying on (fallacious) assumptions about the past, it’s always better to start with an eyewitness account (i.e. someone who was actually there).

For this, we need to go to the very first chapter of the Bible. In Genesis, we plainly read that God created everything in the heavens and the earth within six literal days approximately 6,000 years ago (per the biblical timeline), all for his glory.

He created the sun, moon, and all the stars in every galaxy and corner of the universe on day four of creation week (three days after the earth was created) and called it good.

As many of history’s great Christian astronomers have stated (such as Johannes Kepler), we should study the heavens! But it needs to be with the goal of admiring the handiwork and glory of God (Psalm 19:1) and giving thanks to him for creating and sustaining our universe (Hebrews 1:3).

So, for the JWST mission, the telescope will not actually look ‘back in time’. Rather, it will examine distant galaxies (which indeed are very far away in space) that have been in existence since the beginning of creation for thousands (not billions) of years.

These observations will not show us how (or when) these heavenly objects were formed, but rather how they appear.

The biblical stance should not be confused with some form of theistic evolution, which is currently being propagated by some in the JWST program. This attempts to harmonise the Genesis account with an evolutionary cosmology.

Sadly, this is a compromise of Scripture and a rejection of a plain reading of Genesis and its emphasis on ordinary, historical days during the creation event. Christians must beware of elevating man’s fallible and changing ideas above the infallible Word of God.

This mission shows the foolishness of atheism

In contrast, atheistic secularists advocate for purely naturalistic objectives for the JWST and suppress their knowledge of God (Romans 1:18-21).

Instead of submitting to him, they have turned to the religion of materialistic atheism (and secular humanism) to answer the fundamental questions posed by the JWST program (‘How did the universe begin,’ etc.), thus further reducing themselves to absurdity and foolishness (Psalm 14:1).

In this (irrational) worldview, the universe is simply ‘matter in motion’ with no ultimate purpose or plan. Consequently, this worldview makes essential concepts required for science, like the order and uniformity in nature (i.e. the future being like the past) and even rationality, utterly impossible.

Nonetheless, many of the (very smart) atheists working on the JWST still used scientific principles to develop and launch this amazing telescope into space.

The irony is that such scientists had to be inconsistent with their own worldview and borrow principles from the biblical worldview (rationality, logic) in order to further scientific understanding, thus exposing the complete foolishness of the atheistic worldview.

This also shows that the ‘atheist’ is not actually an atheist at all, but is rather self-deceived and really does know God in their heart of hearts.

On the flip side, God’s logic is built into the universe, which is why the cosmos operates in a consistent fashion by obeying natural laws and is not simply random or unpredictable.

In addition, God has given us reliable senses (Genesis 1:26) to discover and understand our universe. This is what makes the JWST mission a possible and intriguing scientific reality.

There’s no doubt that successfully building and launching the JWST is an amazing feat of hard work and ingenuity that will continue to be a great challenge over the next several years of operation.

As a former aerospace engineer, I take my hat off to all those involved with this exciting project. And even though the media at NASA continue to push its evolutionary agenda with JWST, this mission ultimately glorifies God and points to his creative works.

First published at answersingenesis.org. Adapted and reproduced with permission.

Rob Webb, is an aerospace engineer who worked on the Parker Solar Probe.

Persecution – the unwanted blessing

What some believers are facing in some parts of the world is just unbearable. They are tortured, imprisoned, threatened, stoned, killed, and coerced to recant. More Christians were killed in our ‘modern’ 20th century than the 1,900 years before it.

In these last days in which we live, self-love and self-assertion are considered virtues, and our oversensitive, feel-good, forever-young world hates to experience any form of suffering. This is even affecting Christians. Sacrifice, suffering, service, commitment: such words have become obsolete in many churches, and it is becoming arduous to engage professing believers in the Lord’s work.

Persecution is certainly the unwanted blessing. Just imagine hearing, in a gospel sermon, ‘Repent and believe on the Lord, and you will be persecuted.’ ‘Certainly not!’ most people would snap back. But is this not what our Saviour preached during his earthly ministry (Luke 14:25-33)?

The certainty

‘Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’ (2 Timothy 3:12). It is an inescapable fact. Paul wrote those words from a jail cell, and it is believed that he was later beheaded by the Roman authorities.

Our Lord told his disciples: ‘If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you’ (John 15:20). It is not a matter of ‘if’ or ‘maybe’. At some point, and in some shape or form, all believers in every generation will face persecution.

The Lord did not say, ‘In the world, ye shall be rich, trouble-free, and always feasting’! He said, ‘In the world ye shall have tribulation’ (John 16:33). It is given unto us ‘not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake’ (Philippians 1:29). ‘We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God’ (Acts 14:22).

These verses, among many others, emphasise the inevitability of believers experiencing persecution. It could be strong or mild, open or subtle. It might be in the form of indifference, rejection, or condescension. Our world calls Christians all names under the sun to ruin our reputation and make us feel like second-rank citizens. Some brand us intolerant people, misogynists, hatemongers, and hypocrites.

But Paul knew right from his conversion that he was appointed to suffer for Christ’s name (Acts 9:16). From the day he was humbled to the dust and blinded by the radiance of Christ, his life was never peaceful. You can read about it in 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, 2 Timothy 3:11, and Acts chapters 13–14. The persecutor had become the persecuted one.

John Owen said: ‘We must all be martyrs for Christ by resolution, even if we have never shed our blood for him or lose our lives for him.’ We may not suffer in our bodies, but our hearts will be vexed and torn apart as we see and hear the unlawful deeds of the Sodom in which we live (2 Peter 2:8), causing us to cry out, ‘How long, O Lord?’ (Revelation 6:10).

Obviously we must ensure that our suffering is coming for the right reasons, not the wrong ones. ‘Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters’ (1 Peter 4:15). King David was able to speak of ‘they that hate me without a cause’ (Psalm 69:4).

Yet, when we see the depravity, the godlessness and scoffing all around us, and the gospel rejected, there is no way we can remain silent. We do not knock on doors or walk the streets looking for trials, but they will come. The question is: are we ready for them?

The purpose

Persecution is for ‘all that will live godly in Christ Jesus’ (2 Timothy 3:12). What a wonderful aim in a world which prefers happiness to holiness! Every Christian ought to follow the way of holiness. This is the believer’s way of life; the desire must be gripping and intentional. ‘Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come’ (1 Timothy 4:8).

But godliness is not detached from persecution. The apostle said, ‘I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory’ (2 Timothy 2:10). The process of sufferings and afflictions brings about the fruit of holiness, witness, and instrumentality.

And this godliness sweetens the bitter cup of persecution. Because it is godliness ‘in Christ Jesus’, then when we are downcast, overwhelmed, and pushed to the limit, his sweet name and his glorious cause is our motivation to endure.

The deliverance

Although your life is marked, the Lord will deliver you, as he did Paul: ‘Thou hast fully known my… persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra… but out of them all the Lord delivered me’ (2 Timothy 3:11). There Paul was quoting Psalm 34 to show that God is able. Our persecutors will have to answer to him, as Paul had to on the road to Damascus: ‘Why persecutest thou me?’ (Acts 9:4).

Our Father doesn’t take pleasure in our suffering. ‘Though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men’ (Lamentations 3:32-33).

Even death is deliverance for the believer. ‘Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord… that they may rest from their labours’ (Revelation 14:13). The dying Stephen saw the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, ready to receive his spirit into heaven (Acts 7:55-56).

Remember the great and precious promises of the Word of God. ‘Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ (Luke 12:32). ‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning’ (Psalm 30:5). Nothing and no one ‘shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Romans 8:39).

So let us pray for grace to cope with every trial. Satan and all his schemes cannot undo the work of Christ. The Lord conquered persecution. His life did not end in a grave, and neither will ours.

The battle

Paul told Timothy to continue in (abide in and stick to) the things which he had learned (2 Timothy 3:14). We can survive the last days and continue in our service with an ongoing obedience to the Saviour. We may feel the heaviness of our manifold trials, but we are all involved in the battle for souls.

The Bible’s theology of persecution first arises in the Garden of Eden, with the declaration of war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). Thus every regenerated believer must put his hand to the plough, and have an avenue of service in his local church. The persecuted church grows; the un-persecuted church slumbers and falls into complacency.

Some closing lessons

1. Persecution is a testimony to our spiritual vitality, and differentiates the genuine from the phoney: ‘that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 1:7). It shows to whom we belong, as it identifies us with our Saviour – the Man of Sorrows who was acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3).

2. Persecution shapes us and sets us ready for the Lord’s return. It is his means of working in us to strengthen our faith, remove our self-reliance, and make us fit for heaven. ‘If we suffer, we shall also reign with him’ (2 Timothy 2:12).

3. Underneath the persecution, there is an abiding joy. When the apostles were arrested and beaten, they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ’s name (Acts 5:41). Later, Peter would write: ‘If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you’ (1 Peter 4:14).

4. Christians are called to ‘hold fast our profession’ (Hebrews 4:14) and ‘endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ’ (2 Timothy 2:3). Therefore we must pray for the persecuted church, and hold them up whenever possible. ‘Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body’ (Hebrews 13:3).

5. And we must pray for personal commitment in every one of God’s people in every local church. Our labour, including under persecution, is not in vain in the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). Oh, may he send times of refreshment, even in our godless age! Pray for an earthquake to awaken people to a sense of sin. And may Christ be formed in us to abound more and more in holiness, as we look forward to being with him and all his saints!

This article is adapted from a sermon preached by the author at Mount Zion Baptist Church, Ashford, in February 2022.

Ibrahim ag Mohamed, Assistant Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London.

Facing doubts as a Christian

In the January 2022 edition of ET, Stuart Olyott dealt with the question of doubts faced by Christians.

His response resonated with me, and I would like to share my own story of facing doubt in the hope that it may help others.

I wish I’d seen an article like Mr Olyott’s when I went through my own protracted experience of doubt. How it would have comforted me to know that even ‘the great and the good’ in the Christian world can be assailed by uncertainties.

Seeing ‘problems’

My own period of doubt came upon me unexpectedly when I was in my mid-fifties. It grew and grew until I felt that all I could be certain of was that there is a God. Somehow that remained.

Everything else was open to question. I couldn’t open the Bible without seeing ‘problems’ of every kind – factual, ethical, and everything in between.

I desperately felt the need for someone to talk to who would understand, even if they couldn’t answer all my questions.

Nonetheless, I did want my questions answered. In actuality they were too numerous and complicated for any one individual to answer to my satisfaction, so I resorted to reading well-known apologetics books, supplemented with commentaries and internet articles.

In the process, I inevitably came across atheist/sceptic sites that made matters worse. I eventually learned to keep away from those.

Nearest and dearest can’t always help, much as they would like to.

Spiritual doubts are so deep and personal that it’s almost beyond another person’s ability to enter into them unless they’ve gone through them and come out the other side.

Seeking help

Doubt is such a lonely, isolating experience. On the one hand, you long to share what you are experiencing, but on the other hand, you don’t want to ‘infect’ others with your doubts and cause them to stumble.

The most natural thing should be to share it with your pastor. I did this, albeit very hesitantly. I received the response, ‘You do surprise me.’

That was it. My pastor didn’t get back to me after further reflection. It was as though the encounter had never happened. Maybe the problem was too big for him. I don’t know.

