The real truth concerning Cecil UKIP and Revelation TV

In recent times a document has been posted online that has sought to discredit myself personally and ‘Take Heed’ as a ministry. It has been penned by a group that claims to be Christian and to have a love for “truth” and in it they have sought to use their understanding of God’s “truth” to undermine my own Christian testimony and witness. In this article I shall address two issues mentioned in their document, namely, what they had to say about my connection to UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) and my appearance earlier this year on Revelation TV.

Turning first to UKIP this is what they wrote in their document –

In a communication posted on his website back in June 2006 Mr. Andrews made the following comment to a Mr. Wilkes, I quote “Mr Wilkes has sought to somehow align me or identify me with a fraternal and a political dimension, both of which I have studiously avoided being involved with as I believe the ministry of ‘Take Heed’ is best served by TOTAL SEPARATION from any such involvement”. Mr Andrews has obviously had a miraculous change of mind and it is unbelievable that Mr Andrews is associated with a worldly political party, UKIP to be exact.

In response to this I would comment as follows –

To get a full understanding of context my comments were prompted by the following comments which Mr Wilkes had written to me – ‘You speak about some “Protestant communities” as being “godless”, “Christ-rejecting”, etc. Do you include Orangeism which is full of “professing Christians” and from whose platforms it is alleged “the gospel” is “preached”? Do you include the Independent OO whose “demonstrations” and rallies the Archbigot himself – IRK Paisley – is more than happy to attend and speak at?’

My reply as quoted by this grouping affirmed what many people over the years already knew – that I had deliberately steered clear of any personal involvement with ‘Orangeism’ of any ilk and ‘Unionism’ of any ilk because they were exclusively identified with one section (Unionist/‘Protestant’) of the divided Northern Ireland population. Any connection with them by me would in my view have proved to be an extra and unnecessary hindrance in my attempts to reach the Roman Catholic/‘Nationalist’ section of the community with the truth of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. (On one occasion I was actually phoned and invited by a church minister to consider offering myself as a Local Council candidate for a leading unionist party but I declined for the very reasons I have just stated).

Aligning myself with UKIP carried no such perceived ‘sectarian baggage’. My aims and motive in standing for UKIP were to promote our main-plank policy, namely a speedy exit from the EU, a policy which I believe to be in the best interests of all members of the Northern Ireland community irrespective of their long-term political aspirations whether Unionist or Nationalist. Therefore, understood in its proper context my decision to stand for UKIP last year does not represent “a miraculous change of mind” as alleged.

Again concerning my UKIP connection they then wrote –

Does he not know what the scriptures teach about being unequally yoked together with unbelievers (2 Cor 6:14)?

In response to this I would comment as follows –

I know very well what the scriptures teach about being ‘unequally yoked’ when all the relevant verses [14-18 and not just verse 14] in 2 Corinthians 6 are taken into consideration. The background to and context for these verses is of course that some professing believers in Corinth were not putting obvious ‘clear water’ between them and their former pagan and immoral ‘spiritual’ background. Corinth was home to a large Temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. Some 1000 priestesses, who were “religious” prostitutes, lived and worked there and came down into the city each evening to offer their services there. It is clear from these verses that the ‘unequal yoke’ relates to having links with pagan/immoral ‘spiritual’ matters and connections and not to ‘secular’ matters and connections. Verse 15 refers to ‘Christ’ [true God] and ‘Belial’ [a false ‘god]; he that ‘believeth’ [spiritual] with an ‘infidel’ [spiritual]. Verse 16 refers to ‘the temple of God’ [spiritual] with ‘idols’ [spiritual]. Paul then speaks of believers being ‘the temple of the living God’ [indwelt by His Spirit] and this quite rightly means that believers should only marry and be intimately united to fellow believers and not be ‘yoked’ in marriage to unbelievers as that would unite ‘the temple of the living God’ with an unholy ‘temple’.

