Category Archives: Ecumenism

‘Hope 2008’ – not “that blessed hope” of Titus 2:13

In January of this year I received an email from a Christian couple in England who had attended a meeting In Birmingham in October 2006 at which they were introduced to an initiative that would be called ‘HOPE 2008’. In their own words they wrote of ‘something called “HOPE 2008” the theme of which is “Redeeming Our Communities” – this was pioneered by Gerald Coates’.

In my reply to them I wrote this concerning “HOPE 2008” – “You mentioned the involvement of Gerald Coates so on that basis alone I would steer well clear of it”. Very briefly, Gerald Coates has promoted many charismatic deceptions such as the so-called ‘Toronto Blessing’ and with his track record of failed ‘prophecies’ he should be thankful that he doesn’t live in Old Testament times [see Deuteronomy 18:20].

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‘Appendix’ to – The ‘gospel truth’ according to ‘Father’ Paul Symonds

Following the posting of The ‘gospel truth’ according to ‘Father’ Paul Symonds to our website I received the following email on 5 April 2007 –

Dear Mr Andrews,

Just as a matter of accuracy, I should inform you that Fr Paul Symonds is no longer a Jesuit priest.  He resigned some time ago from the Jesuits and is now a “diocesan” priest.  In other words, he is a priest now under the authority of a bishop within a diocese, rather than a priest under the authority of an Order.  This is a very significant difference in status which you may wish to reflect in a revised version of the currently inaccurate article you are running on your website.

I do hope you won’t mind this correction.  The truth matters.

With love in Christ,
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The ‘gospel truth’ according to ‘Father’ Paul Symonds

  [PDF]

In the latter part of February I received a phone call from a Christian man who asked me if I had heard that Ballymena was awash with rumours that a local Roman Catholic priest had ‘got saved’ and that he was buying gospel tracts in the local Faith Mission bookshop and distributing them.

I asked the caller if he could give me the name of the priest at the centre of the rumours and he said he was sure it was ‘Father’ Paul Symonds. I wrote an article about Paul Symonds in my June 2006 News From The Front newsletter called  ‘The “Ecumenical Wizardry” of Jesuit Paul Symonds’ and that newsletter can be accessed on – 

https://www.takeheed.info/news-from-the-front-june-2006/

I chose the title of that article deliberately because this Roman Catholic priest verges on the brink of having the ability to ‘cast a spell’ over his listeners and to ‘hoodwink’ people who, with their professed theological ‘know-how’, should not be subject to what is clearly a ‘strong delusion’ that he is putting forth.

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News From The Front – December 2006

Dear praying friends,

Paul wrote “ the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine” [2 Timothy 4:3] and you will read clear examples of that prophecy coming to pass in our day. Whether ‘they’ be ‘trendy-photographers’ at a ‘Christian’ youth event, or ‘church-growth experts’ and ‘innovative philosophers’ or ‘gospel-denying’ supposedly ‘Christian’ TV presenters or ‘ecumenical-evangelists’ or ‘religiously-misguided’ politicians, ‘they’ all share one thing in common, an ignorance of Biblical, Christian “doctrine”. During this past summer, Margaret and I received the gift of a signed Study Bible and in an article at the front entitled ‘How We Got The Bible’, the closing section, ‘The Bible’, reads as follows – ‘This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers. Its doctrine is holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be saved, and practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveller’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Here heaven is open and the gates of hell are disclosed. Christ is the grand subject, our good its design and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, health to the soul and a river of pleasure. It is given to you here in this life and will be opened at the judgment and is established forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labour and condemn all who trifle with its contents’. May we all truly treasure it in 2007 [DV].

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TREVOR MORROW – ‘REFORMED’ – BUT ‘LIVING IN THE 21ST CENTURY’

I recently obtained a copy of the speaking schedule for a series of meetings to be held in Belfast on Tuesday nights over the winter months [October 2006 – March 2007]. The theme of all the meetings will be ‘TRUTH’.

For the sake of ‘TRUTH’ I feel it is vital therefore to highlight my concerns about one speaker in particular [although there are several others who ‘ring a few alarm bells’ also]. The speaker in question is former Presbyterian Moderator, Trevor Morrow. The title for this article is taken from the promotional leaflet for these meetings, which in Trevor Morrow’s case reads as follows –

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News From The Front – September 2006

Dear praying friends,

It is always a matter of great sadness and regret in coming to the realisation that individuals or organisations that were in former times a source of much spiritual blessing have now chosen a path of compromise and so there must be a parting of the ways, a separation, in obedience to God’s Word. The first and last articles in this newsletter represent just such matters of sadness and regret for both Margaret and I myself personally. We would ask you to join with us in praying that God, by the convicting work of His Holy Spirit, might draw both the individual and the organisation to ‘the straight and narrow’ and that they would depart from the broad, but no doubt popular road of compromise.