He was a good man (now deceased), whom I esteem greatly for many things, but I think he failed at that point.

I spoke sometime later to a retired pastor (also now deceased) who said the most helpful thing that could possibly have been said.

As I sat at his table, weeping and recounting my story and my fears that I had committed what I thought to be the unforgivable sin by having doubts, he looked at me and said, ‘If you had committed the unforgivable sin, you wouldn’t be sitting there weeping. You wouldn’t care!’

That was a lightbulb moment for me.

I can honestly say that I had no intention or desire to walk away from the faith. As Mr Olyott says, ‘Our convictions, although sometimes seriously unsettled, remain. We keep coming back to them. We can’t give them up.’

That describes me perfectly at that time. I found myself praying frequently, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief’ (Mark 9:24). I’m very grateful for that verse of Scripture.

Finding solace

I found consolation in the psalms of lament, and took comfort from the psalmist’s declaration of God’s deliverance. Many of his prayers became mine, as he cried out to God for help.

I also found comfort from the account of John the Baptist’s question to Jesus from prison: ‘Are you he that should come, or do we look for another?’

This passage popped into my head when I was at a particularly low point, feeling that God must be against me because of my doubts and would never answer my prayers for help.

I know that commentators differ on this passage, some arguing that the man who had cried, ‘Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ couldn’t possibly have expressed doubts later on.

But I don’t see why someone as great as John the Baptist couldn’t have had a ‘wobble’ when he was unjustly in prison and awaiting a death sentence. That’s how I took it.

Be that as it may – whether it was John the Baptist’s own question or that of his disciples – Jesus’s response was to do many more miracles ‘at that very hour’ and send a gracious message back to John, followed by a public affirmation of John’s greatness as a prophet.

For me this knocked on the head any thoughts I had that God is against those who have honest doubts and cry to him for help.

Gresham Machen’s doubt

I also had in the back of my mind an article I’d read in ET some time before about J. Gresham Machen, which referred to the theologian’s long period of intellectual doubt.

I desperately wanted to know more, but this was at the very beginning of the internet age, and I didn’t know anything about Google searches.

However, in the goodness of God, a book came into my possession in a remarkable way that recounted his severe ‘trial of faith’ and his eventual recovery and subsequent ministry.

I could identify very much with him in the letters he wrote to his parents. It’s interesting to note that Machen’s experience made him enormously sympathetic to others going through similar doubts. Such people are in short supply. I wish I’d known him.

Thorn in the flesh

So where am I at now? Am I walking in the sunny uplands of having all my questions and difficulties resolved? I have to answer in all honesty, ‘No.’

Am I eaten up by them, teetering on the edge of unbelief? Again I can answer, ‘No.’

All I can say is that, just as my long period of doubt came upon me suddenly, so it left me suddenly.

After years of waking up to questions swirling around in my mind and occupying my thoughts for much of the day (and night), I woke up to find, for reasons that I couldn’t and still can’t explain, that they didn’t seem to matter anymore.

And so it has remained, years later. I still do some research from time to time on difficult or contentious theological subjects (I do have a very enquiring mind!), but it’s more out of interest than to quieten doubts.

My tentative analysis of my ‘dark night of the soul’ (as I think of it) is that, for reasons of his own – and ultimately for my spiritual benefit – God allowed Satan to attack me in this particular way; and then, at God’s bidding, Satan withdrew.

I agree with Mr Olyott that it is ‘an attack by the father of lies on what is going on in the depths of the soul’.

Job can’t have been the only believer to have been attacked in this way, so we shouldn’t be surprised if it happens to any one of us.

Let us be wary of Satan’s devices, and let us extend sympathy and kindness to those who are suffering under such an attack.

Monica

COMMENT

Admiring the men of Ukraine, while smashing the patriarchy at home

What an Alice-in-Wonderland world the West has become. On the one hand, our society applauds the courageous men of Ukraine who make sure their wives and children are safely evacuated before those same men stay to fight the Russians. On the other hand, our cultural elites decry the ‘toxic masculinity’ of the patriarchy here in the West. They say gender is meaningless. They say people – including young children – should be able to switch sex at the click of their fingers.

But when the bombs start falling and the bullets start flying, we find that masculinity is not so ‘toxic’ after all. In fact, it is positively heroic. In a time of war, we find that we need real men to step up and put their lives on the line. Any wife or child in that situation will be glad to have a man’s man standing by their side. Indeed, our culture needs real men to stand up and be counted, not just in times of war, but every day. Why are so many churches – including evangelical churches – afraid of proclaiming this simple truth?

Yes, we must pray for Ukraine and its neighbouring nations. Yes, we must pray for evangelical believers caught up in the bloodshed and in the humanitarian effort to ease the suffering of innocent civilians. Yes, we must pray that the cause of the gospel will shine brightly in the darkness of war. We must pray for all of that. But we must also pray for our own nation, as it slips further into its topsy-turvy fantasies.

For while the hard totalitarianism of Putin’s war machine rolls across Ukraine, a soft totalitarianism is on the move here in the UK. It’s ‘soft’ in terms of how it presents itself, but not in terms of its consequences. The Scottish Parliament’s equalities committee wants to ban ‘conversion therapy’, and considers a recent law passed in the Australian state of Victoria to be the ‘gold standard’.

Yet new guidance issued in Victoria shows just how totalitarian that law is. It is illegal, the Victorian guidance says, for a religious leader to meet one-on-one and urge a member of his congregation to suppress and ignore their feelings of same-sex attraction by practising celibacy. It is illegal, according to the guidance, for a parent to refuse to support their child’s request for transgender medical treatment. It is illegal, the guidance states, for a church to remove someone from membership if they continue their same-sex relationship.

And that is the law the Scottish Parliament’s equalities committee thinks should be adopted in Scotland. There’s a war going on in Ukraine. But there’s a battle to be fought here in the West too.

GUEST COLUMN: A meeting to be avoided

It has been rightly observed that the devil seeks to bring together sinful desires and opportunities to fulfil those desires. As Christians we need to ensure they do not meet.

We can think about this in terms of food and gluttony, drink and drunkenness, wealth and spending money on luxuries, and many other areas of life as well. But one of the most obvious and important is sexual morality.

Joseph sought to avoid even being with Potiphar’s wife, and when one day she grabbed him, he fled from her. There was opportunity, but his sexual desires were strictly under control. And how could he do such a wicked thing and sin against God?

Tragically, on the other hand, that’s exactly what David did when he saw the beautiful Bathsheba bathing while her husband was away at war. He summoned her and slept with her. Solomon, although hardly a model of self-control, recognised the follies and dangers of adultery. In Proverbs he warned his sons not to go near the house of an adulterous woman. They were to keep a safe distance lest they should be enticed.

Billy Graham, the well-known evangelist, resolved he would not meet with a woman, other than his wife, alone. This was partly to avoid temptation and partly to ensure it was transparent that he was behaving with integrity. This seems a wise rule of thumb, and men and women need to be wary of situations (perhaps in a working context, perhaps at church) where they are regularly spending time one to one with a member of the opposite sex, especially if they are unobserved.

There are several reasons, however, why seeking to put sinful desires to death is more important than avoiding opportunities for sin.

First, circumstances are sometimes beyond our control. While Jesus was resting at a well in Samaria by himself, a woman arrived alone to draw water. Although this woman had a sexual history, Jesus did not shun her but spoke the gospel to her. This surprised his disciples, for he was violating the cultural norms of the day. Billy Graham’s rule may be a wise one but it can hardly be an absolute biblical requirement, if only because circumstances are sometimes beyond our control.

Second, it is only if we are cultivating the right desires and killing off the wrong ones that we will want to put space between us and temptations, whether those temptations be illicit sex, drunkenness, gluttony, or extravagance on luxuries.

Third, our desires are more fundamental in the sight of God. It is not enough, Jesus made clear, not to commit adultery. We must not think about it either. Otherwise, we really just have a mindset where we’d like to do what’s wrong if only we could get away with it.

How do we cultivate holy desires and kill off sinful ones? Treatises have been written about this and certainly the Bible seeks to help us on page after page.

One way we kill off sinful desires is by not feeding them with stories or images that stimulate them, perhaps cookery programmes for those struggling with gluttony, catalogues or shop websites for those fighting ‘retail therapy’ and extravagance – and of course there’s pornography.

Positively, we need to recognise that ‘godliness with contentment is great gain’. The married need to value and care for their marriages, the wealthy need to appreciate that ‘it’s more blessed to give than receive’, and so on.

We also need to meditate on the goodness, grace, and glory of Jesus and the gospel. The Scottish minister Thomas Chalmers spoke about ‘the expulsive power of a new affection’. If we become obsessed with becoming physically fit, we will more than likely give up smoking. If we are captivated by Jesus Christ then the things of the world will lose their appeal to us. Personal Bible study, prayer, and especially gathering with other Christians for worship and fellowship are the means God has appointed to help us here.

Mark Richards, pastor of Newtown Baptist Church, Chesham.

A SHRINK THINKS... Was Job depressed?

I have read of Job set forth as an example of someone suffering from depression. I have heard Job preached as an example of depressive illness. Perhaps you have too. And people have from time to time asked me: ‘Alan, was Job depressed?’

Certainly poor Job had enough standard risk factors for depression. He endured immense loss events (his servants, oxen, camels, etc.), multiple bereavements (his seven sons and three daughters), physical illness (his horrendous skin disease), loneliness and social isolation. Poignantly, even his wife, pained by her own grief, criticised rather than supported him. And let us not talk about his three ‘comforters’!

And throughout the book, Job exhibits features consistent with depression. He appears low in mood, no longer enjoys life, and sometimes perhaps he may be said to be irritable. He doesn’t sleep well and loses weight. His pattern of thinking might be regarded as pessimistic, and sometimes he shows despair and doesn’t want to live any longer. So if we compare these features with the standard diagnostic criteria we could endorse at least five of them, which many would regard as sufficient for a diagnosis of depression. And yet…

Different types of depression

The case of Job raises interesting questions of what we mean by depression. After all, if you experienced everything Job did, how would you feel? Wouldn’t we all be off our food and struggling to sleep? Wouldn’t we all feel sad, and have ‘negative thoughts’ about our situation? It seems to me there would be something wrong with someone who didn’t exhibit the same kind of ‘depressive features’ displayed by Job.

In fact, I suspect most of us would have fared worse than Job in his circumstances. I think he shows incredible resilience through his immense suffering. He continues to reason clearly, cogently making his case against the criticisms of his ‘comforters’ – which is not something typically seen in people with depressive illness. The sustained vigour in his retorts to these men, and ultimately in his argument with God, again indicates a level of energy inconsistent with a depressive illness.

Ultimately such exercises in historical medical diagnosis are fraught with difficulty and prone to subjective bias. I could make a good case for Job being depressed, but again a strong case that he was not. As I have written elsewhere (see chapter 9 of my book Tackling Mental Illness Together, and the previous ET article ‘Depression: a wimp of a word’), there are different types of depression. Job likely did meet diagnostic criteria for what is generally called minor depression, though I prefer to call this psychosomatic depression. But I don’t think he met criteria for major depressive illness, with the important caveat that I would like more information to be sure.

