News From The Front – June 2009

Dear praying friends,

I mentioned in my last newsletter how the BBC was ‘singing the praises’ of Charles Darwin and his [still] theory of Evolution. I happened to catch coverage of a March debate in the House of Lords the aim of which was also to extol the praises and merits of Darwin and Evolution. One Lord Harries of Pentregarth, the former Anglican Bishop of Oxford, took the opportunity to magnify the supposed scientific basis of Evolution in contrast to those misguided Christians who still believe in Creation as outlined in God’s Word. Back in my June 2002 newsletter I quoted the following about this then Bishop – Dr Richard Harries, the Bishop of Oxford said on Radio 4’s Thought for the Day ‘It is therefore quite extraordinary that 140 years later, after so much evidence has accumulated, a school in Gateshead is opposing evolutionary theory on alleged biblical grounds. Do some people really think that the worldwide scientific community is engaged in a massive conspiracy to hoodwink the rest of us’? The reality is that he is being used by a certain malevolent source to hoodwink people. Paul refers to him and his ilk in 2nd Corinthians 11:13-14 “such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”. Evolution has also been a ‘godsend’ to outright atheists – see page 3. Meantime let us all, as we are given opportunity, take our stand for our Creator God.

Your servant for Christ

CECIL ANDREWS

  • Gearóid Marley conference report

I am pleased to report that the Lord richly blessed this conference on Saturday morning 18th April. There was a very good attendance and our guest speaker, Gearóid Marley, spoke well of the Saviour in the two sessions. The first session dealt with his conversion by and to Christ, a spiritual journey that began when he started to read the Bible whilst studying for the Roman Catholic priesthood at Maynooth Seminary in Ireland. The second session then covered his service for Christ as the Pastor of Chelmsley Wood Reformed Baptist Church in Birmingham. Gearóid’s love and passion for Christ and His true Gospel were very evident all morning and at the end I felt the need to remind those present of where Gearóid’s journey began, in the ‘darkness’ of Maynooth – what a testimony to the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sessions were recorded on DVD – the session of Gearóid’s testimony does have some occasional interference on the sound for the first 8 minutes [his jacket was brushing against the lapel microphone] but the rest of the talk [32 minutes minus his jacket] have only a few isolated, non-distracting noises. A DVD of this session is available to purchase at a cost of £3.00. If you would like to order this DVD then please just send your order and payment to me. I would encourage you if at all possible to please pray for the work and witness of Gearóid and his fellowship in what now really is a missionary setting – the city of Birmingham, England!

  • Standing for Creation

On Monday 2nd March 2009 I was contacted at 11.50am by the Radio Ulster ‘Talkback’ programme to see if I would take part in a debate that day, starting just after noon, on the subject of Creation. A ‘think tank’ in England called Theos had carried out a survey in the UK and discovered that the highest percentage of believers in Creation lived in Northern Ireland. There were 2 other debaters, a spokesman for Theos and a University lecturer who was also a lay Church of Ireland preacher. The presenter was the ‘very lapsed’ former Presbyterian minister, William Crawley. In an oft repeated BBC bias against Creationists the other 2 debaters and of course the presenter himself were all coming from a ‘Theistic-Evolution’ perspective so it was very much a case of me [and the Lord] against the rest. I believe the Lord and His truth were honoured and I was greatly encouraged by folks who subsequently expressed appreciation for the stand taken. [2]

  • ‘The Cruelties of Atheism’ by Peter Masters

In my covering letter on page 1 I wrote ‘Evolution has also been a “godsend” to outright atheists’ and the stark reality is that we live in a society that is more and more governed/influenced by people [just think of the stories of sleaze and corruption emerging regularly from the British Parliament at Westminster and the obscene pranks of over-rated and overpaid so-called media “stars”] whom Paul referred to in Romans 1:28 in these terms “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient”. Vine’s expository dictionary says this about “reprobate” – ‘a mind of which God cannot approve and which must be rejected by Him, the effect of refusing “to have God in their knowledge”’. Such people God “gives over” [a bit like letting a dog off the leash] to do things that are not “convenient” [‘seemly’ or ‘befitting civilised behaviour’] – we find illustrations of what God gives such people over to in Romans 1: – verse 24 “to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts” – verse 26 “unto vile affections”.

