Bravo to the brave!

Well - one could not make it up! How misguided can one get? I SO respect those pupils! As to those who identify as cats, well, feed them with cat food, or lock them up in zoo! 

The whole thing reminds me of 1984, the dystopian classic, which views human existence in a totalitarian state built on disinformation. A brave new world, indeed! Education is not about brainwashing, or insulting young people, I would have thought! There is no word in my vocabulary that describes such surreal madness! And there was me thinking that Hitler was bad! Everyone speak after me, or think after me! Well, thinking has disappeared, of course! 

That teacher is utterly deluded, and paid for it! I am pleased that a letter has been sent asking for an Ofsted inspection. Time will tell what will come of it! 

Meanwhile, I am hopeful about a better world. It may well take a child to find out that the emperor is wearing no clothes! The children have only spoken the naked truth! No semantic nonsense can dress up madness seen in one of its worst forms! But there is nothing to be said once fear has taken over! But the children have shown bravery. Or as Descartes may have put it, 'non timeo, ergo, sum'! Now that's what our new generation should look like! Bravo to those brave pupils, and shame on that deluded teacher!

No cross - no crown!

Now we know (BBC)! Well, according to John Calvin, "let us consider how many relics of the true cross there are in the world. An account of those merely with which I am acquainted would fill a whole volume, for there is not a church, from a cathedral to the most miserable abbey or parish church, that does not contain a piece. Large splinters of it are preserved in various places, as for instance in the Holy Chapel at Paris, whilst at Rome they show a crucifix of considerable size made entirely, they say, from this wood. In short, if we were to collect all these pieces of the true cross exhibited in various parts, they would form a whole ship's cargo. The Gospel testifies that the cross could be borne by one single individual; how glaring, then, is the audacity now to pretend to display more relics of wood than three hundred men could carry! " But who is interested in Calvin or truth these days?! Anythingism will do!

Wright is wrong and wrong is right!

T. Wright is not at all convincing! We have no N.T. list of qualifications for women elders, and we read of no appointing of women elders. I shall restrain myself from commenting on the post-biblical historical origins of Anglicanism, ironically linked to one woman, rather than to biblical Christianity! No woman can assume the office of eldership and most men cannot, either! It would be far more honest to say that Paul teaches ... and I disagree ... than trying to make a case by eisegetical gymnastics of the worst kind. Ask T. Wright anything and the answer may be anything, but right!

Justin Peters et al. - Let's Talk About Asbury

I have commented elsewhere on the above mentioned contribution, as follows: 

As to the recent Asbury phenomena, Acts 5:13 springs to mind (one notices the absence of the fear of God, the soul of genuine piety). The Coming of the Holy Spirit is evidenced in three ways, John 16:8-11. Acts 2 is a fulfilment of all that, with preaching being at the heart of it - as always. Word and Spirit belong together, or else deadness (without the Spirit) or fanaticism (without the Word the Spirit) will eventually take over. One also notes that Christ is no longer central (John 15:26). The most Spirit-filled Christian is also most Christlike! Here every true believer struggles. Discerning readers ought to familiarize themselves with the tests of a true revival by studying the Scriptures more carefully. The church must always be bred and led and fed by the Word of God. J. Edwards is of great help here. I note the gracious tone of these three men who have to teach us a lot.

His Holiness or His Hellishness?!

A highly respected Christian brother has expressed his personal view on the recent death of Pope Benedict XIII. (M. Luther would have called the pope not 'his holiness', but 'his hellishness' - even R. Dawkins can learn from that!), saying: "One thing is clear from the Bible, we know where the soul of the papa is right now - in the bottomless pit!". 

True, true, unless God granted him repentance before he died, and of that we cannot know with absolute certainty, though Benedict's successor would disagree with me as he seems to be a universalist! 