This application about a believer only marrying a fellow-believer is entirely consistent with the warnings and teachings of the Old Testament as found for instance in Deuteronomy 7:1-4, Joshua 23:11-13 and 1 Kings 11:1-4. Verses 17-18 command spiritual separation from false ‘spiritual’ connections. These verses do not have application to secular groupings like political parties or sports clubs or whatever secular organisations or facilities believers might want to join or use because the purpose of such organisations/facilities is secular and not ‘spiritual’. To take the stated view of this grouping to the extreme, would that mean that I would have to check if a bus-driver were a believer and if not would I then have to refuse to get on his bus as that would represent an unequal yoke? – Ridiculous of course but that would be the logical outcome of the argument expressed against me on this issue.

Finally concerning my UKIP connection they then wrote –

Mr. Andrews stood as their candidate in the Strangford constituency in the 2011 elections receiving a paltry 600 odd votes. Imagine condemning others and yet belonging to a political party which in its manifesto campaigned “TO SAVE OUR PUBS” offering an incentive of £500 for your local pub if you would sign the petition. They also wanted pub landlords to decide whether or not their patrons should be allowed to smoke on their premises, something which the government had banned for health reasons, hoping that by their efforts they could stop 30 pubs closing every week. They suggested further that alcohol prices should be reduced by the government taxing it less. HOW DISGRACEFUL. Surely as believers we should be delighted to see pubs close and in no way helping to keep them open. When we consider the beaten wives, hungry children, broken homes and escalating health bills that pubs and drink have created. We here at “Lovers of the truth” would rejoice if every one of them closed down and if there was not a drop of alcohol to be purchased in Northern Ireland. As well as that UKIP, of which the afore mentioned Mr. Andrews is a member, also promotes gambling. They have their own personal lottery called “SOVEREIGN DRAW”, which encourages people to buy 1 or more lottery tickets at £1 each per month, all the proceeds being allocated to UKIP, and each month a draw will be held and 1 “lucky” winner will receive a gold sovereign. What is Mr. Andrews thinking about. SHAME ON HIM. He belongs to and is involved with a party that encourages gambling, drinking and smoking. Much more could be said but we desist by reason of space and time.

In response to this I would comment as follows –

Just a brief passing comment on my ‘paltry’ votes – these actually represented 2% of those who voted so to go from a base of absolutely nothing, with minimal funding resources and with no party-base or structure within the constituency to 2% this was actually for me quite rewarding. It should also be borne in mind that I was standing in a constituency that already ‘housed’ a number of longstanding, well-oiled, well-funded political parties several of which also had strong ‘fraternal connections’ (‘connections’ that I have shunned for reasons stated elsewhere in this article).

Now to the more important matters – as regards the 2 ‘policies’ mentioned in relation to pubs and smoking (and made much of by several of this grouping in Facebook postings that I am aware of) let me remind readers that UKIP is a secular organisation and not a ‘church’ organisation. (So for example, what are Christians who are thinking of joining a golf club that has a licensed bar and sells cigarettes supposed to do – are they supposed to not join that club? They can of course opt not to frequent the bar. Likewise, what are Christians to do if a sports club they hope to join organises some of its events on a Sunday? – they can of course declare themselves unavailable to participate on a Sunday). Just as people often say ‘there is no perfect church’ so it is true that ‘there is no perfect political party’. On the scale of importance these 2 particular issues are well down the ladder of priority whereas the main-plank policy (a speedy exit from the EU) is with every passing day becoming more and more relevant to and a high priority in the lives of people and so for me it was a question of weighing up the assortment of policies in the scales just as in the same way every voter has to do likewise before casting their vote. In a UKIP pre-election strategy meeting in Bangor I actually made it clear that I would not go forward as a candidate if any mention of these 2 particular policies was going to be made or highlighted in NI election literature – I stipulated this on the basis of my Christian standing and as one from whom the Lord had graciously removed both habits after my conversion.