Earlier this year whilst we were attending a church anniversary service in Dundalk Baptist Church, Margaret obtained a copy of a short A5-sized booklet [16 pages] by Dr Peter Masters of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London called ‘The Cruelties of Atheism’. Although written back in 1993 it still has total application for today’s generation and I want to quote some relevant extracts from it –

‘Today atheism is the popular ideology; the generally accepted and dominant point of view. The media is controlled by atheists, and its opinions are everywhere… It is unbelief that sets the sinner free to do his worst. Unbelief is therefore the “engine” of all evil… There is nothing more unreasonable than refusal to believe in God. It goes against a tidal wave of evidence to be seen all around us! When we look at this created world with its order, intricacy and design, and its systems and cycles, surely we see the indications and evidence of a creative intelligence… But has this shaken the “religious” tenacity with which atheists cling on to evolution… Not at all… Atheism will face neither the evidence for a Creator, nor the evidence of the bankruptcy of its alternative “moral” system (p 5-7)… Nowadays society is brainwashed by non-stop television fiction, invariably written by atheists, most of whom are obvious supporters of a promiscuous, self-serving, deeply covetous, pleasure-loving and pro-homosexual lifestyle. They write not only to make money, but also to justify their own way [3] of life, and to persuade all society to scorn moral limitations. There is no fear of God before their eyes as they strive to stamp their own characteristics and tastes on an entire generation. They claim that their work reflects society, but anyone can see that it is ahead of society (in terms of decadence), shaping and forming it. Without doubt today’s dramas and soaps [Cecil – perhaps I could add ‘politicians’ here] are changing the outlook and behaviour of society, but by dishonest methods, as greed, self-esteem and immorality are portrayed as natural, reasonable and fulfilling. The phoney “evidence” is far from the truth, the writers themselves frequently leading desperately painful, unhappy lives, strewn with the heartaches of broken relationships, addiction-problems and sexually transmitted diseases. Meanwhile the rising generation is given the impression that “normal society” has always been one dizzy round of promiscuity and perversion… Atheism, in the course of time, dehumanises people, and makes them subject to their lusts, pushing many beyond the power of self-control and into regions of disgusting and debased behaviour (p 9-11)… The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the very opposite of atheism. While atheism is cruel, the Gospel is the kindest message in the universe… Christ gave Himself to be an atoning sacrifice to pay the price and the punishment due to every sinner who repents of his or her sinful life, and bows to His Lordship. Because of what He has done, we can be pardoned. Because of what He has done, we can be transformed in character and outlook… The very opposite of atheism is what we desperately need!’ (p 13).

I understand from the Tabernacle Bookshop in London that this little booklet is unfortunately currently out of print but that it may be reprinted– if so I would certainly encourage readers to obtain a copy.

  • President Obama – ‘Missing the point’ on Islam

On 6th April 2009 whilst visiting the overwhelmingly Muslim country of Turkey, President Obama in a speech said ‘The USA is not at war with Islam’. For an evidently intelligent man Barack Obama has sadly ‘missed the point’ – the point is that Islam is at war with the USA and indeed with the whole of the non-Muslim world. In response to this declaration, one American commentator wrote –

‘Mr. President, first and foremost, you made a fool out of yourself again. Your ill-advised cosiness with the Muslim nations will bring down our nation faster than any foreign enemy. America has never been at war with Islam. On the contrary, it is Islam that has waged a war with the infidels and wants to conquer the world. Below are some quotes from Islamists and academic or educational sources: [4]

“Islam is a revolutionary doctrine and system that overturns governments. It seeks to overturn the whole universal social order…and establish its structure anew…Islam seeks the world. It is not satisfied by a piece of land but demands the whole universe…Islamic Jihad is at the same time offensive and defensive…The Islamic party does not hesitate to utilize the means of war to implement its goal.” (Quoted by Yvonne Haddad, “Islamists and the Challenge of Pluralism,” Washington, D.C.: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, 1995, p. 10.)