For all that, Rome - and the late pope - have deliberately rejected the biblical Gospel of 'grace alone, in Christ alone, by faith alone', anathematising any dissenters (see Canon IX.ff. / Session 6 - The Council of Trent) – in the name of God! Trent may be old hat, but its dogmatism has never been revoked, and it can't be as the Council convened under the Holy Ghost which surely is a new definition of blasphemy! 

Going back to the late pope, I find it inconceivable that the Spirit of truth could lead anyone to become a pope at all. Was it not Pope Gregory the Great who said that the “universal bishop” is the Antichrist?!

Ignorant friends need to read 'Pope Boniface VIII's Unam Sanctam' (which no infallible pope can repudiate!). P. Schaff is surely right when he said, in less strong language than I could manage about that greatest of all human egomaniacs that has ever walked on earth, that in the Unam sanctam "the arrogance of the papacy finds its most naked and irritating expression." Amongst all Romish writings I find it to be the most detestable one! It makes Putin look nice!

The late pope was sound on some doctrines and outspoken on moral issues, but Matthew 7:21ff. remains as a strong warning to all who think that Christianity is just about being good and orthodox, or intellectually respectable! It is regrettable that so many so-called evangelicals have been taken in by Romanism.

Ratzinger certainly preached another gospel and he should have listened to the apostle Paul (Galatians 1, in loc.), but since when has Rome accepted ‘sola Scriptura’?! Not since the Protestant Reformation, at any rate!

What matters is not what we think of Ratzinger, or for that matter, about this writer’s opinion, but 'what do you think of Christ?'! He needs to be at the centre of our preaching and our living - and here Rome is of no help, whatsoever, as evidenced from Benedict's Funeral Mass, none of which can be squared with New Testament Christianity by any stretch of the imagination! 

R. Albert Mohler Jr. [see his ‘A warning from Rome The funeral of Pope Benedict XVI holds big lessons for evangelical Christians’], with whose brain no one seems able to compete these days, has missed the point altogether by not addressing my concerns, but I will have to forgive him, as we are strangers  to one another!

That "Funtastic" Woman Again!

 

Al Mohler's address, viz. 'The Legacy of Margaret Thatcher', has warmed my heart. Okay, he got muddled over England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, not to mention the British aristocracy, and he could, indeed, should also have drawn attention to the Margaret Thatcher Foundation! He also pertinently referred to one of my favourite addresses by the lady, which has come to be known as 'the Sermon on the Mound' (named after the location in Edinburgh) which is also watchable online here. I doubt whether there are many pulpits in the established Scottish Kirk that would be bold enough to speak with such clarity and conviction. 

A Mohler could, indeed, should have mentioned Keith Joseph, whose comments about the family I have referred to elsewhere on my blog. I hope that Mohler's address will act as a stimulus to explore M Thatcher's legacy again! She was a truly remarkable leader, decisive and determined, strident and focused. One knew where one stood with her, unlike what one sees today. 

Margaret Thatcher was quintessentially magnificent from the perspective of anyone who loves freedom and economic prosperity under the rule of law and order. As a conviction politician she was a formidable force, always strong because others were extremely weak, full of integrity and very British, indeed. She did, after all, put the ‘Great’ back into Britain, because she herself was a great lady. This country, not to mention millions across the globe, owes her a great debt. Like all of us, she had flaws, but history will judge her more kindly still. Will her legacy be forgotten in time? No, no, no! Never!

Cancelling what should have been cancelled!

So, 'Edinburgh Council pays damages for cancelling religious speaker' - tax payers' money, that is! So what?! A mighty triumph for the cause of Christendom? Surely not! 

The last people who should be rejoicing at having Larry Stockstill are the Scottish Presbyterians who adhere to the Establishment Principle as expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith [XXIII.3 Of the Civil Magistrate]: "The civil magistrate ... hath authority, and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be preserved in the Church, that the truth of God be kept pure and entire; that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed; all corruptions and abuses in worship and discipline prevented or reformed".

Edinburgh Council has failed the Church, yet again. And the same could be said of the Church!