Earlier this year during the ministry visit of Gary Gilley, we were alerted to the unscriptural, gospel-denying views of American, Brian McLaren, regarded by many as ‘the God-Father’ of what is known as ‘The Emerging Church’. Mr McLaren has been invited by the large youth gathering known as ‘Summer Madness’ to be one of their speakers in June 2007 [DV]. I hope to write further on this in due course but meantime, if you have any influence where ‘Summer Madness’ is concerned, please encourage them to rescind the invite to Mr McLaren. Thank you for all your ongoing encouragement and support.

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Just another few days at ‘the office’

The ‘heart’ of a ‘loving/tolerant ecumenist’

People sympathetic to the aims of ‘Take Heed’ often ask me whether or not I receive much by way of ‘opposition’. The answer is that such ‘opposition’ does manifest itself from time to time but it is far outweighed by the messages of support and encouragement that I receive. Normally I would never consider making such ‘opposition’ known publicly. However, in recent days I have had an exchange of emails that are of such a nature, that to fail to make them public, to serve as an advanced warning for any other faithful, fellow ‘contenders’ unfortunate enough to ‘run across’ Mr Wilkes in his current spiritual frame of mind, would be inexcusable on my part.

On our website for many years now under the ‘Words of Wisdom’ section we have carried an article called ‘When tolerance is sin’ by Bible commentator, William MacDonald. What follows now are extracts from the early part of the article.

Tolerance can be a virtue, but it can also betray an inexcusable weakness of character. We admire the person who tolerates differences where no great issue is at stake. He allows for a variety of preferences, methods and unimportant viewpoints. He would rather be killed for a sheep than for a lamb.

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The ‘heart’ of a ‘loving/tolerant ecumenist’

People sympathetic to the aims of ‘Take Heed’ often ask me whether or not I receive much by way of ‘opposition’. The answer is that such ‘opposition’ does manifest itself from time to time but it is far outweighed by the messages of support and encouragement that I receive. Normally I would never consider making such ‘opposition’ known publicly. However, in recent days I have had an exchange of emails that are of such a nature, that to fail to make them public, to serve as an advanced warning for any other faithful, fellow ‘contenders’ unfortunate enough to ‘run across’ Mr Wilkes in his current spiritual frame of mind, would be inexcusable on my part.

On our website for many years now under the ‘Words of Wisdom’ section we have carried an article called ‘When tolerance is sin’ by Bible commentator, William MacDonald. What follows now are extracts from the early part of the article.

Tolerance can be a virtue, but it can also betray an inexcusable weakness of character. We admire the person who tolerates differences where no great issue is at stake. He allows for a variety of preferences, methods and unimportant viewpoints. He would rather be killed for a sheep than for a lamb.

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An open letter to the Belfast Telegraph

In recent weeks several letters that I have sent to the Belfast Telegraph have failed to be published. One of them related to their Religion Correspondent, Alf McCreary, being “cross” with the current Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Harry Uprichard, and that unpublished letter can be viewed on our website through this link

https://www.takeheed.info/alf-mccreary-cross-with-presbyterian-moderator/

The most recent letter was sent to the Belfast Telegraph on Monday 15 May but once more it has failed to be published by them. I have discovered that ‘oversight’ for the ‘Letters’ section of the paper has in recent times changed and any honest observer of the letters now being published will note the obvious change in tenor and tone of those that make it for publication.

This failure by the Belfast Telegraph to ‘give voice’ to the views of Biblical Christians like myself is a very worrying development and so I have today sent the following letter by email to the Belfast Telegraph and any response from them will subsequently be added to this article.

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News From The Front – June 2006

Dear praying friends,

As you will read in the first article we had a very stimulating ministry visit by Pastor Gary Gilley [thank you for all your prayers] and it was evident that his diagnosis of the problem that much of professing Christianity is afflicted with today is centred on ‘the heart’. What I mean by that is that, in much of today’s apparently ‘blossoming’ and ‘successful’ Christianity, the very ‘heart of the gospel’ has been removed in favour of ‘another gospel’. This new ‘gospel’ is all about ‘self’ and is ‘justified by men and women’. But truly found at ‘the heart of the gospel’ are Christ and the truth of ‘men and women being justified’ by God. Enclosed with this newsletter are copies of 2 very helpful leaflets that in one, identify the problem found at ‘the heart’ of the ‘gospel’ proclaimed in today’s ‘Market-Driven’ churches and in the other, restate the glorious biblical truth of God’s ‘justification’ of guilty sinners. Also enclosed is a leaflet with 2 emails from Pastor Jerry Moser of Bayou Du Large Baptist Church in Louisiana. Many of you sent contributions to our appeal for Jerry and the fellowship there as they coped with the damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I trust you will be as thrilled as we have been to see how God has gloriously used these difficult trials for the furtherance of His gospel amongst a very needy [spiritually and materially speaking] people. Margaret and I once more thank you for all your much-appreciated support.

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