ARTICLES AND UPDATES
History - the faithfulness of God
Launching this Sunday is a new sermon series in the book of Genesis helping us to experience the faithfulness of God.
For many of us at different times we feel that life can be tough. Family life can be challenging, work life can be frustrating, struggles with illness or tensions in our relationships can (at times) make it seem like an uphill struggle.
When we reach these 'low' places we can begin to wonder where God is, why He is not blessing our lives more, why God is not more like the God we see in the Bible?
Abraham lived in this place. He had received amazing promises from God of being the head of a vast family - but the reality he saw in front of him was a childless marriage. How did he live in this place? How did he continue to trust God's promises? How did he know true joy?
History this a three week series in the book of Genesis that will help us think about and know the promises of God for our lives.
Religious Freedom - Article by David Godfrey
The UK led the world in developing and spreading freedom of religion across the globe. Today that heritage is being turned upside down, primarily due to attempts to impose increasingly intolerant secular humanism on Christians and churches. Over the last two decades Parliament has begun to enact laws restricting religious freedom.
The UK led the world in developing and spreading freedom of religion across the globe. Today that heritage is being turned upside down, primarily due to attempts to impose increasingly intolerant secular humanism on Christians and churches. Over the last two decades Parliament has begun to enact laws restricting religious freedom. Pre-existing laws have been misused by the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service(CPS) has even claimed that to quote the King James Bible in public is a criminal matter.
In 2018, there are moves to introduce a ‘Test Act’ to exclude committed Christians from holding public offices unless they deny aspects of their faith. Attempts were made in the 2017 election to remove as ‘unfit,’ candidates who held beliefs like traditional marriage, family values and the sanctity of life, or held to Biblical beliefs like miracles.
These hard fought for rights of freedom are under serious attack and the tragedy is that the sacrifices our ancestors paid have been forgotten and the liberties they struggled so hard to gain are gradually being whittled away. The tide of history is turning and Christians are once again under attack and assault, being excluded from public posts and thrown out of Universities or shamed by the media and declared unfit to hold positions of authority. What a departure from the law enacted in 1888 that declared ‘freedom from being required to affirm a particular worldview or set of beliefs in order to attend University, hold a public sector job or stand for election’.
This and much more comprehensive information is contained in the booklet ‘Turn the Tide’ A copy is with the petition at the rear of All Hallows church and is available from the BARNABUS FUND free of charge. I would also recommend, ‘THE DEATH OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY’ by Patrick Sookhdeo , though it makes uncomfortable reading, also from the Barnabus Fund £10
The Barnabus Fund are asking Christians to sign a petition to bring in a new law to protect religious freedom. It states ‘In the light of the British tradition of fair play, tolerance, diversity and equality, we the undersigned call upon the British Government to introduce a new law to enshrine fully and permanently our hard fought for religious freedoms : the freedom to worship, to read the scriptures in public, to interpret the scriptures without government interference, to choose or change your faith, to preach and try to convince, to establish places of worship, freedom from being required to affirm particular beliefs, and to study, stand for election or hold particular jobs.’
A copy of the petition is at the the rear or All Hallows Church or your can sign online at ourreligiousfreedom.org if you would like to add your support.
David Godfrey