3 Cheers for the Bishop of Chichester

And 2 cheers for the Bishop of Winchester. Both of whom have been standing up for the Christian faith, integrity, Public Theology and good sense in the House of Lord's debate over the Equality bill - as reported in The Telegraph and highlighted by Christian Concern For Our Nation.

How to vote

I believe that the gospel, the fundamental reality, the most important truth in the universe, the first commitment of every individual and society is "Jesus Christ is Lord". That should be the guiding principle of all, including politics and public life. It should be the first line of our consititution.

So, faced with a ballot paper for the European elections that gave me the choice of:

"The Christian Party: Proclaiming Christ's Lordship"

I felt I ought to vote for them.

I've no idea if they have any chance of seat.

Their website was pretty hard to find. (They say their main site is having problems due to excessive demand).

They seem a thoroughly good thing. Here's a bit of their blurb:

Why a Christian Party?

The time has come for Christians of all denominations to stand up for their beliefs and resist the tide of secularism destroying our country. The Christian Party exists to fulfill this vital role. Under the leadership of Revd George Hargreaves, this non-denominational Christian political party provides a united Christian witness across the nation to ensure that the message of the Bible is heard and heard where it matters. The voice of the once mighty church may have been reduced to a mere whisper, but the Christian Party will not be – it will speak out and not be silent. Whatever your denomination or churchmanship, the time has come to unite and stand together for the Christian faith and all it represents. The more who join the Christian Party the louder our Christian voice will become. If you agree that this is so, it may be that God is calling on you to join together with other like-minded Christians throughout the country who are equally concerned about the state of the church and nation. Please read the statement of faith below and if you agree with it,

join us now!

Statement of Faith

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Statement of Faith

1. We believe in one creator God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as stated in the historic creeds of the Christian church.

2. We acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord over all creation.

3. We believe the Holy Bible to be the inspired, infallible, written Word of God to whose precepts, given for the good of nations and individuals, all man’s law must submit.

4. We believe all government to be under the authority of God and that the purpose of government is the maintenance of freedom and justice solely in accordance with biblical principles.

5. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth, personally, visibly and bodily to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.

Statement of Purpose

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The primary purpose of the Christian Party is to proclaim the Lordship of Christ. The party also exists to empower those who confess “Jesus Christ as Lord!” to serve him in the political sphere.

Revd George Hargreves seems an interesting chap! He is anti-abortion, anti-practicing-homosexuality and anti-EU. His campaign to have the dragon removed from the Welsh flag seems a little barmy to me, though I have some sympathy with the idea. Much better to have a cross rather than Satan as your national symbol!

I voted Conservative in the local elections to stop the Lib Dems who I imagine want to tax everything in site and stand mainly for such things as pot-smoking, abortions and the promotion of homosexuality, but I could be wrong. I was a bit tempted by UKIP, though I don't imagine they could win and I'm not convinced by the prominence of their anti-imigration agenda. I respect those who feel they ought to spoil their paper by writing "JESUS IS LORD" across it, but its a shame that most people will think you just filled in the form incompitently.

P.S. It seems dogs and toddlers are welcome in our local polling station. Remeber you don't need your polling card and you don't have to give the fellas your number afterwards. Turning up at a random church hall worked for me.

Christendom 2.0

What exactly are criticisms of Christendom 1 that must be avoided in Christendom 2.0?

(1) It was sometimes repressive / opressive / co-ercive. Christendom 2.0 must be voluntary through the spread of the gospel by the power of the Spirit as rulers and people become attentive to the Word of God, join the church and ask for help to be obedient to God as public as well as private persons, citizens and governors.

(2) It sometimes forgot Christ for the sake of the -dom. Christendom 2.0 must remain distinctively Christians and never compromise or sell out to the world. It must remember the antithesis, the lack of neutrality, the absolute crown rights of King Jesus to be Lord of All if he is to be Lord at all and the sufficiency of God's inerrant Word for all areas of public and private life.

Anything else or are we all signed up for this project (a.k.a. gospel work, doing ministry, discipling the nations) already?