Thus I doubt I would have prescribed him an antidepressant had I clinically assessed him. Whether he had a psychosomatic depression or not, Job needed family and social support, which sadly the book shows he did not receive from his wife or ‘friends’. He did, however, find his comfort and support from the Lord. And this leads to the most important message here from Job.

Strength in the Lord

Regardless of whether or not Job was depressed, he is a superb example of strength in the Lord through suffering (James 5:11).

Reading the book, what is striking is Job’s robust faith. Through thick and thin he continued to cry out to the Lord. He gradually gave up on discussion with his friends – and not just because they were miserable comforters who compounded his suffering by their outrageous accusations about his alleged bad behaviour. He gave up on them because they didn’t meet the basic requirements of sympathy and understanding he needed as a sufferer. Instead, as the book progresses, he calls out more and more to the Lord, until we have the final sustained interaction with God in chapters 38–42.

What Job never does is give up on the Lord. In his pain he consistently turns to him. He doesn’t understand what is going on, why he is suddenly so afflicted, but he never blames God. He pleads with God to explain himself, to tell him why he has caused him so much pain. He does so plainly, even very bluntly. But he does so as a man of faith who is perplexed as to what is going on. He does so as a man clinging to God through his immense physical and mental torment.

Those of us not suffering as Job did and standing outside of his situation may find it easy to criticise him for his language and the nature of his desperate pleas to God. But a major point of the book, spelled out repeatedly in chapters 1 and 2, is that Job is an innocent sufferer (though not a sinless one). Thus I think from his human stance he was right to complain to God that he was being unfairly treated.

Of course, unlike us he was never told about the goings-on in chapters 1 and 2. He cried out as he saw it, but never stopped trusting God. Like us in our experiences, he wasn’t given insight into the deep and hidden purposes of God in our lives. And like Job, whether our unjust pains are from depression or not, we should imitate him by persevering in our trust in God through all our suffering, and praying to him honestly.

Alan Thomas, Professor and Consultant in Psychiatry. Elder at Newcastle Reformed Evangelical Church.

THINKING IT THROUGH: Summer Camps ’22: a plea for prayer

This time two years ago our children were looking forward eagerly to their first Christian young people’s camp under canvas. They’d accompanied us on family camps in other parts of the world. And we’d taken them camping from time to time. But this was to be their first experience of spending a week without Mum and Dad but with lots of other Christian youngsters.

They had decided which camp they wanted to join. They were putting together their packing lists. We cautioned them that nothing was certain. We were in the early stages of the Covid-19 epidemic. There was no guarantee that life would have returned to normal by the summer. But like most people we believed that the crisis would be short lived and we hoped that the camp would go ahead.

It didn’t. Our children were disappointed and we were disappointed for them. But, we said, ruefully, ‘There’s always next year.’ We were wrong. As we moved through the early months of 2021, it became increasingly obvious that the camp they hoped to attend would again be cancelled. I know of some camps that did go ahead, but our children’s choice wasn’t among them.

Well, our youngsters are still hoping. They’re checking daily to see whether bookings for Camp 2022 are open. They’re having excited WhatsApp discussions with Christian friends who are hoping to attend the same camp. And they’re talking with friends with no Christian background, urging them to sign up.

Looking back

I don’t need to be persuaded of the value of Christian camps. It’s 47 years since I first set off to camp, my rucksack on my back. That first camp was at Pendine on the South Wales coast. It was run by an eccentric schoolteacher with a passion for evangelism.

The two weeks I spent at that camp changed my life. I was already a believer, but I’d had little opportunity to mix with other Christian teenagers. I had never been thrown into the evangelistic deep end before. Yet here I was sharing the gospel with godless lads from morning to night, standing up to give my testimony in evening meetings, joining other team members for early morning prayer meetings.

As the week went by, the atmosphere became electric. We prayed that youngsters would be saved, we expected it to happen, and we saw our prayers answered. By the end of the week a number of lads and girls had professed faith in the Saviour. I can remember going to bed joyful after giving away my spare Bible to a 12-year-old lad who said that he had come to Christ.

When I returned home, something of the impact of that camp stayed with me. I had discovered that evangelism was exciting, and I wanted to carry on preaching the gospel. I had witnessed the power of prayer, and I wanted to pray, on my own and with others. My schoolmates saw the difference. I started attending the nearly defunct Christian Union. With one or two other enthusiasts I started a lunchtime prayer meeting and an after-school Bible study.

I was determined to lead my classmates to Christ. And indeed some of them did come to the Saviour and are serving him today. All that sprang from my time away at camp. I wonder if I would be a preacher of the gospel today apart from what I learned then.

Untold blessings

Going away on camp has changed many lives. My wife Anne was 14 when she heard the message of the cross preached at camp with a power and sweetness that she had never known before. Like me she was already a believer, but from that day, there was a new determination to serve and please the one who had died for her.

Many believers can look back and say, ‘It was at camp that I learned to live for Christ. It was at camp that I became sure that my life’s work was to preach the gospel. It was at camp that I found the friends who encouraged me and have been my example ever since.’ Some would add, ‘It was at camp that I found my life partner.’ Untold blessings have come to young Christians away at camp.

But more than that, many Christians can look back and remember that it was at camp that they found the greatest blessing of all: the Saviour.

Some of them came from Christian homes. Yet it was at camp that their hearts were opened and they were drawn to Christ. Perhaps they knew and approved of the gospel in their heads, but it had never reached their hearts. And then at camp, as the gospel was preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, they found themselves cut to the heart, weeping over their sins, longing to be saved, crying to Christ. Others went to camp determined to resist the gospel. Perhaps they had been hardening themselves for years. But there, at camp, they found the hardness melting. And they could resist the Saviour no longer.

And it’s not only youngsters from Christian homes. Many from godless homes have also been saved through the work of the camps. A Christian teenager brings his unconverted friend; a schoolteacher takes a group of unconverted pupils. They come because of the variety of activities on offer; because the cost is low; or because they respect the friend who invited them. Some come curious to find out what this Christianity is all about; some come determined to stop up their ears; some come thinking they are already Christians. Whatever their state of mind, God has broken in and saved them.

Natural and supernatural

Why are so many youngsters saved while they’re away on camp? We can point to natural factors. Firstly, there’s the physical setting. For youngsters who have grown up in the city, a week in the countryside can be an awesome experience. For a little while the campers have stepped away from their familiar world – the world of school, movies, social media, the off-licence. They’ve stepped into an unfamiliar world where everything seems different. Things that seem so important back home may seem trivial here in the shadow of the mountains. A youngster steps out of his tent, looks up at the stars, and sees what he’s never seen before – the vastness of the universe and his own insignificance. Here in this unfamiliar setting a young man or woman may be open to ideas that at home would never be considered.

Secondly, there’s the social setting. A youngster away at camp is surrounded for a week by people talking constantly about spiritual things. Perhaps at home she’s conscious that if she ever shows interest in ‘religion’ she’ll be mocked. But here she’s in an atmosphere where people talk without embarrassment or inhibition. The same ‘peer pressure’ that holds her back when she’s among friends at school can now push her forward. Other people here on camp are excited about the Bible, God, the gospel. Why should she be the one left out?

And thirdly there’s the emotional setting. Put 50 or 100 adolescents together for a week and you are likely to have a very heady and emotional mix. Guitars strummed round a campfire, outdoor activities that set adrenaline flowing, instant friendships made and secrets whispered in the tents – all this makes for a very emotional atmosphere. For many youngsters, camp will be the most exciting and enjoyable time they have ever known. Perhaps in the past, they’ve thought of Christianity as dull, dreary, negative. But now they discover that a week organised and led by Christians can be full of fun and excitement. Their old prejudices against Christianity are dissolved – they’re ready to plunge into something which seems to offer so much happiness.

These are all completely natural factors. If Mormons or Moonies organised a young people’s camp, the same natural factors would come into play. But does that mean that conversions at camp are a natural thing and therefore false? Not a bit of it. The fact is that God often makes use of natural factors to prepare the way for his own supernatural work. God puts his elect in situations where they will be inclined to think about spiritual things. He brings us into contact with people who befriend us and make the gospel seem attractive. He allows us to see how many happinesses his people can enjoy even in this world. So it isn’t surprising that God brings many of his elect to camps where he will make use of these natural factors.

But these natural factors alone will never save anyone. All these factors may be used to make someone willing to listen to the gospel; but then the Holy Spirit must do his own supernatural work. He must apply the Word. He must show these lads and girls that they are guilty, lost, wicked; that they deserve God’s judgment and wrath; that God would be justified in casting them into hell. He must make them feel their need of a Saviour. And he must open their eyes to the Lord Jesus Christ so that they are drawn to him, ready to cast themselves on him entirely. He must bring the dead sinner to life.

And in countless instances he has done so. Zealous believers have given their holidays to organise and run young people’s camps; earnest preachers have applied the truth to the hearts of the youngsters; churches have pleaded with the Lord to send down his Holy Spirit on the camps. And the Lord has honoured their faith by saving many young people.

How to pray

Why am I writing this article now? Well, one obvious reason is to encourage you to send your own children to camp.

If you’ve never done so before, start planning now. Find out about different options. There are camps organised by large organisations; there are camps run by individual churches or groups of churches. There are camps for children of all ages. There are camps under canvas and camps held at hostels and conference centres. There are camps for the whole family and camps just for youngsters. Somewhere, there must be the right one for you and yours.

And why not encourage your children to invite their friends? Friends who would never consider an invitation to church or youth group may still be drawn by the prospect of a week under the stars in Wales or the Lake District. I’ve listed out some of the natural factors that the Lord can use to soften the hearts of young people. So why not take full advantage of them?

And then the second reason for this article. To encourage you to pray. Let me list out five things that I think we should be praying for.

1. Let’s pray that this summer’s camps will go ahead. What would it take for them to be closed down? Another more threatening variant of Covid-19. More dire predictions from SAGE scientists. A change at Number 10 – and my children would have another year to wait.

2. Pray secondly that the camps will have freedom to continue the work of preaching the gospel to young people. That freedom should not be taken for granted. In 2016, David Cameron’s Conservative government proposed that Ofsted should be given the authority and responsibility to inspect all ‘out of school’ educational settings including churches, Sunday schools, and Christian camps. Any ‘institution providing tuition, training or instruction to children aged under 19 in England’ for ‘more than between 6 to 8 hours a week’ would be subject to inspection.

The inspectors were to investigate whether the institution was offering ‘undesirable teaching, for example teaching which undermines or is incompatible with fundamental British values’. When he announced the new approach, David Cameron made it clear what that meant: ‘If you are teaching intolerance, we will shut you down.’ Ofsted itself offered an example of unacceptable intolerance: a booklet used in Orthodox Jewish yeshivas which ‘suggested that a teacher passed on God-given truths that must be learned and obeyed’.

Well, that attempt to control what is taught in ‘out of school settings’ failed. But it would be naive to imagine that the threat is over. To the secular humanists who dominate the political and educational structures of the UK, it is intolerable that Christians should have freedom to tell children that there is one God, one way of salvation, and one right way of living. If they can, they will close down our camps or neutralise them. So pray that the Lord will preserve our freedom to preach the gospel in camp settings.