“Islam wants the whole earth and does not content itself with only a part thereof. It wants and requires the entire inhabited world. It does not want this in order that one nation dominates the earth and monopolizes its sources of wealth, after having taken them away from one or more other nations. No, Islam wants and requires the earth in order that the human race altogether can enjoy the concept and practical program of human happiness, by means of which Allah has honoured Islam and put it above the other religions and laws. In order to realize this lofty desire, Islam wants to employ all forces and means that can be employed for bringing about a universal all-embracing revolution. It will spare no efforts for the achievement of this supreme objective. This far-reaching struggle that continuously exhausts all forces and this employment of all possible means are called jihad.” (Quoted by Rudolph Peters, Jihad in Classical and Modern Islam, Marcus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, N.J., p. 128).

The Arabs who sallied out of the Arabian deserts did not fan out to the outside world with the Quran in one hand and flowers in the other, preaching love and peace from street corner to street corner, thereby capturing the hearts and minds of the people. Islam was forced upon every people at the point of the sword and the imposition of backbreaking Jazyyeh (special taxes) levied on those who were spared death and allowed to retain their religious beliefs. In spite of paying heavy Jazyyeh, the non-Muslims were treated, at best, as second-class citizens in their own homelands… Mr. President, fourteen hundred years of Islamic terrorism is far too long for any people.’

In December 2006 I posted an article to our ministry website entitled –

‘WWIII is raging – has anybody noticed?’ and in it I wrote – ‘What appears to be totally missed in this present 21st century day and age is that a third [WWIII] world war has been ongoing for some time but those politicians charged with the responsibility of protecting the lives of the citizens of ‘the free world’ appear to have totally misread the reality of who and what it is that is seeking to destroy their democratic and, for the most part, their Judeo-Christian way of life.’ Sadly Mr Obama appears likewise to have missed this very obvious point.

  • The intrinsic nature of Islam by former Muslim, Magdi Allam.

On Monday 12th March 2007 I gave a talk to an assembled meeting of Presbyterian Ruling Elders from various congregations in Co Antrim in Northern Ireland. I chose to speak to them on the subject of ‘Islam’ as of course the Islamic presence in Northern Ireland is growing steadily. In November 2008 I was once more in the company of one of the elders who had organised the invitation for me to speak and he told me that in the wake of my talk he had received a phone call from a female ‘ruling elder’ that had been in attendance at the meeting. She wanted to express her concern at the approach I had taken in my talk and felt that I was suffering from and promoting Islamophobia.

Perhaps she based her judgment on a view that I both hold and express to this effect – ‘Any religion that sanctions and uses violence to promote and spread its power and influence should be severely curtailed by legislation’.

Leaving aside this lady’s obvious lack of Biblical knowledge and understanding as evidenced by her occupying a role [‘ruling elder’] that God’s Word makes abundantly clear is reserved for suitable men only she obviously has a similar lack of knowledge and understanding on the ‘intrinsic’ [According to ‘The Handy Dictionary’ this means ‘inherent, essential, real, genuine’] nature of the religion of Islam. This ‘intrinsic nature’ has been clearly revealed and expressed by a former Muslim-born journalist called Magdi Allam.

I first became aware of Magdi Allam around Easter 2008 when it was reported by the Roman Catholic ZENIT news agency [Sunday 23rd March 2008] that on Saturday 22nd March 2008 he had been baptised into the Roman Catholic Church by no less a person than Pope Benedict XVI himself.