In relation to ‘promoting gambling’ through the ‘Sovereign Draw’ many secular organisations to which Christians belong (again I cite the example of sports clubs) run money-raising schemes such as ballots – in the case of UKIP it is a modest, predominantly in-house ‘lottery’ – in each case people are free to choose whether or not they take part – just as after my conversion I did not buy ballot tickets for the sports club that I played hockey and cricket with for over 25 years so I do not take part in the UKIP ‘lottery’;

As regards my current ‘standing’ within UKIP, I am merely a party member, someone who stood for them in an election but I am not someone who is an official ‘representative’ of the party [as alleged in private communications to me from members of this grouping]. In fact a few months after last years election I informed the NI Chairman that the May 2011 election was my ‘one-shot’ and that I would not be offering myself as a candidate again in local assembly elections but that I would of course continue as a party member.

Paul reminds us in Romans 13:1 of our role and responsibility as citizens within a structured society and the Lord Himself told us in Luke 20:25 to “render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s”. I also note how Paul wrote the following in Philippians 4:22 “All the saints greet you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household”. The Lord also commanded His people to be “salt” and “light” [Matthew 5:13-16] and to do that we must engage with society and that includes being involved in representative circles – Proverbs 29:2 tells us “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” – clearly there is a place for God’s people in the ‘corridors of power’.

One final point – I can’t speak for other political parties but within UKIP there is a group called ‘Christian Soldiers – UKIP’ who meet for prayer during times of conference and also issue a regular bulletin and I quote from the front page of their most recent newsletter, Issue 2: 2012 “We in Christian Soldiers UKIP do not believe that the answer to the world’s problems lies in politics, but we do believe that politics under the guidance and influence of godly statesmen and stateswomen can be a great source for good. We only have to turn back the pages of history and see the effect that Christian men and women have had on the society in which they lived”.

Turning secondly to REVELATION TV this is what they wrote in their document –

We feel it is now our duty to respond and to first of all point out that Mr. Andrews is guilty of gross double standards. Mr. Andrews takes great pains in attacking protestant ministers and others who would dare to share in services where Roman catholic priests or bishops would be present…

In response to this I would comment as follows –

This is not an accurate statement. It is not a question of catholic priests or bishops merely ‘being present’ but of where they are actually ‘taking part’ in a visible show of ‘ecumenical unity’

Continuing on they wrote –

… we have no quarrel with that, it is entirely up to him,but we do have a problem when we discover that this same Mr. Andrews is involved with Revelation TV, on which he has appeared for debates…

In response to this I would comment as follows –

Once again this is not an accurate statement – I have personally appeared in precisely one debate and not ‘debates’ as stated and that was in May 2012 with a Jesuit priest when we debated the subject of ‘Mary’. My only other contribution to Revelation TV was back in 2008 when I was contacted by a researcher for Revelation TV and asked if I could recommend anyone from an evangelical persuasion who might take part in a debate on ‘Gay Christians’ and I recommended the Rev David McIlveen. David subsequently took part in such a debate on Revelation TV and he did a wonderful job in honouring the Lord and His Word. That ‘Gay Christian’ debate in which Rev David McIlveen took part can be viewed on our YouTube site located on

http://www.youtube.com/user/TakeHeedMinistries?feature=mhee

I think I should also mention that in relation to my own appearance on the ‘Mary’ debate, my travel and, of necessity, overnight accommodation costs were entirely funded by ‘Take Heed’ Ministries and no fee was received by me from Revelation TV for appearing on the programme. For this group, who claim to love ‘truth’, to stretch my 1 personal appearance in debate (please remember they would have been totally unaware of my 2008 recommendation) into the suggested scenario conjured up by their expression of me being ‘involved with’ Revelation TV is I believe decidedly misleading.

Again continuing on they wrote –

… a TV programme which many sound believers and contributors, including Mr. Bob Mitchell, have been forced to leave due to the broadcasting of much false teaching by various false teachers. What annoys us so much is the fact that we search through his lists of “ridicule” in vain to find one bad word said against them, although he advertises his appearance on that channel he has no word of rebuke or sanction to give. Peculiar don’t you think?

