www.scotlandneedsthegospel.org / blog

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The Christians who meet at the Gospel Hall in the wonderfully named Butter Wynd in Tayport, Fife continue their faithful gospel witness in the town with a series of Gospel Tent Meetings. Starting Monday 28th May and running through each night except Fridays and Saturdays, Dan Gillies from Luthermuir will be preaching the Gospel each night at 7.30pm. There will also be a Children’s Club held in the tent on the same nights at the earlier time of 6.00pm. Over 6,500 SNTG leaflets were distributed in the town and surrounding area to advertise these meetings.

Those of you living within reasonable travelling distance of the Benarty area may be interested to know that the Christians who meet at the Gospel Hall in Ballingry are planning a series of Wednesday night gospel meetings in a local community centre, the Brag Centre, starting Wednesday 30th November. For a map to this location click here.

The meetings will run for four Wednesday nights starting each night at 7.45pm and finishing at 8.30pm. Everyone is welcome to join us.

The Christians who meet at Wick Gospel Hall have arranged a series of special Gospel meetings for the second half of August. The last few days have been especially busy as they have been putting up a large tent at Riverside and getting round the town and outlying villages with invitations.

Paul Macauley from Northern Ireland and Jack Hay from Perth will be preaching the gospel each night Sunday – Thursday from 14th August to 1st September.  Prior to the Gospel meeting, a children’s Bible Club is being held in the tent from 15th – 25th August Monday to Thursday at 6.15pm.

Anyone living in the area round about Ballingry, Lochgelly, Kelty, Scotlandwell, Cleish, etc will be receiving a leaflet over the next few days notifying you of planned gospel meetings about to start from Sunday 15th August. For two weeks the meetings will be held in a large marquee pitched at The Milton, Off Park Street, Crosshill then from Sunday 29th August for one week the tent will be moved to a site adjacent to Lochend Farm Shop near Scotlandwell.

Please note that the time shown on the leaflet advertises the meetings as starting at 7.30pm. For technical reasons (a mistake!) the meetings will actually start at 7.45pm.

A large scale distribution of the Scotland Needs the Gospel leaflet is shortly about to happen across the Isle of Skye and the Torridon area. For further information get in touch with us using the Contacts section of the website.

Just heard a clip on Pick of the Week on BBC Radio 4 of a member of the Filey Fisherman’s Choir talking about how important the words of some of the hymns they sing are to him. If you click on the link above in the next few days you’ll be able to hear it on Listen Again. The hymn he was discussing was ‘Jesus Saviour Pilot Me’ and in particular he sang the last verse,

When at last I reach the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar,
Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
Then when leaning on Thy breast,
May I hear Thee say to me,
Fear not, I will pilot thee.

The old fisherman said, “I’m not ashamed to say it, I’ve often said those words as I approached the shore”. It clearly meant a great deal to him.

It made me think about how many of these old hymns are known and loved by people, even by those who have long since stopped attending any place of worship and yet how few people really stop to think about the words.

The local church I attend goes into a number of care homes for the elderly in our locality. I am repeatedly struck by how many of the hymns we sing with the old people are still well remembered – even by those who are suffering from dementia.

Even in our secular, irreligious age this country has a privileged heritage. Have a think about some of the hymns you know:

Jesus Saviour Pilot Me – Do you know Him as the Pilot for your life?

The Lord’s My Shepherd – Is the Lord really your Shepherd?

Will Your Anchor Hold? – Do you have an anchor that keeps your soul sure and steadfast?

These old hymns have captured the fundamental truths of the Gospel message. Think about them and come to know the Saviour who inspired those who wrote them.

“He has put a new song in my mouth
Praise to our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the LORD” Psalm 40 vs3

Just a brief blog today – to try and keep my promise to blog more often! There was a very interesting edition of Beyond Belief on Radio 4 this afternoon. The subject under discussion was Spiritual Healing and the guests were, if my memory serves me correctly, a Hindu priest, a practicing ‘complimentary healer’ and a Christian GP.

What struck me forcefully was the contrast between those who can only speak of ‘Universal Energy Sources’ and an individual who could speak of a personal God. One whom he had come to know and trust.

Clearly I am not an unbiased listener, but it was a pleasure to hear a genuine Christian on national radio who was unashamed to point out the huge gulf in his ‘world-view’ with that of the other two guests. As he observed, of course, both views cannot be correct, despite references from the other guests to ‘people of faith’ and such like! I was also struck by his solemn warning with regard to seeking ‘spiritual healing’ from sources that we cannot identify or know.

The Apostle Paul was able to look back at the end of his life and say “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him…” 2 Tim 1 v12.

GospelBlog has been getting a bit neglected of late – apologies for that! I won’t make it a resolution for 2010 to try and blog more often as that would almost certainly ensure failure, but I will endeavour to do so.