That report included details of a letter that Magdi Allam had written to the Director of an Italian newspaper called Corriere della Sera of which Magdi Allam was a deputy director. Herewith are some revealing and informative extracts from that letter

Dear Director,

That which I am about to relate to you concerns my choice of religious faith and personal life…Yesterday evening I converted to the Christian Catholic religion, renouncing my previous Islamic faith…I am especially grateful to his holiness Pope Benedict XVI, who imparted the sacraments of Christian initiation to me, baptism, confirmation and Eucharist, in the Basilica of St. Peter’s during the course of the solemn celebration of the Easter Vigil. And I took the simplest and most explicit Christian name: “Cristiano.” Since yesterday evening therefore my name is Magdi Cristiano Allam…

At almost 56 […], it is a historical, exceptional and unforgettable event, which marks a radical and definitive turn with respect to the past… My conversion to Catholicism is the touching down of a gradual and profound interior meditation from which I could not pull myself away, given that for five years I have been confined to a life under guard, with permanent surveillance at home and a police escort for my every movement, because of death threats and death sentences from Islamic extremists and terrorists, both those in and outside of Italy.

I had to ask myself about the attitude of those who publicly declared fatwas, Islamic juridical verdicts, against me…I asked myself how it was possible that those who, like me, sincerely and boldly called for a “moderate Islam…ended up being sentenced to death in the name of Islam on the basis of the Quran. I was forced to see that…the root of evil is inherent in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictive…

Mine was a journey that began when at four years old, my mother Safeya — a believing and practicing Muslim…entrusted me to the loving care of Sister Lavinia of the Comboni Missionary Sisters… The long years at school allowed me to know Catholicism well… and I was especially fascinated by the human and divine figure of Jesus… on my arrival in Italy at the beginning of the 1970s… I went through a period of atheism… conversion to Christianity will certainly procure for me yet another, and much more grave, death sentence for apostasy… but I face my destiny with my head held high… I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice. In Italy there are thousands of converts to Islam who live their new faith in peace. But there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity who are forced to hide their faith out of fear of being assassinated by Islamic extremists who lurk among us… let us go forward on the way of truth, of life and of freedom…

Magdi Allam

The Asia Times carried a report of these events in their issue of 26th March 2008 and herewith are some extracts from that report – ‘A self-described revolution in world affairs has begun in the heart of one man. He is the Italian journalist and author Magdi Cristiano Allam, whom Pope Benedict XVI baptized during the Easter Vigil at St Peter’s. Allam’s renunciation of Islam as a religion of violence and his embrace of Christianity denotes the point at which the so-called global “war on terror” becomes a divergence of two irreconcilable modes of life: the Western way of faith supported by reason, against the Muslim world of fatalism and submission… Magdi Allam tells us that he has found the true God and forsaken an Islam that he regards as inherently violent… For years he was the exemplar of “moderate Islam” in Europe, and now he has decided that Islam cannot be “moderate”…

Since September 2001, the would-be wizards of Western strategy have tried to conjure an “Islamic reformation”, or a “moderate Islam”, or “Islamic democracy”. None of this matters now, for as Magdi Allam tells us, the matter on the agenda is not to persuade Muslims to act like liberal Westerners, but instead to convince them to cease to be Muslims… There is no deference to mutual respect and multi-culturalism. Magdi Allam forsook Islam because he considers it to be “inherently evil”… “I was forced to see that… the root of evil is inherent in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictive… For my part, I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice”… the global agenda has changed, not through the machinations of statesmen or the word-mincing of public intellectuals, but through the soul of a single man’.

It would be interesting to know if the female ‘ruling elder’ who criticised me of suffering from and promoting Islamophobia would level the same accusations against Magdi Allam. It is authoritatively revealing to read this assessment from one who was an insider as far as Islam is concerned and who has experienced at first hand the repercussions of what he describes as ‘the root of evil (that) is inherent in Islam’.

A few weeks after I gave this talk on Islam in Ballymena I attended a public meeting in Belfast on Thursday 29th March 2007 hosted by the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum. This was how Alf McCreary referred to it in his Saturday column in the Belfast Telegraph of 24th March 2007 – [8]

  • Lecture focuses on Islam

Dr Mamoun Mobayed, the chairman of the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum will give a Queens University public lecture on Thursday at 7.15pm…His topic is titled – ‘No matter who you are Islam is already in your life’.

Right at the outset of his talk, Dr Mobayed [a psychiatrist] stated that he would not be dealing with the doctrinal and practical out-workings of the religion of Islam but would rather be seeking to counter what he referred to as the ‘negative image of Islam’ that according to him had been portrayed in the Western world in recent years.