3. Thirdly, pray for special wisdom to be given to camp leaders as they counsel young people who have been moved – perhaps very deeply – and who seem ready to ‘accept Christ’. Earlier in this article I talked about the natural factors which may break down normal intellectual and emotional defences for youngsters at camp. How much wisdom camp leaders need to discern what is natural and what is supernatural in the experience of the youngsters in their care!

A lad comes to his tent-leader in tears, saying that he wants to be different, he wants to be forgiven, he wants to become a Christian. How can the leader be sure that this is real spiritual conviction, and not just the natural effects of the camp atmosphere? A wise leader will be very cautious before pronouncing that this lad has truly been awakened.

Many campers have had such intense feelings while they’ve been at camp, but a fortnight later show no sign of life. A wise counsellor will never dismiss or discourage that depth of feeling. But nor will he encourage a premature profession of faith or a false assurance. So pray that tent leaders and other counsellors will have that divine wisdom.

4. Fourthly, pray for youngsters – many from godless homes but some from Christian homes too – who will arrive at camp tragically confused about their own ‘identity’. And pray for the leaders who have to help them.

We have been startled in the last 12 months as we’ve become aware of many children – including some in their early teens or even younger – who have declared themselves to be ‘gay’, ‘lesbian’, ‘bi’, ‘trans’, ‘non-binary’, or ‘curious’. One after another of our children’s friends have described themselves in those terms. The schools, the media, celebrities are all reinforcing their new-found ‘identity’. Their minds and emotions have been enslaved by the lies of the evil one. Pray that the Lord will set many free while at camp. And pray that those who counsel these youngsters will be protected. A single complaint could have untold consequences.

5. Finally, pray that this year’s camps will be a life-changing experience, not just for youngsters who go as unbelievers, but for many young believers too. Pray that the camps will play a part in raising up a generation of young men and women full of love for Jesus Christ and zeal for his kingdom. Without such single-minded young people, what future is there for the cause of Christ in the UK?

This article first appeared in the monthly bulletin of Grace Baptist Church, Stockport. Some of the material in the article has also appeared on the Banner of Truth website.

Stephen Rees is pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Stockport

A WALK WITH MR O: Why am I still sinning so much?

Mr O, it’s now a while since I became a Christian, so why am I still sinning so much?

What an encouraging question!

What do you mean? How can you be encouraged by hearing that a child of God is sinning – and sometimes sinning really badly?

Let me explain. At one stage in my life I lived in a tiny Welsh village that was composed of a farm, a handful of cottages, and a solitary street lamp. The way to that village was along a narrow lane that was badly maintained. It was uneven and full of potholes.

I’ve got the picture, but I’m not at all sure where you are leading me!

I want you to imagine that you are walking to that village at night. It is really dark, far darker than a town or city dweller has ever known. Suddenly you trip and fall into a muddy puddle, but you get up and continue your journey. At what point will you begin to realise how dirty you are?

Okay, I understand. The answer, of course, is that I will start seeing what a state I’m in when I get near the lamp.

And what will happen when you get right under the lamp?

I will discover that I’m far dirtier than I thought at first and, presumably, I will start doing something about it.

Exactly! The reason that you are asking why you are still sinning so much is because you are nearer the Light – the Lord! – than you were at the beginning of your Christian life. The proof is that you are not proud of the state you are in; and you want to do something about it.

Mr O, you certainly seem to know how to encourage people! But I can’t go on as I am. What can I do about all this sin in my life?

We will need another walk to talk about that. Right now, there is something else that you need to know. So let me give you a very brief quote from the great Reformer, Martin Luther. To believers who were conscious of their sin, and who hated it, he said, ‘Sin boldly!’

But that’s a terrible thing to say! My sin crucified the Saviour and I don’t want to do it anymore. If Luther was such a great Reformer, how could he tell anyone to carry on sinning?

Hold your horses! Let’s put it all in context and find out what Luther really meant. Yes, he was intending to shock people, because he wanted them to learn an important lesson. He certainly didn’t want believers to sin.

But nor did he want the discovery of their continuing sinfulness to rob them of their peace. We all sin. We do it every day. So face the fact! This is the reality you have to live with. But don’t let sin in your life cause you to cower, to falter, to weaken, and to give up. Don’t let it rob you of anything! Sin boldly!

This is a bit harder to grasp than your picture of the village street light! But, please, go on.

On those days when you sin little, you are no more acceptable to God than on those days when you sin a great deal. The only righteousness that has ever commended you to God is the righteousness of Christ which has been imputed to you – that is, it has been put on your account.

Grasp the wonderful truth of double imputation! All your sins have been put on Christ’s account. He died for them on the cross. His perfect righteousness has been put on your account.

You are as much a child of God when you fail as when you succeed. Don’t let the devil tell you otherwise. Don’t get engrossed with your sin, but with your Saviour. This is the open secret of the Christian life. Look up, not down!

When Satan tempts me to despair,

and tells me of the guilt within,

upward I look and see him there

who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Saviour died,

my sinful soul is counted free;

for God the Just is satisfied

to look on him, and pardon me.

Stuart Olyott, is an actively retired minister and conference speaker. He preaches most Sunday mornings at Caergwrle Evangelical Church.

CRUNCH POINTS: Should Christians speak differently to the world about relationships? Is the boyfriend/girlfriend concept biblical, or is it just an issue of terminology?

We all value biblical advice from our elders, the first ones to whom we turn for counsel. Jeremy Walker outlines the kind of answer he might give to a question received at the chapel door.

Let’s be careful! Sometimes we so tie ourselves in knots that we could end up talking about ‘intentional friendships between a man and a woman of marriageable age, seeming capacity, and within appropriate parameters, which are likely to lead to marriage in the not-too-distant future’. I mean, what do you want to call them!?

For Christians in the UK, a lot of this tangled vocabulary is shipped in from the US. When I was growing up, people tended to talk about ‘going out’ with each other, and it didn’t carry the same freight as ‘dating’ or ‘courting’.

Concerning the language of ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’, go back to your distinction between concepts (ideas) and terminology (words). We cannot say that words don’t matter as long as the ideas are okay; the words we use inform our ideas. Neither can we say that if our words are accurate, our ideas must be healthy, because we can fool ourselves. So the phrase ‘hooking up’ typically communicates casual sexual intimacy. Someone might have a different idea or use that language more innocently, but that’s the usual idea and the usual words to communicate it. So both ideas and words are important. We need to define both carefully, and work out where to start.

Biblically speaking, the casual boyfriend/girlfriend concept doesn’t fit any of the examples, good or bad (and please don’t suggest Dinah and Hamor in Genesis 34 just to make a point!). In the New Testament there is very little instruction on approaching marriage. It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry (Hebrews 13:4; 1 Timothy 4:3) if they are able to give their rational consent, avoiding forbidden degrees of blood relationship and close relationship (Leviticus 18). Because it is the duty of Christians to marry ‘in the Lord’ (1 Corinthians 7:39), they should have confidence from what someone says and does, before any relationship begins, that a potential spouse is a genuine Christian.

Remember that Timothy should treat ‘older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity’ (1 Timothy 5:2), establishing a principled standard of behaviour. Single Christians need opportunities to develop friendships, including between men and women, in healthy environments. Out of such, it is perfectly right and normal that a particular relationship is likely to develop between a particular man and a particular woman.

Whatever terms you use for such a relationship, this friendship should not be careless and casual, but thoughtful and intentional. The man’s first act of leadership involves courage to ask a woman to begin a relationship with a clear purpose. Such relationships proceed with a view, ultimately, to a God-honouring marriage.

Marriages which honour God are between committed Christians, not mere hopeful cases. If more Christians were guided by such principles, how many unhappy compromises and troubled marriages could be avoided?

How much of any of that might ‘the world’ even begin to understand?!

So we probably need to work out our idea, and then make clear how we are using words to communicate that idea. If you call them boyfriend and girlfriend, and say that they are in a relationship, then you will need to define those ideas using more words than just ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’, even if you end up saying, ‘…so that’s what I mean when I speak like that.’

I wouldn’t torture your conscience with it overmuch, but neither would I be careless and thoughtless about the typical ideas communicated by the typical words that the world uses, and what a Christian might mean when he uses common language to communicate more specific ideas. Whether within the church or in the world, use it as a chance to get your ideas clear and your words straight, and to teach the truth about a godly life.

If you would like an answer to a crunch question, please email crunchpoints@evangelical-times.org. We cannot guarantee an answer to every question.

Jeremy Walker, pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley.

NEWS

News in brief

Report slams gender clinic

NHS England’s gender identity clinic for children and young people is not fit for purpose, an independent report has found. Commissioned in 2020, The Cass Review has now submitted its interim report to NHS England on clinical practice at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust’s Gender Identity Development Service. Recommendations will come later.

End of life care boost

For the first time in the history of the NHS, dying people will have an explicit legal right to healthcare, with every part of England to provide specialist palliative care. According to the story in The Times, end of life charities have hailed the news as a ‘milestone’ moment that will help end the postcode lottery of palliative care.

Call the police over smacking

The Welsh government has urged the public to call the police if they see any parent smack a child. A ban on all forms of physical discipline against children in Wales came into force in March. But Christian groups who campaigned against the ban say the new law will criminalise ‘good, decent, loving parents’.

Schools to stop ‘Mum and Dad’

Four primary schools in Brighton have been told not to use the words ‘Mum and Dad’ in case it offends children from non-traditional families. Instead, they should refer to a child’s parents as ‘grown ups’. But the Association for Christian Teachers said the move was ‘symptomatic of a culture that’s being increasingly taken in by certain progressive ideology’.

100 years outdoors

A Christian charity hosting outdoor activities is celebrating 100 years since first opening its doors to young people. Rock UK started in 1922 after some Sunday school teachers organised a seaside trip for children who had never travelled beyond London. The initiative grew and the charity now operates four activity centres across the UK.

Spurgeons new CEO

Spurgeons Children’s Charity has appointed Ian Soars as new chief executive. The charity supports vulnerable children across the UK, and was founded by Charles Spurgeon in 1867. Soars was previously CEO of Fegans, a children’s charity championing mental health, for seven years before it was acquired by Spurgeons in July 2021.

Moderator Designate

Revd Greg MacDonald will take up the post of Moderator-Designate for the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) from May. A native of Stornoway, MacDonald is currently minister of the Cross congregation on the Isle of Lewis. He is married to Lorraine and has four children. Since 2002 he has been a lecturer at the denomination’s seminary in Inverness.

Stewardship’s new chairman

Stewardship, the Christian financial support charity, has appointed Chris Gillies as Chair of trustees. Taking up the role from June, Chris succeeds Simon Blake who finishes twelve years’ service as a trustee. Chris has 40 years’ experience in business, is treasurer of The Children’s Society, and Deputy Chair of Westminster Theological Centre.

Evangelism in Marseille

The Foyer Évangélique Universitaire in partnership with La Voix des Prophètes literature ministry and AudioVie has held a week of evangelism in Marseille, France. Approximately 30 volunteers from across France and Belgium brought the good news of Jesus Christ to many neighbourhoods surrounding a local evangelical church.

Taliban hunt for Christians

Christian Barrister Paul Diamond has called for an urgent meeting with the government minister responsible for the resettlement of Afghan Citizens, following reports of Taliban ‘door to door search’ for Christians. Christians left behind in the country have claimed others are being rounded up and killed for their faith.