Sin Bin

From my train window I notice the Chewing Gum Action Group telling us of the “Sin Bin” and warning us to bin our gum to avoid a fine of up to £80. Thanks. A similar poster carries the words, “Guilty Not Charged”. Surely there is a sermon illustration here. What does our culture regard as sins and crimes? I’ve not spotted any such posters about adultery or abortion lately, nor on the spot fines for disrespect to parents or false worship.

Speak up!

Mrs Lloyd was sleepily listening to Sunday today on Radio 4. She heard the RCs clearly had opposed creating animal-human embryos. The C of E bishop fudged. The RCs are often good at making a stand over things like abortion and they don't seem to mind so much being out of step with the spirit of the age.

You remember the old quip, of course, along the lines that "if you marry the spirit of the age you'll find yourself widowed in the next."

We might learn a thing or two from some of our RC brothers.

I swear by the Grand Pixie, Satan and all his imps...

On our visit to Lewes Crown Court yesterday we discovered that one can give the oath by a "god"of one's choice, more or less.

Now I know this will be defended as freedom of religion and choice, but I think it is wicked publiclly established idolatry such as the kings of ancient Israel were commanded to drive out.

I am not saying we should make windows into men's souls. Let people do what they like in their own homes and let them form private satanism clubs if they wish to worship Lucifer behind closed doors.

But courts are a public space and there is no neutrality there. They are the Queen's courts, she is (I assume) a Christian and the Christian religion should be publicly established by law. Likewise, in every court, council and parliament, there should be public prayer for the blessing of Almighty God, as there is in the high court of parliament and in every church in the land every week.

And by Almight God, I mean the living and true of God, of course, the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Triune God.

I noticed the oath for Jews is the same as that for Christians expect Christians swear on a New Testament and Jews swear on an Old Testament. That really will not do. The whole Bible is a Christian book.

Are we to be a Christian country or not? We can only expect the judgement of God on such pic-n-mix public religion. I would say national repentance is in order. Perhaps Her Majesty would care to announce it in the next Queen's Speech or perhaps in her Christmas Address to her subjects.

Go Back To Your Churches And Prepare For Government

The 11^th annual Oak Hill School of Theology: A Higher Throne – Evangelicals and Public Theology today was just wonderful.

Praise God for Oak Hill and David Peterson and Dan, David, Kirsten and Garry. Oh, and the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of his gospel!

Dr Dan Strange argued in ‘Evangelical Public Theology: What on earth? Why on earth? How on earth?’ for a “transformational model” of Evangelical Public Theology, avoiding false dichotomies some “Two Kingdoms” models, of the earthly and the heavenly, physical and spiritual, judicial-covenantal and material, individual and cosmic, civil and religious, God’s law in one realm of life and another. God is sovereign, Jesus is Lord and King over all, the Bible is our ultimate authority and God commands that this be acknowledged by everyone, in every sphere of life. Evangelicals should be “offensive” and “thick” in the Public Square (rather than retreating / defensive or thin / lowest-common-denominator). Jesus is Lord is public and political truth.

Revd Dr David Field’s ‘Samuel Rutherford and the Confessionally Christian State / Covenanted Nation’ advocated the long term goal of rulers and nations obedient to Christ with constitutions that acknowledge him as the King of King and where government is based on the wise application of God’s authoritative and sufficient Word. The only alternatives are idolatry or polytheism. Atheistic secularism is bankrupt and “principled” pluralism is unstable.

Dr Kirsten Birkett spoke on ‘New Living in an Old Creation’ expounding and applying Oliver O’Donnovan’s vision of Christian ethics based on the gospel of Jesus Christ. The resurrection is God’s vindication of this creation and its transformation. We are to love God and our neighbour in all of life. The greatest need of every person is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dr Garry Williams’ paper ‘Gabbatha and Golgotha: The Cross and the Public Square’ argued that Hugo Grotius is right to use political categories of ruler and judge in understanding the cross and stressing its public vindication of God’s justice. Far from being un- or anti-ethical, the penal substitutionary account of the atonement also has lessons for public life grounding and limiting retributive justice and representation.

We are to make haste slowly as we reflect theologically and prayerfully preach the Word of God in the power of the Spirit, seeking to disciple the nations for Christ and bring every aspect of our personal, family and national lives under his Lordship.

Does anyone know if we can pre-order the book yet?

Next year’s school of theology is on 21^st May: Dr Thomas Schreiner – Run to Win: The New Testament Warnings.