By way of example he displayed an overhead showing an advertisement for a series of talks that had been given by Pastor David Legge, the then pastor of the Iron Hall in Belfast in which he had spoken on various cults and non-Christian religions and he had quite rightly included Islam in his series. On our website there is a link to enable people to listen to these talks – Mr Mobayed’s discomfort was occasioned by the title of the series – ‘Strongholds of Satan’.

Mr Mobayed then proceeded for an overly long period of time to cite examples under various headings where the lives and ways of many in the world have been influenced by discoveries made by and practices introduced by people who have been adherents of the religion of Islam. The reality is that whilst many in the world do feel an impact in daily living in areas such as in the home, in school, in hospital, in science, in art etc due to past discoveries of people who have been Muslims that does not equate to saying as the title of the lecture stated ‘No matter who you are Islam is already in your life’. Such a title was in effect quite disingenuous.

This reality was not lost on a Hindu gentleman in the audience for in the ‘Question and Answer/Feedback’ time at the end of the lecture he stated that he could have given a similar lecture highlighting the contribution to everyday living made in times past by knowledgeable Hindus but that did not mean ‘No matter who you are Hinduism is already in your life’. Another professedly Christian lady stated that she was very disappointed that Mr Mobayed had deliberately avoided addressing any Islamic doctrinal and practice issues and had in effect been engaged in a damage-limitation, whitewash exercise.

Near the end of the ‘feedback’ section another member of the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum council, retired former Presbyterian [Crossgar] Minister and former Stranmillis College lecturer, Maurice Ryan, asked this question of Mr Mobayed – ‘When can we expect to see the Northern Ireland skyline be-graced with a Mosque?’ Mr Mobayed’s response to the question was that it was not a matter of ‘if’ but simply a matter of ‘when’ and that of course would depend very much on planning permissions and economics. Such naïveté and blindness from Mr Ryan and so, next day, having tracked down a telephone number for him, I rang him and had quite a lengthy conversation with him. I then wrote to him next day [31st March 2007] and herewith is the text of that letter –

Dear Mr Ryan,

Following on from our telephone conversation I would just like to make a few additional comments on a couple of points that you made.

You stated that tolerance was a ‘Christian virtue’. I would state, in the light of God’s Word, that Christians should never exercise tolerance, which is at the expense of God’s glory. Our God is never ‘tolerant’ when His glory is at stake.

The first commandment is ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’ – literally ‘in my presence or sight’ – and interfaith activity by professing Christians, whereby they ‘respect’ other faiths and claim that they contain divine truth, violates this first commandment. God’s ‘truth’ could be summed up by the old saying – ‘Ruined by the fall and redeemed by the blood’ and that truth is anathema to all the false religious cults and non-Christian religions that truly are, as the Iron Hall correctly advertised, ‘Strongholds of Satan’.

The Lord Jesus could say to His Father in John 17 that He had glorified Him on earth and that included incidents such as using a whip to drive out the money-changers from the temple and publicly identifying the false religious leaders of the day as being “of your father, the devil”. When it came to God’s glory Christ was totally intolerant and of course asserted that He alone was the way, the truth and the life and that no one could come to God except by Him. He pronounced that it was the strait and narrow way that led to life and not some broad interfaith highway that led to God.

God says in Isaiah “I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another”. Professing Christians who participate in ‘the mutual-respect interfaith movement’ are giving God’s glory to other ‘gods’. They are affording divine ‘credibility’ to visible or mental dumb idol ‘gods’ and the Lord passes His verdict on such in Psalm 115. The only incarnate ‘truth’ was Jesus Christ and the only inscripturated ‘truth’ is the bible. There is a great gulf fixed between the ‘biblical gospel’ and the ‘Robert Runcie gospel’ that you have favourably quoted in times past and that I personally rebutted many years ago in the enclosed little booklet called ‘Syncretism’. Christians are not to ‘cultivate interfaith’ but to ‘contend earnestly for the faith’.

