Schools and teachers take note – stop 'transsing' our kids!

Our schools are promoting an ideology which is harming our children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health. It claims that some children are ‘born in the wrong body’ and can ‘change sex’. This is a misleading and dangerous lie.

• There are only two sexes: male and female

• No child is born in the wrong body

• It is impossible to physically change sex

• Sex and gender are not the same thing

• It is illegal for schools to promote any ideology

• Schools should not automatically affirm a child who says he or she is the opposite sex

• Schools should always contact the parents of any child who says he or she wants to change sex

• Social transition to the opposite sex can be harmful psychologically for any child

• Puberty resolves anxieties for nearly all children who are gender questioning

• The idea of ‘trans’ is a twenty-first century invention!The Scottish government must withdraw their guidance on ‘transgender’ pupils in schools!

Stop 'transsing' our kids! Tips for parents with gender ideology concerns

As a parent, you have the right and responsibility to ensure that your child is fully safeguarded while engaging in education. It is the view of various professionals, including psychologists and therapists, that the current promotion of gender ideology in many schools is confusing and is potentially psychologically harmful to young children and teenagers.

Here are some issues to raise and things to check with your child’s school.

• Tell the school that there is no obligation to follow the Scottish government’s guidance, Supporting Transgender Pupils in Schools.* Much better guidance, Boys and Girls and the Equality Act, has been produced by the organisations Sex Matters and Transgender Trend (with input from lawyers and teachers).

• Check that the school understands that it is impossible for children (or indeed any human) to change sex.

• Check with the school that the toilets and changing rooms are single sex only and will remain so.

• Ask if there is an awareness in school about the fact that the term ‘trans’ has been invented by activists and not by child development experts.

• Check if the school uses the services of an LGBTQ youth group. If the school does, request that this contact is terminated.**

• Ask the school for a copy of its protocol for managing its response when a pupil states that she or he is ‘trans’.

• Ask if the school staff are aware that self-ID and social transitioning can be harmful psychologically for any pupil.

• Check that the school recognises the potential for social contagion among pupils and has strategies to manage this.

The post above is from the Scottish Union for Education's Newsletter, led by Professor Stuart Waiton. It highlights the creeping influence of 'gender ideology' and its associated dangers to children and young people in Scotland's Schools.

* There is no legal requirement to use the Scottish government’s guidance.

** An LGBTQ group has referred itself to the police in response to allegations of grooming, and their previous CEO was convicted of paedophilia.

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How Evangelistic Is Our Church?

There are many churches in Scotland which describe themselves as ‘evangelical', but how evangelistic are our evangelical churches? If the church is to grow in the 21^st century, it will be through effective evangelistic work carried out by local evangelical churches. At the same time, scripture has a stark warning for churches who neglect the God given mission to go out and take the Gospel message of salvation to their neighbours near and far.   

The website, britannica.com defines an evangelical church as, “any of the classical Protestant churches or their offshoots, but especially, churches that stress the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, personal conversion experiences, Scripture as the sole basis for faith, and active evangelism (the winning of personal commitments to Christ).”

At this crucial juncture in the life of the church in Scotland, it is an opportune moment to ask the question: how much 'active evangelism (the winning of personal commitments to Christ)' actually takes place?  

Further, what are the hallmarks of an effective evangelical church that takes its responsibilities to communicate the Gospel of salvation through faith in Christ to unbelievers in its locality?

The following is a subset of ‘How Good Is Our Church’. It is an attempt to help believers (church leadership teams or more general congregational meetings) start a discussion which might lead to an honest appraisal of the priority given to the evangelism of the locality by their church.   

It relates to the direct impact the church is having on individuals in the local community.  It focuses on evaluating the extent to which the church’s work in communicating the Gospel of Christ (evangelism) is having an impact on unbelievers in the local community. 

Key Themes 

Ø  The priority given to the Gospel and evangelism in the life of the church.

Ø  Vision, effective planning, leadership and evaluation arrangements related to the

    effective practice of evangelism.

Ø  Confident, skilled, committed and active church members who are committed to

    and carry out a variety of forms of evangelism. 

Ø  Productive evangelistic networks and relationships with other churches and

    organisations.