Iraqi Christian homes returned

More than 120 buildings and properties stolen in Iraq from Christians and members of another minority group have been given back to their rightful owners. According to Barnabas Fund, properties expropriated by force or deception by gangs were returned to Christians and indiginous Sabeans after a review of documents that proved ownership.

Laos family driven out

Villagers have driven a Christian family of 12 from their home in southern Laos in anger at the family’s practice of a ‘foreign’ religion. The family home in Dong Savanh village, Savannakhet province, was burned down in the attack. In December last year, the villagers had stopped the family from using the village cemetery to bury their father.

Pray for peace: Evangelicals in Ukraine ask us to give support

Evangelicals in the war-torn nation of Ukraine have asked for our prayers and support as Russian forces continue their invasion.

The situation in Ukraine changes from day to day, but these reports are the most up to date at the time this edition of ET went to print.

The European Mission Fellowship said, ‘Our hearts go out to the Ukrainian people as the horrific events in the country unfold.

‘Many hundreds of thousands of refugees are fleeing to neighbouring countries, often women and children, leaving their husbands behind.

‘The most important thing for God’s people here is to pray for the people of Ukraine and in particular for the Christians there.

‘But we can also help practically, and many of the evangelical churches we work with, both in Ukraine and in neighbouring Moldova, Poland and Romania are actively helping refugees. They would deeply appreciate any support we can give them.’

Dr Oleksandr Geychenko (pictured), President of the Odessa Theological Seminary in Ukraine, said, ‘Please, keep praying for Ukraine.

‘We want this war to stop, the wholeness of our country to be restored and stable peace re-established.’

Speaking to the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA), he said, ‘I am very grateful to all who have stepped in to share the pain of our people. It is due to your generosity and sensitivity that we can help others. Thank you.’

A faithful SGA-sponsored missionary pastor who ministers in Ukraine said the Russian forces are shelling residential homes near him.

‘Yet,’ he says, ‘our prayer is for the opportunity to preach the gospel and for the open hearts of people.’

Elsewhere, the city of Mariupol has been besieged. According to a report from SGA, around 300 people were hiding in the basement of a church near the city centre. A similar number are sheltering in another Mariupol church.

A Kyiv church has also become a shelter for many people. There people are fed and accommodated, while the church continues to hold services and pray.

One refugee who spent time there said, ‘Prayers and fellowship at the church united and calmed us in a powerful way.

‘Of those hiding in the church with me, three people accepted Christ into their hearts. God is at work. I believe it’s only the beginning.’

Volodymyr (Volodia) Kostyshyn is married to Oksana, and the couple has two sons: Zechariah, who has severe health problems, and Oleksii.

Volodia pastors the Grace Church (Baptist) in Ternopil, Western Ukraine, and he also teaches in the Ternopil Biblical Seminary.

The couple has an important ministry with disabled children in the area. Refugees have been arriving at their church (and others in the town) for shelter, and Volodia and the rest of the congregation are trying to provide what they can for them.

This burden falls mainly on Volodia, who already has to share the 24/7 care of his son Zechariah (who had a bad seizure the very day the invasion began).

He asks us to pray that his family may be kept strong in the face of added pressures in their already stressful life, and for his church as they seek to meet the needs of refugees.

In neighbouring Poland, Daniel Kryston has been on the sponsorship programme of the Slavic Gospel Association for many years.

He said, ‘As you may imagine, we have been overwhelmed by what’s going on over here with so many war refugees flooding into our country, including [our] town of Piotrkow Trybunalski.’

He says his church has responded to the crisis by providing accommodation in their church building, homes, and hostels around the town. Sunday services been packed with Polish and Ukrainian worshippers.

He added, ‘There is still so much enthusiasm among our people to help our neighbours from Ukraine. However, I have been wondering for how much longer we will maintain this enthusiasm, as taking care of all these refugees seems to be far beyond our ability, either financial or material or both.’

Meanwhile, in Russia, 300 evangelicals have denounced the ‘senseless bloodshed’ of ‘innocent people’. In an open letter the pastors write, ‘We need to repent for what we have done, first to God and then to the people of Ukraine.

But the Russian authorities have imposed new restrictions on freedom of speech, clamping down on those who object to the war.’

Mike Judge, Editor

Scottish equalities committee wants extreme law that could criminalise parents who don’t back sex changes

The Scottish Parliament’s equalities committee has called for Scotland to adopt a ban on conversion therapy similar to the law introduced in the Australian State of Victoria.

The committee in Edinburgh suggests that the Victoria ban is the ‘gold standard’ and a good model for Scotland to follow.

But new guidance issued by the State of Victoria shows that the ban on conversion therapy is a major attack on the rights of churches and parents.

The guidance says parents will be caught by the new law if they fail to support their child in receiving transgender treatment.

The guidance also says the law would catch a church pastor who meets one-to-one with a homosexual and urges him to remain celibate.

And it says churches would be breaking the law if they removed someone from membership who was continuing in a same-sex relationship.

The guidance was published by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, which is the agency responsible for enforcing Victoria’s conversion therapy ban.

The ban came into force in February, and guidance was published to show which practices would be considered illegal. Christian groups say it shows just how far-reaching a Scottish ban could be.

Conversion therapy ban will have a wide scope, government letter by equalities minister states

A ban on ‘conversion therapy’ will have a dangerously wide scope, the government’s Equalities Minister has confirmed.

The announcement came in a letter sent by Mike Freer MP (PICTURED) to LGBT activists who are pushing for the widest possible ban.

Campaigners want to criminalise praying, preaching, pastoring, and parenting that criticises LGBT ideology.

But the government has always said it wants to protect free speech and does not want to interfere with the ordinary religious practices of churches.

However, a letter sent by Equalities Minister Mike Freer to LGBT activists says, ‘The ban will apply regardless of the setting in which it is carried out, and regardless of who carries it out.’

The letter adds, ‘Religious practices carried out with the intention of changing a person’s sexual orientation or changing them from or to being transgender will be captured.

‘We do not consider practices carried out with this intent to be everyday religious practices.’

Activists are jubilant about the letter, but Christian groups have raised concerns about how a ban could be misapplied.

The Christian Institute’s Simon Calvert said, ‘This is arguably a restatement of the consultation paper but it shows how fraught this area is.

‘Is praying with a same-sex attracted Christian, that God would give him grace to resist sexual temptation, “intended to change his sexual orientation”?

‘Is advising a gender-confused child to ignore the advice of Mermaids [a pro-trans group] and embrace her true, biological sex “intended to change her from being transgender”?

‘This also illustrates, yet again, how dangerous it is that the government is so religiously illiterate about what churches believe and how they operate.’

Evangelical church leaders have been targeted online for signing a letter expressing concerns about a ban on conversion therapy.

About 2,500 leaders of churches and Christian organisations signed the letter, but activists publicly shared their names and church details on social media and claimed the churches were ‘unsafe’.

Meanwhile, the Scottish government is pressing ahead with its own plans to outlaw ‘conversion therapy’.

The Parliament in Edinburgh is considering a much stronger ban than has been proposed in London.

The Scottish Parliament’s Equalities Committee wants something like the draconian law that exists in the Australian state of Victoria.

Recent guidance issued in Victoria is alarming. It says it is a criminal offence for a parent to fail to support a child who wants to receive transgender treatment.

The guidance also says it is a crime for a church to remove someone from membership who is continuing in a same-sex relationship.

Abortion reversal doctor vindicated as medical watchdog drops investigation shortly ahead of High Court hearing

A doctor who risked losing his career because he helped women reverse the process of medically induced abortions has been vindicated.

The General Medical Council has dropped its investigation against NHS consultant Dr Dermot Kearney (pictured).

He helped a number of women who wanted to reverse the effects of NHS-prescribed abortion pills.

These women had taken the option of a ‘pills-by-post’ termination, but instantly regretted it and were desperate for a way to reverse the effects.

Dr Kearney offered to treat them with a natural hormone that works to protect a pregnancy, a treatment that is not available on the NHS.

He did not charge any fees for his service, and he says he has preserved the lives of up to 32 babies in the UK over a 12-month period.

He also says he has saved the mothers from a lifetime of potential turmoil at their decision.

But the doctors’ regulator, the General Medical Council, placed him under investigation, a move which could have seen him struck off.

Last May he was banned from providing the treatment after complaints were made by abortion provider MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly known as Marie Stopes.

Dr Kearney was due to challenge the ban in the High Court, supported by the Christian Legal Centre.

However, within days of the case going to trial, the General Medical Council dramatically lifted restrictions against Dr Kearney.

In its report, the GMC quoted from a witness statement given by one of the women helped by Dr Kearney.

She said, ‘I have kept in touch with Dr Dermot. I was blown away by his kindness. He never pushed anything on me. He just cared. He never pushed religion on me.

‘I am very concerned about what is happening to him so I offered to do what I could to help. He did not ask me to.

‘At a time in my life when I had no hope, he was like a little light. If it wasn’t for him I think I might even be dead now.’

Responding to the outcome, Dr Kearney, said, ‘I am relieved and delighted to have been exonerated.

‘I have been the victim of a coordinated campaign by senior figures in the abortion industry who have been determined to prevent women in urgent need from accessing abortion reversal treatment.’

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said, ‘We are delighted that justice has been served for this brilliant and compassionate doctor.’

Scotland launches radical ‘choose your own gender’ bill

A proposed new law in Scotland will allow people to change their sex, based on nothing more than their own self-declaration.

The Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill has drawn criticism from women’s groups, who have threatened legal action.

There is widespread concern that a self-identification system would trample on the rights of women and render single-sex spaces meaningless.

Yet despite calls for the legislation to be paused, Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison (pictured) tabled the draft bill at Holyrood in March.

Women’s groups say the bill makes it much easier for people to switch sex, and it will therefore give men ‘a passport to enter women’s single-sex spaces’.

Currently, Scots wishing to ‘change sex’ must have a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and to have lived as if a member of their chosen sex for at least two years.

But the new bill proposes ditching the requirement for the approval of two doctors, instead allowing anyone to change sex by making a ‘personal declaration’.

If passed, it would also reduce the waiting time to just six months and lower the age that people can apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate from 18 to 16.

Women’s group Frontline Feminists Scotland said the Scottish government had been misleading the public as to the ramifications of changing the law.

A spokeswoman said, ‘You can’t claim that you support single-sex spaces when men self-identifying as women are casually allowed to wander into women’s changing rooms and when rapists are housed alongside women prisoners and you do nothing about it.’

She added that other measures, such as allowing schools to impose gender-neutral toilets upon students, have already put girls as young as twelve at risk of sexual assault and sexual coercion as a result of having to share facilities with 17 and 18-year-old males.

Dr Nicola Williams, Director of Fair Play for Women, said that this proposed law could apply to those born outside of Scotland.

‘This is unlawful and will need to be fought, once again, in the courts. I will not stand by as women’s sex-based rights are eroded,’ Dr Williams said.

The Christian Institute’s Ciarán Kelly said, ‘This bill is simply wrong and expands the legal fiction that it is possible for a man to become a woman or for a woman to become a man.’

Landmark Down’s syndrome case will be heard by the Court of Appeal

Christian group CARE has welcomed news that a landmark case challenging discrimination in abortion law will be heard in England’s Court of Appeal.