The second point is your obvious hope that Islam will establish and expand its presence in Northern Ireland, even to the point where in your own words ‘a mosque will be-grace the skyline of Northern Ireland’. You claim that you have been greatly influenced over many years by the moderation of the speaker at the recent lecture, Dr Mamoun Mobayed. On this matter of moderate Muslims, former Muslims, some of who have been gloriously converted to Christ would warn against such naïve and dangerous aspirations.

In 2006, in a letter that I had published in the Belfast Telegraph, I wrote the following

In his book “Why I Am Not a Muslim”, former Muslim Ibn Warraq wrote “There may be moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate. There is no difference between (the aims of) Islam and Islamic fundamentalism…Islamic fundamentalism has global aspirations (namely) the submission of the entire world to the all-embracing Shari’a, Islamic Law…designed to control every single act of all individuals.’

Honest public expression of this aspiration was voiced when Omar M. Ahmed, chairman of the board of CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations] said at a banquet, “I urge Muslims not to shirk their duty of sharing the Islamic faith with those who are on the wrong side….if you choose to live here [America], you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam. Islam isn’t here to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant”.

In a recently produced documentary one section deals with ‘The House of War’ and states “Islamic theology divides the world into two spheres locked in perpetual combat, dar al-Islam, House of Islam – where Islamic law predominates, and dar al-harb, House of War – the rest of the world. It is incumbent on dar al-Islam to fight and conquer dar al-harb and permanently assimilate it”.

The reality is that fundamentalist Islam is true Islam and, as regards Christians, the Koran is quite clear that those who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God are ‘liars’ [Sura 18:4-5] and that those who believe in The Trinity are not destined for ‘the garden’ [paradise/heaven] but for ‘the fire’ [hell] [Sura 5:72].

In 1980, the Islamic Council of Europe published a book called ‘Muslim Communities in Non-Muslim States’. The book set out very clearly the Islamic agenda for Europe. The strategy was that Muslims in European Nations should organise themselves into communities, setting up mosques, schools and Islamic centres. This would occur little by little until eventually entire European Nations would be turned into Islamic republics. This is clearly at the embryonic stage in Northern Ireland but is being aided greatly by groups such as your Interfaith Forum.

When that happens rest assured that the ‘role-models’ of the likes of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia or Uzbekistan will become nightmarish realities and ‘the troubles’ that [God willing] we have just passed through will seem like a ‘teddy-bear’s picnic’ in comparison to what will happen when Islam seeks to impose Shari’a law – if you don’t believe me just look at what is happening in Northern Nigeria, in the Darfur region of Sudan, in Egypt, in Somalia and in countless other places where ‘true’ Islam has grown in numbers, strength and influence.

Robert Spencer in his book on Islam wrote correctly that when Islam gains control in an area, the choices for unbelievers are either [1] Accept Islam or [2] Pay the jizya tax or [3] War against Islam – he then astutely and again correctly added ‘peaceful coexistence as equals in a pluralistic society isn’t one of the choices’.

In closing I would refer to our brief discussion on Romanism and it has been responsible, more than any other so-called ‘Christian’ grouping, for failing to inform Muslims of the truth of the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. I sought to redress that deception by publishing a special leaflet for Muslims and a copy [Dear Muslim Neighbour] is enclosed herewith for your consideration.

My closing wish is that the Spirit of truth will touch your heart and mind and understanding for the good of yourself, those taken captive by Satan in false religions and cults and supremely for the glory of the One true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Cecil Andrews – ‘Take Heed’ Ministries – Ballynahinch

In this letter I made reference to a ‘documentary’ – it is a DVD called ‘Islam: What the West Needs to Know’ and I would encourage as many people as possible to obtain and view this DVD. One of the producers of this documentary was Gregory Davis and in a book that he subsequently wrote called ‘Religion of Peace? Islam’s War Against The World’ he wrote the following on pages 130-131