For this first entry of 2010 I just want to quote something written by the prophet Isaiah more than 2,700 years ago, but that is still as relevant and fresh today as it was when it was first recorded:

“Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55 vs 6 – 9)

Make it a priority in 2010 – get to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John 17 vs 3). God Bless.

It could not have escaped the notice of a semi-sentient slow-worm that Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, was one of the panel for last night’s Question Time programme on BBC One. Crowds of protesters mobbed Television Centre in London and it seemed that every political talking head in the UK was being interviewed to express a view on whether or not Mr Griffin should be given the air-time to express his views.

It is probably no surprise then that the programme itself became something of a “Let’s Bash Nick Griffin Show”, with all of the mainstream politicians present seeking to ensure that they put as much political distance between themselves and Mr Griffin as possible. It is probably fair to say that a typical Question Time audience does not represent Mr Griffin’s natural constituency, but last night’s lot certainly wanted to make sure that the nation understood the extent of their objection to the man!

Listening to some of the reaction to the programme this morning, I was surprised to hear one commentator say on the Today Programme that Mr Griffin only ‘laid a glove’ on Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, on one occasion and that was when he revealed that, while Mr Griffin’s father had been in the RAF, Mr Straw’s father had been a conscientious objector. Since when did the morality or otherwise of one’s progenitors become a reflection on one’s own moral standing? I suppose that such a position should not be surprising in a man who’s views on society in general are couched in terms of race but thankfully, the Bible is not so ungenerous. Away back in the earliest days of recorded history, when God delivered His law to Moses, he established a principle that, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24 v16). In effect, every individual must be judged for their own actions and not for those of their forebears.

Of course, this also means that we can derive no moral kudos from the actions of our parents either. For all I know, Mr Griffin’s father is a delightful man who regularly invites his Pakistani neighbours round for tea and is pleasant to children. If true, that would not reflect on Griffin Jr at all! In the same way, the fact that I have been born into what Mr Griffin referred to as a predominantly christian society does not confer on me any status as a christian.

The Bible makes it clear that each one of us stands before God as an individual. Whether born nominally ‘christian’, muslim or atheist I need to make my own choices. This is a blessing and a responsibility. I cannot devolve culpability for my spiritual status by saying that “I was born a christian”. Certainly, there are huge benefits to those who are brought up in a Christian environment. Paul could write to his friend Timothy and say, “from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures”. He did not conclude though that Timothy was therefore born a Christian for he goes on to say, “which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”, 1 Timothy 3 v15.

Faith is individual and it is as an individual that you will stand before God. The Lord Jesus on one occasion used the niceties of Greek grammar to forceably highlight the responsibility of the individual, “Do not marvel that I said to you (as an individaul), ‘You (all, i.e. everyone) must be born again.’ John 3 v7.

The Daily Telegraph’s ‘Matt’ cartoon today catches a key issue in the discussion on so called Assisted Suicide. In a typically British compromise, we are not going to change the law but the Director of Public Prosecutions has set out a range of criteria that he will take into consideration when deciding whether or not to bring a prosecution against those who help a friend or relative to end their life.

I’m not sure where this actually leaves people who might wish to act in this way. Technically, they are still in breach of the law and if they go ahead they would be reliant on the DPP using his discretionary powers not to prosecute. Were they to be prosecuted (however unlikely that now seems) would they be able to use the guidlines as a defence? To what extent are Judges able to use this non-change-in-the-law to inform their view of statute law? In which case, is it not in effect an actual change in the law? Either way, it feels like a big step down the slippery slope that we have discussed previously in GospelBlog (See article 31st July).

Of course, with the wide acceptance in scientific, medical and political circles of a theory of our existence that positions us as merely remarkably well developed apes, this progression towards equalisation of animal rights to us is only to be expected! In fact, if the dominant theory in the media is as confidently held as is asserted then we should really wonder what we are pussy-footing about for. Why not go the whole hog and take this line of thinking to its logical conclusion – after all it would save trillions from healthcare budgets world-wide, it would sort out food shortages and significantly reduce the rise of global CO2 emissions?  Yes, why not go ahead with a bit of pruning of the weaker elements of our species?

The reason why we baulk at this suggestion is that we instictively know, however much we may state the contrary, that we are much more than particularly big-brained animals. However we might expess it, we know that we have a soul that is self-conscious and God conscious. We instinctivly know that death is not the end for that soul – ask anyone who works in a hospice whether relatives generally feel that death is the end of an individual! On one occasion the Lord Jesus asked the rhetorical question, “Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matt 12 v12). He knew the difference and He values the soul of every individual. That is why he went to the cross – not so that he could make us better animals! But to provide a way whereby your sin could be forgiven and your soul could be reconciled to God.

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