Judges announced that they will hear a case brought by Heidi Crowter, a 26-year-old woman from Coventry who has Down’s syndrome, after a previous challenge was rejected in the High Court.

Crowter and another woman, Máire Lea-Wilson, whose two-year-old son Aidan has Down’s syndrome, is challenging a ‘discriminatory’ clause permitting abortion up to term in cases of disability.

Heidi Crowter is a self-advocate who has campaigned for the last five years for equal treatment for those with Down’s syndrome in all areas of life. Máire Lea-Wilson was placed under pressure to have an abortion when a 34-week scan revealed her son had Down’s syndrome.

Heidi and her team have crowdfunded over £125,000 for the case.

Under the current law in England, Wales, and Scotland, there is a general 24-week time limit for abortion, but if the baby has a disability, including Down’s syndrome, cleft lip, or club foot, abortion is legal right up to birth.

Heidi Crowter said, ‘The law says that babies shouldn’t be aborted up to birth, but if a baby is found to have Down’s syndrome, it can be aborted up until birth. This is the current law in the UK and I think it’s not fair.’

Ross Hendry, CEO charity CARE, said, ‘We’re delighted that Heidi’s landmark case will be heard in the Court of Appeal.

‘Heidi is an inspirational campaigner who speaks for a huge number of people in the UK. We hope that judges are persuaded by her arguments.’

Christian school worker case to be heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal

A Christian who was sacked from her job at a school over comments she made on Facebook about sex education is set to have her case heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Mother of two Kristie Higgs was sacked for gross misconduct after she shared her concerns about compulsory Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) to her friends on Facebook.

She worked as a pastoral administrator in a school, and she used her own personal Facebook account to raise concerns about transgenderism and sex education at her son’s Church of England primary school.

One post encouraged friends and family to sign a petition challenging the government’s plans to introduce Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) to children in primary schools.

Another post shared an article from Judybeth.com on the rise of transgender ideology in children’s books in American schools and added her own comment, ‘This is happening in our primary schools now.’

After one anonymous person saw Kristie’s personal Facebook posts, she was reported to her headteacher.

She was told that her private posts could bring ‘the school into disrepute’ and was subsequently sacked from her position.

An employment tribunal ruled in the school’s favour, rejecting Kristie’s claims for discrimination and harassment.

The tribunal judged that Kristie was dismissed because some of the content in the articles she linked to could lead someone to think that Kristie ‘was hostile towards the LBGT community, and trans people in particular’.

However, that decision has now been appealed. The Employment Appeals Tribunal was due to hear the case in February, but the case has been adjourned until further notice.

Publishers of the ‘Christian Hymns’ hymnbook seek volunteers to help develop and expand the resource

The publishers of the widely-used hymn book Christian Hymns are looking for volunteers to help develop the resource for churches.

They especially want to embrace even more opportunities created by digital technology to make the resource more flexible, adaptable, and expandable.

They intend to continue to provide a physical hymnbook, but also to offer more digital content – words, music and playable tune files – via the website and apps.

They are seeking people to get involved with the development, and they want to form a voluntary community of content creators, editors, and software engineers.

Anyone interested should contact them at office@christianhymns.org.uk to tell them a little about yourself and to receive more information about what they want to do.

Christian Hymns was first published by the Evangelical Movement of Wales and the Christian Hymns Committee more than 40 years ago.

The present edition was published nearly 20 years ago. Today, in addition to the physical hymnbook, there is an app version for Apple and Android devices, which also includes the 2003 Sing Psalms produced by the Free Church of Scotland. The app also includes playable tune files for all the hymns and psalms of both books.

Many have reported how useful the app has been during the pandemic, for example, when physical books were not available in church services or for personal devotions.

The sister app Daily Readings from C. H. Spurgeon and J. C. Ryle also draws from Christian Hymns for its hymn content.

Martin Leech

Trinity Grace Conference equips young evangelicals

The Trinity Grace Conference was held in January at Trinity Grace Church, Ramsbottom, Lancashire.

The theme was ‘Confusion and clarity: living as believers in the 21st century’.

Speakers included Tony Flanders and Brett Shaw (pictured, Trinity Grace Church, Ramsbottom), Mike Judge (Chorlton Evangelical Church, Manchester), and Ali McLachlan (Grace Baptist Church, Edinburgh).

The conference was attended by over 20 young adults (aged 16–30) from across the UK.

The mission of this biannual conference is to lead younger evangelicals to greater love, conviction in the faith, and practical righteousness.

The goal of this year’s conference was to provide a firm grounding in the truths found in God’s Word in order for us to stand amid the confused culture that we live in today. Particular reference was given to cultural Marxism, race, identity, relationships, and leadership.

Many individuals must deal with these issues in day-to-day living, whether at school, university, the workplace, the home, or the church. With all the pressure to conform, sound teaching on these issues is vital.

Throughout the conference we enjoyed plenty of time for fellowship, whether over a cup of coffee, the excellent catered meals, or the Saturday night quiz.

It was an encouragement to spend time with like-minded young Christian people as they discussed among themselves the messages heard and the issues faced in our various situations.

There was also the opportunity to purchase a range of helpful Christian material from the bookstall provided by Broken Wharfe.

As young people, we were greatly encouraged and challenged by the teaching and fellowship we received at the conference. God willing, the next Trinity Grace Conference will be held later this year in September.

A full report of the conference, along with the recorded messages, is available at trinitygraceconference.com.

Matthew Flanders

Dare to be a Daniel! Thornton Heath holds holiday Bible club

‘Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.’

From 1 Timothy 1:17, this was the memory verse at Thornton Heath Evangelical Church’s Holiday Bible Club during the winter half-term.

Taking the book of Daniel as the theme, children attending the week-long event heard how Daniel and his friends had abstained from food dedicated to idols; learned how God had saved Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego from the furnace; saw God’s power over Nebuchadnezzar; witnessed the writing on the wall; and watched Daniel get rescued from the lions’ den (two of which were caught prowling the corridors).

Despite the restrictions of Covid, and the almost painstaking process of registering each child and temperature-checking on the door, all the children and helpers were kept safe during the whole week.

Every day, between 26 and 30 children showed up, with several coming from non-church backgrounds and some even from a Muslim background.

All the children participated in crafts themed along the lessons of the day, whether decorating a crown, painting a lifesaver, or making a paper-plate clock.

Nearly every child learned their memory verse, too, with plenty of prizes for attendance, answering questions on Bible stories, and bringing back their colouring-in sheets.

We thank God for his immense goodness in keeping everyone safe and making sure that helpers and children all had a wonderful time.

Simoney Kyriakou

Reformation and Revival conference held in Swannick

The Reformation and Revival conference was held last November in Swannick, Derbyshire. Speakers included Stuart Olyott, Jeremy Walker, Geoff Thomas, and Conrad Pomeroy.

‘We don’t need a way to the way,’ said Stuart Olyott. ‘Jesus Christ is the way. We have to ignore all the ‘Do this’ and ‘Do that’ and ‘Do the other’ that actually was the diet dished out in the synagogues. No. Christ is the way. Christ has done it all. Our redemption is all finished.

‘We must stop being the synagogue hearers with their sabbath resolutions concerning all that they intend to do to please God and win his approval. We must look to the Lord Christ for the whole of our redemption. We must stop preaching synagogue sermons and show the total competence of Christ to save all who will look to him.’

Jeremy Walker exhorted us to a life that is like Christ, and life that is with Christ, finally showing the congregation at length the glorious destination of heaven.

Our Saviour has fought and triumphed over the principalities and powers of darkness and we enter into his victory.

Now the Lord Jesus, the heavenly groom, is looking forward to his bride being with him. He longs for her more than the most ardent bridegroom in this world longs to marry his wife.

Conrad Pomeroy reminded the conference of the weapons of our warfare. What are they? They are not carnal. They are certainly unimpressive in the eyes of the world; they are the most familiar gifts that God has given to us. They are his Word and prayer.

These are utterly sufficient to demolish strongholds and put to flight vast armies. Reflecting on the Reformation, Luther concluded, ‘I did nothing. The Word did it all.’

Timothy Conway (of the Grace Fellowship that meets at St Stephen’s Church in Middleton) was interviewed by Geoff Thomas.

Timothy related a deeply-moving story of his pilgrimage from the initial rejection of Christianity to his call to preach the gospel and plant the growing congregation in San Antonio, Texas, and its remarkable growth since. It was a stirring hour.

Geoff Thomas shared the life of the heroic Old Testament scholar, the late Edward J. Young, his former teacher. One striking lesson was that there can be no true revival wrought by the Spirit of God that continues to ignore essential ecclesiastical issues of reformation dealing with ‘another gospel’.

Roger Hitchings

Evangelism continues at Hyde Park despite stabbing

Christian evangelists are continuing to preach at Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park, despite a Christian being stabbed last year by a Muslim.

In 2021, a former Muslim and Christian convert, Hatun Tash, was stabbed while speaking at Speakers’ Corner.

Counties evangelist Gordon Curley saw it happen. ‘When it happened, I thought she had been punched because I have seen that happen before, so I shouted: “Stop, don’t do it” and ran towards Hatun to pull the person back.’ The attacker ran away and is yet to be apprehended.

According to Gordon, Speakers’ Corner is a ‘mishmash of the good, the bad, the weird, and the wonderful’.

Gordon first visited Speakers’ Corner about eight years ago to hear the American Christian evangelist Jay Smith speak.

‘He wasn’t there that week, but I was very quickly targeted by Muslim evangelists. They have a group there called the Dawah team whose purpose is to convert people to Islam, and within ten minutes I had about eight to ten Muslims surrounding me to debate with me.’

Rather than stand up and preach, though, Gordon talks to people on a one-to-one basis.

‘I tend to talk to people individually in the crowd. I let others stand and do the preaching whilst I engage in conversations.

‘On an average Sunday afternoon, I normally have four or five conversations, each about 45 minutes long. That can be with an atheist, a Muslim, a Hindu – you just never know who you are going to speak to.’

Gordon feels he’s fulfilling God’s calling: ‘Jesus said: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel,” which is physically impossible; but at Hyde Park, the whole world comes to you because you get tourists coming from all over the world to watch it happen!’

Simoney Kyriakou

Trinitarian Bible Society auxiliary meets for its AGM in Oulton Broad

In February, Oulton Broad Free Presbyterian Church hosted the AGM of the Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk Auxiliary of the Trinitarian Bible Society.

In his introduction and prayer, Revd Kyle Paisley (chair of the Auxiliary) encouraged those gathered to pray for the work.

Mr Paisley gave an overview of the aims and purposes of the auxiliaries and an update on the ESN Auxiliary.

He said that although the work has been hindered by the Covid pandemic for the last two years, there were nevertheless encouraging developments of openings to distribute Bibles in schools and HM prisons in the area.

The Auxiliary plans to distribute many TBS commemorative editions of the Holy Bible produced especially for the Platinum Jubilee of the Queen.

Revd Roland Burrows (pictured) then preached from 2 Timothy 3:16-17. He reminded us that Scripture alone is the sole source of necessary doctrine, and the final authority for faith and practice.

This has been set out for us in our great Protestant confessions, such as the Thirty-nine Articles and the Westminster Confession.