‘The West must awaken to the fact that it is facing nothing less than the resurgence of the greatest war machine in world history; an ideology that holds the killing of others, the plundering of their wealth, the conquering of their lands, the enslavement of their people, and the destruction of their institutions to be amongst the highest virtues and the stepping stones to salvation…Yet it seems that the secular West today is determined not to hear the bad news…It is hoping that the myriad acts of violence around the world done in the name of Allah are somehow not indicative of “real” Islam…It is hoping that Islam – a religion founded by one of history’s great warlords; a religion that waged wars of aggression and conquest for a thousand years, that slaughtered and enslaved untold millions and invented modern genocide, and that today is the only force in the world that produces terrorism, suicide bombings, hostage-taking, organised rape and massacres on a global scale – that this strange, seething, violent mass is somehow “a religion of peace”. Rejecting this fiction and standing up to be counted will determine whether or not we [Non-Muslim/Infidels] survive the twenty-first century’.

In the light of the testimony of former Muslim, Magdi Allam, in the light of the many warnings issued by former Muslims in the DVD documentary ‘Islam: What the West Needs to Know’ and in the light of the stark, realistic warning issued by Gregory Davis in his book ‘Religion of Peace? Islam’s War Against The World’ I most certainly reject the accusation of being one who is ‘suffering from and promoting Islamophobia’ and I would encourage God’s people to seek to alert those with influence in our nation to the true nature of Islam and to urge them to take action to ensure the peace and security of the non-Muslim peoples of these lands. In conclusion I would also say that whilst these honest revelations by Magdi Allam on the intrinsic nature of Islam are most welcome and informative it is nonetheless a matter of the utmost tragedy that having recognised the evil nature of one totalitarian religious ideology, Islam, and having separated himself from it he has now ensnared himself with another equally totalitarian and soul-damning religious system, that of Roman Catholicism. I did send an email to a website linked with Mr Allam, but whether it ever arrived with him, or whether he was able to read it or have it translated into Italian I don’t know but we should pray that God in His grace and mercy might bring Mr Allam to a true saving knowledge of the real Jesus Christ of the Bible.

  •  Mark Driscoll’s deviant teachings and MANDATE 2010

In my March newsletter, in the article on Mark Driscoll, I wrote

I am conscious that these extracts include language that God’s people would undoubtedly prefer not to be confronted with but for the sake of correctly addressing the concerns about ‘Mark Driscoll’s approach to preaching’ I do feel it is necessary to present the relevant “evidence”

Regrettably it has been announced that Mark Driscoll has been lined up to speak at the MANDATE 2010 conference in Belfast and so I have been compelled to address what I consider to be ‘deviant teachings’ being put forth by Mark Driscoll. This I have done and an article bearing the same title as above is posted to our ministry website.

In the titles I have used the word ‘deviant’ and it is defined in the ‘Collins English Dictionary and Thesaurus’ as ‘deviating from what is considered acceptable behaviour’. In the website article I considered what I believe would be viewed as ‘acceptable behaviour’ by God, the Creator and not ‘acceptable behaviour’ as advocated by Mark Driscoll or any other ‘creature’. God created the human bodies, male and female, so that they could be wonderfully united physically. By the very divine design of the human bodies it is or should be plain for all to recognise how this oneness of the flesh is perfectly consummated and that for me would constitute ‘acceptable behaviour’ in the sight of God, the Creator. Sadly and very worryingly Mark Driscoll sees and teaches very differently.

My website article addresses and challenges his supposed biblical basis for what he teaches. It also includes a series of email exchanges I have had with a supporter of Mark Driscoll and it also includes messages of support I received from both pastoral and lay sources. Unlike the ‘boxed’ quote above I do not intend to reproduce in this newsletter my website article as that would include more references to ‘disturbing’ language. However if anyone cannot access the article on our ministry website but would like a photocopy of what I wrote then I will gladly post out a photocopy of the same upon request.

  • SAINTS: Chosen by God or selected by the Pope?