In response to this I would comment as follows –

Over many years I have appeared on Radio Ulster programmes such as ‘Talkback’ and ‘Sunday Sequence’ – programmes that are not exactly bastions of Biblical orthodoxy but I have always sought to use those opportunities to air the truth of God’s Word and that is my approach to Revelation TV – God’s people know that my contributing to these broadcasts is not my ‘imprimatur’ upon everything that is broadcast by them. As regards the ‘false teachers’ that get airtime on Revelation TV I have written warnings about them over the years as can be seen by doing searches on my ministry web site for false teachers such as Joyce Meyer and Jesse DuPlantis. I respect the right of brothers in the Lord like Bob Mitchell and Jacob Prasch to, in conscience, take the approach they do but I hope in return that they would respect my right, in conscience, to adopt the approach that I hold to. In closing, in relation to that one Revelation TV debate with a Jesuit priest, it has now been watched online on YouTube by over 6800 people and we praise the Lord for this and pray that it may be used to bring His light in particular to darkened Roman Catholic minds

In conclusion, some other issues were addressed by this grouping in their document (and also in private communications/contacts to me together with web site and Facebook postings) that are grossly inaccurate, a misrepresentation of both the facts and my views on a number of matters and also personally insulting, but for now I shall leave those issues in abeyance. I close by re-affirming, with even more conviction, my view that people should steer well clear of this grouping.

Cecil Andrews – 15th August 2012

FOOTNOTE

Shortly after this article was posted to our web site this grouping responded by publishing a further article on their own web site. The following is the main part of a response I then posted to our Facebook site on Saturday 18th August 2012 –

A response to my recent article about my links to UKIP and my appearance on Revelation TV has now been published by the group of professing Christians that claim to love ‘truth’. By means of severe editing of what I said in my own article they regrettably have been ‘economical with the truth’ in truly representing my position before supposedly then responding to it.

In my article I was totally honest by quoting in full what they had said in their article on the 2 topics in question before then giving my response. In this latest article they have not done this where my comments are concerned. A former pastor of mine once said, “When a half-truth is proclaimed as the whole truth then it becomes a lie” and their tactic in claiming to represent my views and their then subsequent supposed response to them is a perfect example of this.

The ‘spirit’ of their overall approach to this matter is well illustrated by what they said as they concluded their article. I quote it because it makes reference to a number of you, my true ‘friends’ – they wrote “We have been told that some of Mr. Andrew’s followers have been on facebook making very rude and insulting comments**, I suppose we can expect no better, the old proverb is true, “As the old cock crows the young one’s learn”…

I shall not devote any further time to this grouping but am content to let “the Judge of all the earth do right”. Be assured, Margaret and I treasure all the public and private messages posted and the many prayers offered regularly on our behalf.

** The following are the comments that had been posted (one by myself as indicated) and I leave it to you to judge whether any of them are “very rude and insulting” as claimed.

1. Why not name them. So we can stay well away from them

2. (Posted by Cecil) if you visit my web site on https://www.takeheed.info and look at a recently posted article listed under ‘Current Concerns’ I am sure you will be able to recognise those that I have been referring to.

3. Our prayers are with you God knows who are his elect you have blessed so many with your ministry may God give you many more years of service

4. Yes name them, Paul wasn’t shy in naming his slanderers. Anyway, doesn’t the Lord tell us our persecution can come from our own household.

5. Looks like this group of professing christians have sinned against you Cecil, which ultimately causes separation…that is until they repent!

6. Remembering you in prayer Cecil – as you stated above, if you read your web article all will become quite clear

7. Sometimes I despair. I don’t find it edifying to attack my fellow believers in this fashion. I am a member of a political party, does that make me a carnal Christian? I believe in examining myself before pointing a finger at anyone. Maybe if more of us did that, we would build each other up, not knock each other down. I am a wretched sinner saved by God’s grace, it’s not my place to exalt myself above my fellow believers. Rise above it Cecil, you glorify Christ in your work, of that I have no doubts

8. You have our continued prayerful support Cecil, God bless.

9. Never worry Cecil. You must be doing something right or the devil would leave you alone. Keep up the good fight, and keep looking up. Thanks for all you do!