Mr Burrows also explained that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. For example, how could Moses have recorded details of the very creation of the world in Genesis unless he was inspired by God to do so?

The sermon was recorded, and I understand will be made available on the official website of the Trinitarian Bible Society in due course (www.tbsbibles.org).

Philip Lievesley

Tom Allen is the new pastor at Eastbourne Free Church

On 19 February, over ninety people gathered at Eastbourne Evangelical Free Church for the induction service of Thomas Allen (pictured).

There were two alterations to the programme. Robert Strivens was due to chair the meeting, and Jeremy Walker, who was due to give the charge to the congregation, was unable to come due to contracting Covid. Matthew Cox filled in and chaired the meeting.

Pooyan Mehrshahi preached on both the ‘Charge to the pastor’ and the ‘Charge to the congregation’. Paul Smith led the church in prayer.

Tom had preached twice for the church, a notable time being just before lockdown when he preached on Joshua 3:15: ‘Faith facing the unknown’.

The history of the call was given by one of the deacons, showing how the Lord had led the church to Tom in mid-2021. At a subsequent meeting with Tom, the deacons found him to be of one mind with the church.

He was invited to preach over the next two months, and then a special church meeting was called to discuss inviting Tom to the pastorate. A unanimous vote in favour was passed.

Pooyan began his preaching by declaring that we are here first and foremost to glorify our God. He also emphasised to the new pastor that the message from the pulpit was a matter of life and death.

At the end of the service it was time to feed our bodies rather than our souls. Picnic bags had been prepared and these were handed out as we enjoyed fellowship with friends and visitors.

Simon Fermor

China: Authorities crack down on religious content online

China’s communist government has put tough new measures in place that will control every word and image of religious content online.

The rules, which were introduced on 1 March, mean all religious information on the internet will be forbidden unless organisations obtain government permission.

This is simply not an option for unregistered house churches – and it is almost impossible for churches to register with a regime that is increasingly openly hostile to Christianity.

According to China Aid’s Bob Fu (pictured), ‘Having a license doesn’t mean churches can speak freely.

‘Approved organisations cannot post anything that undermines the country’s communist system or encourages minors to believe in religion.

‘They also can’t broadcast religious ceremonies, including worship services or baptisms.’

The new crackdown will affect students, house groups, religious seminaries, and others, even when it comes to someone using the internet to share their faith, Bible verses, or Christian songs, according to Chinese attorney Huang Deqi.

On a social media post, he described the crackdown as even being against the Chinese Constitution, which ostensibly guarantees freedom of speech and religion.

China Aid has confirmed all religious content posted on the internet – every word, image, and video – must be approved by the authorities. Failure to seek approval will result in the shutting down of the church’s internet service.

Quoted by global advocacy organisation Release International, China Aid has warned, ‘The measures indicate that the Chinese government has dramatically tightened its control on religion.

‘Implementing these new regulations will severely crackdown [sic] on freedom of speech and religion which is protected by the [Chinese] Constitution.’

According to Release International, Deqi stated in a post on WeChat, ‘It is the citizens’ freedom of religion to express their religious beliefs on the internet… [these rules] shamelessly restrict citizens’ fundamental rights by setting administrative authorisation, which abuses and oversteps authority.’

But the post was allegedly deleted within hours on 8 February, according to Release International’s partner.

Paul Robinson, chief executive of Release International, said, ‘Much of the church in China has been denied a place of worship and has been driven underground.

‘Now the authorities are banning all religious content online by any group that they do not officially control.’

He called on Christians to put themselves in their shoes, saying, ‘If you were in China, how would your church get permission to go online? First it would have to be registered – and that means being tightly controlled.

‘And then it would have to submit to every scrap of online content being checked and approved to make sure it promotes socialist values and supports the Communist Party.’

Iran: Nine Christians acquitted of ‘endangering the state’ in appeal court ruling, but three still face other charges

Nine Christians have been acquitted of ‘endangering the state’ in a significant ruling by an appeal court in Iran.

The group comprises Pastor Matthias Haghnejad, Mehdi Khatibi, Behnam Akhlaghi, Mohammad Vafadar, Kamal Naamanian, Hossein Kadivar, Khalil Dehghanpour, Shahrouz Eslamdoust and Babak Hosseinzadeh.

They were acquitted by the 34th Court of Appeal of the Revolutionary Court on 28 February 2022, after standing trial on 22 February.

The group had previously been sentenced to five years in prison, but they were released in December and January pending an appeal.

Religious liberty organisation Open Doors UK welcomed the news. A spokesperson said, ‘Each of the men is a convert from Islam.

‘Christians from a Muslim background are most at risk of persecution in Iran, particularly from the government, who see the growth of the church as an attempt to undermine the country.

‘It is common for house churches to be raided, with leaders and members like these men given prison sentences for “crimes against national security”.

‘The tide seems to be turning, though. In November 2021, the Supreme Court ordered a review of their sentences on the basis that sharing the Christian faith in a private home is not “gathering and collusion against internal or external security”, as the original verdict alleged.

‘This was a surprising and welcome development, as was the declaration that establishing a house church and promoting Christianity are not considered crimes.

‘On 28 February, the judge who reviewed these men’s cases announced that there is no legal basis for their conviction. They have been acquitted of any crime, praise God!’

The court ruling states, ‘A sentence of criminal conviction requires judicial certainty and conclusive evidence of guilt, and members of society cannot be convicted on the basis of speculation and sentenced to imprisonment.’

The court also ruled that ‘the defendants, according to the teachings of Christianity, worshiped and praised in the house-church, and there was no positive evidence to validate the crime of acting against the security of the country in the case.’

However, three of the nine men still face separate charges relating to other incidents. So there is still a need to keep praying.

Pastor Matthias faces a six-year prison sentence for a charge dating back to 2014, for ‘acting against the security of the country by forming a group and propagating Christianity outside the church and in the house church and giving information to the enemies of Islam’.

Babak and Behnam, meanwhile, have recently been charged for video calls they made for Christian converts to be freely allowed to gather for worship.

Canada: Women hospitalised by at-home abortion pills

A quarter of women who reported complications after taking abortion pills have ended up in hospital, the drugs regulator in Canada has revealed.

The Canada Vigilance Program received 43 ‘adverse reaction reports’ between 2017 and 2021 for the abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol.

These are the same drugs which, since the March 2020 pandemic lockdown, have been used for unsupervised DIY abortions in the UK.

Almost a quarter of the voluntary reports submitted by healthcare professionals or laypersons involved hospitalisations.

Serious reactions filed with the national watchdog included sepsis, haemorrhaging, thrombosis, and loss of consciousness.

In three reported instances, the complications arising were deemed to be sufficiently serious as to be life threatening.

While acknowledging that adverse reactions may be under-reported, Canada Vigilance warned the data was incomplete and there was ‘no certainty these health products caused the reported reactions’.

Mifepristone is designed to kill the developing baby, whereas misoprostol induces a miscarriage to expel the unborn child from the womb.

In the UK, a recent investigation by a former director of abortion giant Marie Stopes International revealed that complications due to abortion pills led to one in 17 women in England who took them needing hospital treatment.

Kevin Duffy’s investigation, based on data obtained through freedom of information act (FOIA) requests on abortions in the home since 2020, calculated 5.9 per cent of women using either or both abortion pills at home attended hospital for treatment.

As reported by , Duffy found more than half of this cohort required surgical intervention and over a third needed medical help due to haemorrhaging.

There had also been a significant rise in ambulance call-outs as a result of the pills.

According to the Christian Institute, the Welsh Government has made the ‘emergency’ scheme allowing DIY abortions permanent. A similar system is due to end in England in August.

Nigeria: More Christians killed in Borno State

Three more Christians have been killed in an attack by Islamist militants in northern Nigeria.

According to reports from Barnabas Fund, the latest attack happened in the village of Kautikari in Chibok Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno State, northern Nigeria.

Reports claim gunmen from the Islamic State West Africa Province invaded the predominantly Christian area of the Muslim-majority state on 25 February, causing many residents to flee.

One of the dead was identified as Bulama Wadir, the son of a traditional ruler. The other two victims had sought safety in Kautikari after fleeing violence elsewhere in the region.

Kautikari was one of three villages in Chibok LGA attacked by Islamist extremists in December 2021 and January 2022.

Europe: Legalising euthanasia will cause a spike in all forms of suicide

Legalising euthanasia is more likely to increase overall suicides rather than reduce them, a European-wide study has claimed.

The Anscombe Bioethics Centre’s research, published in the Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, found the legalisation of euthanasia or assisted suicide was followed by ‘considerable increases in suicide and in intentional self-initiated death’.

The study analysed suicides, euthanasia, and assisted suicide data from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland between 1990 and 2016.

This data was compared with suicides in neighbouring countries where euthanasia and assisted suicide are not currently legal.

In all four countries studied, there was found to be ‘very steep rises in suicide’ after the introduction of euthanasia or assisted suicide.

Bioethicist Professor David A. Jones (pictured), the author of the report, is a supporter of the Better Way Campaign, a group of academics, medics, and disability activists that opposes moves to legalise assisted dying.

Speaking after the release of the report, Prof. Jones said, ‘Legalising assisted suicide or euthanasia will result in more people ending their lives prematurely.

‘It will not save lives. It will not help prevent suicide. Legalising what is euphemistically called “assisted dying” will endanger the lives of older people living with serious illness.’

OBITUARIES

Dr Michael Griffiths (1928–2022)

Dr Michael Griffiths, former leader of one of the largest Protestant missionary organisations and an inspirational speaker and author, died on 9 January at the age of 93.

A great enthusiast for the church and her global mission, Griffiths could always be relied on to challenge his audience to live out and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

He was born in Cardiff in 1928. A scholarship to Christ’s Hospital School in West Sussex followed, where Michael came to faith in 1942.

Michael read Natural Sciences at Cambridge and then spent two years studying Theology at Ridley Hall.

While Michael had a passion for student work, serving British Christian Unions for two years and later their Japanese counterparts with OMF, he was also a visionary leader.

He navigated OMF International through a challenging period. Becoming General Director in 1969 at 41, he was well placed to restructure it as it expanded to working in 11 countries across East Asia.

When Michael finished as General Director in 1980, the fellowship was made up of 900 workers from 22 countries.

While serving as General Director, Michael continued his prolific writing ministry. He authored more than 20 books that influenced a generation of Christians around the world. Take My Life (1967) and Give Up Your Small Ambitions (1970) were often cited in the testimonies of those going into cross-cultural mission.

Michael was also a gifted speaker and was much in demand. He often spoke at the Keswick Convention and one-off summits such as the 1973 Lausanne Convention.

Leaving OMF in 1980, Michael moved into theological education. Becoming principal of London Bible College, Michael could combine three of his life-long enthusiasms: students, Bible teaching, and mission.

In 1990, he became the first Professor of Mission Studies at Regent College, Vancouver. Reunited with friends including J. I. Packer and Michael Green, Griffiths enjoyed writing 12 new courses as well as exploring the Rockies and the Arctic with his wife Valerie.

OMF’s Millions magazine summarised Michael’s closing address as General Director in 1980 with the words: ‘God will use men to work out his eternal purposes, provided they are repentant, dependent and obedient. Through serving God’s greatness rather than their own, God’s servants will themselves be truly blessed and the instrument of his blessing to the world.’

