The Election is thankfully over and we have a new government which we never expected. Many will be pleased and naturally others disappointed. The swing to the Conservatives surprised even those within the highest level of the Party, and if there had been a different leader would have been greater still. So many people refused to trust someone who had reneged on promises previously made.
I am reminded of a story about a Vicar who was asked which way he was voting, and replied that a man in his position could not express voting intentions. However, he added that if the Conservatives won they hymn on Sunday would be ‘now thank we all our God’; if Labour won, ‘O God our help in ages past’; and if the Liberal Democrats won, ‘God moves in a mysterious way’.
But the new government will reflect the hopes of many that things will only get better, but there is no really pure political party, and none could seriously hope to fulfil all promised. We are dealing with the ambitions of men, their thoughts and plans.
Morally we are bankrupt; everyone does what is right in their eyes. We have had deplorable legislation from the Conservative Party, which would never have once been credible of that Party, which is due solely to the fact the leader is not a true Conservative, but largely a political chameleon.
Rights and liberties of decent people have been dismissed; any conviction of sin is ridiculed and greed has been overlooked. A whole generation has been encouraged to think that religious belief is of no importance. The world neglects the Church until it feels we can offer a touch of ceremony to an otherwise secular wedding or baptism.
Within Churches ministers have been prepared to make a give and take policy. Those of us who have a profound respect for the authority of Scripture, for which men fought and died, are mocked.
Many of the old and sure foundations are up for grabs and have been cast aside.
The urgent need now is for the Church to return to the old faith, recovering purity of worship and pursuit of holiness. We have no right to ask God to bless Churches which spend their time disputing the essentials of faith.
Many years ago the great Welsh preacher, Martyn Lloyd Jones, pointed out there were true believers in all the main denominations who were worshipping with those who did not share their beliefs, a contradictory situation. He suggested a coming together of all those with true evangelical persuasion to worship together, in other words to form a National Evangelical Church. He likened it to the Reformation when the Reformers called upon believers to maintain faithful witness. H asked how we could expect the Holy Spirit be called upon a Church which spent time arguing over the faith, but the Spirit of God could be expected when all were united in true belief.
John Stott, the leading Church of England evangelical at the time, spoke strongly against such a move, not in the sense that he disagreed with the intention, but such was his loyalty to the Church of England, he knew the consequence if such a union was joined.
Who knows what blessings for the Church might have occurred if these two great men had ministered together, and indeed which proved right. Certainly events suggest Martyn Lloyd Jones have proved prophetic, as a liberality has taken over and time held beliefs have been abandoned. Who could have foreseen Bishops calling for support for same sex marriages, and the following of ways of life contrary to the Bible.
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