The Belfast Telegraph carried an article entitled ‘Speculation grows over possibility of a visit by the Pope’ in its issue of Monday 16th March 2009. The opening paragraphs of the article read as follows –

‘A well-known priest last night said the Catholic Church in Northern Ireland would welcome any visit from Pope Benedict XVI as speculation mounted over whether the pontiff was planning to make a historic trip. Father John McManus said the Diocese of Down and Connor would be “delighted” to receive the Pope after news reports yesterday suggested the 265th head of the Roman Catholic Church was considering travelling to the British Isles to coincide with the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman – who could become Britain’s first saint in 40 years’.

Just by way of a little background to John Henry Newman let me first quote some extracts from a short article written back in 1990 by Pastor David Carson of Chester

‘This year marks the centenary of the death of Cardinal Newman. His life prior to his perversion to Rome was one long catalogue of intrigue, deceit and equivocation. He denied, in a letter to the Bishop of Oxford that he was setting up a monastery at Littlemore when in fact he was…No wonder a friend of Newman’s, Isaac Williams, said of him: “the feelings and thoughts he would express to one person or at one time differed very much in consequence from what he might express to another person on another occasion”… It is evident that Newman, far from exhibiting saintly qualities, was satanically inspired’.

In another little booklet called ‘The Legacy of John Henry Newman’ written by Rev Maurice G Bowler, we read

‘Newman’s legacy in our day is a nightmare reversal of values in the understanding of religious history. Roman Catholicism, the most bigoted and cruel regime of corruption and terror that the world has ever seen, is presented as the champion of tolerance and righteousness…Rome is said to be a lamb in adversity, a fox in equality and a wolf in supremacy…in our day we are dealing with a changeling – a fox turning into a wolf…Also we are facing an enemy whose image is falsely fair and attractive. A large part of this attractiveness is due I believe to the afterglow of Newman’s charisma, the legacy of his meretricious (deceitful, alluring) saintliness’

It’s interesting that both authors highlight the absence of true ‘saintliness’ or ‘saintly qualities’ in their assessment of the life of Mr Newman and this of course contrasts starkly with the ‘process’ currently being pursued by Rome in relation to Newman – the process referred to in the Belfast Telegraph article – that of ‘beatification’. This is how ‘beatification’ is defined in the officially approved ‘Pocket Catholic Dictionary’ by Jesuit priest, John A Hardon –

‘A declaration by the Pope as head of the Church (Cecil – contrast that with Colossians 1:18 “And he [Christ] is the head of the church”) that one of the deceased faithful lived a holy life and/or died a martyr’s death and is now dwelling in heaven. As a process, the beatification consists of a years-long examination of the life, virtues, writings and reputation for holiness of the servant of God under consideration. This is ordinarily conducted by the Bishop of the place where he or she resided or died. For a martyr, miracles worked through the person’s intercession need not be considered in the primary process. The second, or Apostolic process is instituted by the Holy See when the first process reveals that the servant of God practiced virtue in a heroic degree or died a martyr for the faith. Beatified persons are called “Blessed” and may be venerated by the faithful…’

So, the Pope selects ‘Saints’ after an earthly process of investigation. Contrast this supposed prerogative of the Pope with these scriptures –

“Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God…To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” [Romans 1:1&7]

“Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother. Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, WITH ALL that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, both theirs and ours”. [1st Corinthians 1:1-2]

John MacArthur in his Study Bible comments on verse 2 – ‘Saints: Not referring to a specifically pious or revered person canonized by an ecclesiastical body but a reference to everyone who by salvation has been sanctified, that is, set apart from sin in Christ Jesus’.

These are just two examples of numerous scriptures that identify that it is GOD who chooses those that are viewed by Him as “saints” – it is a term that He applies to every truly saved person. Some years ago a 25-minute TV debate that took place involving my good brother in Christ, ex-Catholic, Rob Zins. As well as the presumably Roman Catholic chairperson, Miriam O’Callaghan, the other panellists were ‘Father’ Joseph Pius, ‘Father’ Hugh McKenzie and an ecumenical Church Times journalist called Andrew Brown and not surprisingly it was very much a case of Rob v the rest. I have that debate on DVD.

If you would like a copy then it is available at a cost of £3.00 [includes p&p]. Simply send your order and payment to me.