How true this was of Michael Griffiths.

Reuben Grace

REVIEWS

Were You There? See Jesus’ cross and resurrection through the eyes of those who were there

Gerard Chrispin

DayOne Publications

208 pages; £9.00

ISBN: 978-1-84625-682-0

BUY

An old slave song was the inspiration for this book which aims to dispel any doubts about the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?’ Clearly none of us were, and many sceptics would deny that it really happened. How do we answer them? Here, in fifteen short chapters, we encounter some of those who witnessed the Lord’s death: Pilate trying to please everyone, the chief priests and rulers with their own agenda, and the murderous crowd; but also Joseph of Arimathea, the disciple John, Jesus’s mother Mary, the dying thief – and many more.

We see jealousy, politics, murder, and legalism, a crowd manipulated and passions roused, but also penitence, love, and weeping. By reading the accounts of their words and actions, readers will be increasingly convinced that they are true, and gain an understanding of how they changed history.

‘Were you there when he rose up from the grave?’ In this second part we read of many who saw the resurrected Lord. They spoke and ate with him, were comforted and taught by him, worshipped him and declared their love for him. Meeting the risen Jesus changed the fearful to fearless, the sad to excited, the tearful to rejoicing, the doubting to trusting, and – in the case of Saul – the murderous to the penitent.

The way of salvation is explained clearly and faithfully in each chapter. This helps to put the book into context, though some could find the frequent repetition of the message distracting.

This excellent book is easy to read. It will encourage the believer to engage more readily with the sceptic, and help dispel the doubts of those who are still unconvinced.

Gladys Nash

Northampton

Deacons: How they serve and strengthen the church

Matt Smethurst

Crossway Books

176 pages; £11.49

ISBN:978-1-4335-7162-6

BUY

This instalment from the 9Marks series Building Healthy Churches is everything I’ve come to expect from these books. It’s readable and engaging, practical and thoughtful. It does what it says on the tin: help you to build a healthy church.

Books on deacons often focus on the qualifications for office, and rightly so. This one does that, picking up on the common errors churches fall into when assessing and appointing deacons. But where it shines is in the high view it holds of deacons. They aren’t general dogsbodies, or whoever happens to be most handy with a screwdriver: their work is vital and spiritual.

Deacons are shock absorbers, dealing sensitively with issues that could cause division in churches. They’re problem-solvers, called to take the initiative to resolve sticky situations creatively and wisely. They’re the chief supporters of the elders, executing the vision of the church’s appointed shepherds. They’re called to an often unseen but eternally significant role.

Reading this publication made me thankful for the deacons God has given us in our church, and helped me think through how to assess and train potential new deacons.

So read this book if you’re an elder. Read it if you’re a deacon hoping to better understand your role. Read it if you’re a church member seeking to appoint deacons. In other words, if you’re a Christian, read this book. I’m sure it will do you and your church good.

Dave Cox

Nelson, South Wales

The Resurrection: its message and meaning

Ian S. McNaughton

DayOne Publications

208 pages; £9.00

ISBN: 978-1-84625-683-7

BUY

The Apostle Paul identified anchor truths of the Christian faith in the 15th chapter of First Corinthians. He writes of Christ being crucified for our sins, being buried in a tomb, and rising again from the grave. These are all historical events rich in spiritual meaning – but strongly contested today.

This book not only clarifies the history, but it also shows that resurrection teaching is found throughout both the Old and New Testaments. The details of the Gospel accounts are gathered into a coherent narrative, and the evidences for the resurrection of Christ are set out. We need to remember that the early Christians, and believers through subsequent centuries, have found these evidences compelling and life-changing.

Several chapters examine biblical teaching on how resurrection relates to every human being. These cover the intermediate state following the death of our bodies, the intercession of Christ during our earthly life and when we die, and what we know of our resurrection bodies.

Too often in our culture, spirituality is content-free: mysticism and awe are tolerated, but not the thought that God is personal and active in our lives. The Bible teaches us that history is God’s story and it recounts his mighty acts. This book on the resurrection will sharpen our thinking and equip us in witness.

David Tyler

Hyde

All Things are Ready: Understanding the gospel in its fullness and freeness

Donald John MacLean

Christian Focus Publications

176 pages; £9.99

ISBN: 978-1-52710-649-9

BUY

In many ways this excellent small volume could be summarised by the injunction given in 2 Timothy 4:5: ‘Do the work of an evangelist.’ Ministers, elders, and all church members are to be better equipped to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world, and this book aims to contribute to that noble purpose.

The author lays a basic theological foundation in the first two chapters, and then the real action and excitement enters in the third, called ‘What is the Gospel Offer?’ My favourite section is a sub-heading called ‘The Gospel as an Invitation’. Here MacLean presents this magnificent picture of a royal wedding invitation from our Lord Jesus Christ, which is to be extended to all. The author draws us into the drama of Christ’s words in Matthew 22:1-14 and his glorious gospel call in Matthew 11:28: ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (NKJV).

Chapters 4–5 centre on ‘Who Gives and Receives the Gospel Offer?’ and ‘Encouragement to Accept the Offer’. The pages are filled with rich details and citations by many able Reformed theologians. The material is competently laid out with further chapters to answer objections to what has been historically labelled hyper-Calvinism.

Beyond this though, any reader will be sharpened and equipped. Above all they will be refreshed in the thrill of the gospel – a message of good news that is to be delivered in its fullness and freeness. This book will require a second or third reading to glean all of its message, and to that I look forward eagerly.

Kevin Bidwell

Sheffield

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural amnesia, expressive individualism, and the road to sexual revolution

Carl R. Trueman

Crossway Books

432 pages; £27.99

978-1-43355-633-3

BUY

Were you as baffled as I was by the claim that Ashers Bakery had made their customer ‘feel unworthy, a lesser person’ by declining to supply him a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan? Do you wonder why members of the ‘LGBTQ+ community’ continually give prominence to their sexual identity? Are you discouraged by the stance adopted by the mainstream media, politicians, and education and medical professionals? If you are, this book is a ‘must read’!

Carl Trueman tells us how, as a society, we have arrived at the place where the statement ‘I am a woman trapped in a man’s body’ no longer causes the sort of astonishment and derision it would have aroused in his grandfather.

He charts the route whereby we came here, nudged along by philosophers (notably Rousseau), poets, psychoanalysts (Freud in particular) and a medley of others, especially Darwin and Marx. Others have built on their foundations, and hence we have no-fault divorce, abortion right up to birth, and no logical reason to describe anything, including paedophilia, as wrong for everybody. We only have emotion/emotivism.

What’s next? Something obviously must be – hence the open-ended ‘+’ that follows ‘LGBTQ’. Hostility to everything that transmits notions of right and wrong from one generation to another (such as family, religion, and church) is well and truly baked in already. This book is not short of possible examples.

How do we respond? The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is not primarily about that, but something must be said, even in an introductory treatise like this. Two powerful points are made. First, we should not give validity to the terminology and categories of the ‘woke’ movement by adopting them ourselves. (That includes putting ‘phobia’ on the end of ‘Christian’, in this reviewer’s opinion.) Second, churches must work hard at their own authenticity. Like the early church, we must consciously head for the margins of society (Hebrews 13:12-14), building and preserving the hallmarks of true community and inter-generational culture (a.k.a. tradition).

If you find the thought of tackling 432 pages offputting, simpler titles are now becoming available on the same subject, and no doubt others will follow. But Trueman’s will probably remain the most thorough and incisive for some time yet. I would like to see a study guide.

Ian Jemmett

Pluckley, Kent

What Happens When We Worship

Jonathan Landry Cruse

Reformation Heritage Books

200 pages; £14.50

ISBN: 978-1-60178-816-0

BUY

I knew I would enjoy this book before I started reading it! The comments on the back cover told me that.

However, those comments from the great and good were all from Americans save one. Did it read across to the scene in UK? There are differences: one service on Sunday is the US norm, and that is often followed by a restaurant meal. First-time prayer meetings can be disconcerting as there are sometimes no ‘amens’ between prayers! But despite these and other differences, I thought the book equally applicable to the UK.

My next question was whether it represented a polemic in the so-called ‘worship wars’ debate. I needn’t have worried. The approach is measured, balanced, and biblical. Like many American publications, this one has questions at the end of each chapter. When done badly, they can be an unhelpful appendage, but the ones in this book are thought-provoking and provide a useful resume.

My final thought related to Covid-19 and the radical impact it has had on how services are conducted. This book is a timely reminder of how important gathered worship is.

So what is it all about? Cruse’s overriding burden is for us to be awed by the sheer privilege of meeting with the triune God. Our ‘ordinary’ church service is a supernatural event.

‘When we worship God, we are drawn by His Holy Spirit into His very presence to have a personal encounter with Him. What would otherwise be a terrifying thought becomes a joyful experience as we learn that we are covered in the perfection of Jesus Christ and fully accepted in the Beloved’ (p.185).

Kerry Orchard

Cardiff

Table of Contents

FEATURES

Are we talking enough about the resurrection?

Matthew Maury: Pathfinder of the Seas

Paganism in its new colours

A biblical response to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Persecution – the unwanted blessing

Facing doubts as a Christian

COMMENT

GUEST COLUMN: A meeting to be avoided

A SHRINK THINKS... Was Job depressed?

THINKING IT THROUGH: Summer Camps ’22: a plea for prayer

A WALK WITH MR O: Why am I still sinning so much?

CRUNCH POINTS: Should Christians speak differently to the world about relationships? Is the boyfriend/girlfriend concept biblical, or is it just an issue of terminology?

NEWS

News in brief

Pray for peace: Evangelicals in Ukraine ask us to give support

Scottish equalities committee wants extreme law that could criminalise parents who don’t back sex changes

Conversion therapy ban will have a wide scope, government letter by equalities minister states

Abortion reversal doctor vindicated as medical watchdog drops investigation shortly ahead of High Court hearing

Scotland launches radical ‘choose your own gender’ bill

Landmark Down’s syndrome case will be heard by the Court of Appeal

Christian school worker case to be heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal

Publishers of the ‘Christian Hymns’ hymnbook seek volunteers to help develop and expand the resource

Trinity Grace Conference equips young evangelicals

Dare to be a Daniel! Thornton Heath holds holiday Bible club

Reformation and Revival conference held in Swannick

Evangelism continues at Hyde Park despite stabbing

Trinitarian Bible Society auxiliary meets for its AGM in Oulton Broad

Tom Allen is the new pastor at Eastbourne Free Church

China: Authorities crack down on religious content online

Iran: Nine Christians acquitted of ‘endangering the state’ in appeal court ruling, but three still face other charges

Canada: Women hospitalised by at-home abortion pills

Nigeria: More Christians killed in Borno State

Europe: Legalising euthanasia will cause a spike in all forms of suicide

OBITUARIES

Dr Michael Griffiths (1928–2022)

REVIEWS

Were You There? See Jesus’ cross and resurrection through the eyes of those who were there

Deacons: How they serve and strengthen the church

The Resurrection: its message and meaning

All Things are Ready: Understanding the gospel in its fullness and freeness

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural amnesia, expressive individualism, and the road to sexual revolution

What Happens When We Worship