Challenge questions

These questions should be used as evaluative discussion questions leading to an action plan for the local church.

 

·       To what extent is evangelism and outreach to unbelievers in the community a priority in the day to day life of our church i.e. in preaching/teaching and prayer? Is evangelism viewed and emphasised as a responsibility of every member of our church? Do all church members have a clear understanding of what constitutes the Gospel?

·        Does our church have a written plan or strategy for the perpetual evangelisation of its locality? To what extent are the full resources of our church in terms of money, time, personnel and effort allocated to evangelism? Does our church employ a wide variety of methods for communicating the Gospel to unbelievers in the local community? What evidence does our church have that its evangelism activities are being effective?  Do our church members regularly participate in reviewing the  evangelism strategy? Do our church leaders research, review and regularly update the methods used in our evangelistic efforts? 

·        To what extent does our church make effective use of social media to communicate the Gospel to unbelievers? What impact does our church’s use of social media have on unbelievers in our locality?

·        To what extent does our church leaders i.e. minister, pastor, elders and deacons take the lead in motivating, training, equipping, supporting and leading our church members in their evangelistic work on an ongoing basis? To what extent are all members of our church confident and enthusiastic about sharing their faith with others and do so on a regular basis. To what extent are our church members able to confidently engage with unbelievers in a variety of settings to give a Biblical perspective on the key social and moral issues of the day?

·        What provision does our church make for the support and building up of people who come to faith? How successful is our church in retaining those who have come to faith?

·        What contribution does our church make to local networking with other churches and organisations in evangelistic activities?  How effective are these networks?  How involved are the members of our church in these networks?

Genuine Revival: Learning from History.

There’s some talk of impending revival in the West Coast of Scotland these days. It is good to see some folk pray for revival. However, those who feel the need to ‘work up’ revival by their own efforts are on the wrong track.

It must be remembered, that a key characteristic of the Living God is his sovereignty. He alone chooses the time, place and the servants through whom he will act.

Nevertheless, we can learn from history. My great grandfather, Charles Morrison (1839-1916), was a master shoemaker who owned a boot, shoe making and retail business in the picturesque village of Aberlour on Speyside. It is to him that five generations of Morrisons owe much of their Christian heritage.

In 1869, revival came to Aberlour. Two evangelists came to the village in response to the faithful prayer of two ladies over many years. As a result, my great grandfather received and confessed Christ as his personal Saviour, and with twenty-one others, was baptised in the river Spey the following year. This was the beginning of his spiritual life.

One on these evangelists chosen by the Living God to bring the good news to the North East of Scotland was Donald Ross. The following extract comes from a short monograph published by the conveners of The Aberdeen Christian Conference to celebrate its centenary in 1974.

“One instrument, specially chosen of God a century ago was Donald Ross, a man mighty in word and in deed, as he moved throughout the North-East. He was a man of great native talent, a shrewd judge of character, an upholder of Scriptural doctrine, uncompromising in his preaching, blunt and fearless in his expression. Well known throughout a wide area, his quaint and pithy sayings were often referred to and indeed are often quoted today. In almost every town and village that he touched, there were Christians long after he had gone who blessed this man from whose lips they first heard the Gospel.

Greatly persecuted and despised, he was nevertheless greatly used in the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on earth. During the meetings, he and his associates were frequently interrupted and were often subjected to a barrage of stones, turf and eggs from those who were so incensed at the preaching.

At Inverurie, a crowd of ruffians attempted to crush the preachers as they left the Town Hall at the end of the meetings; at Kintore, some of his friends arrived to find Donald Ross preaching in a barn to a crowd of young men who scoffed and jeered as he and an aged widow, the only Christian he found in the little town, sang the opening hymn.

‘The foxes found rest and the birds had their nest,

In the shade of the forest tree;

But thy couch was the sod, O Thou dear Son of God,

In the deserts of Galilee.’

Six young fellows from Auchterless, farm servants, found themselves the Sheriff at Aberdeen and were fined ten shillings each ‘or suffer seven days imprisonment’, when someone observed their behaviour and reported them ‘for using bad language, knocking on the doors and windows of a house while a revival meeting was in progress’.

At Huntly there was an attempt to throw the preacher over the bridge into the River Bogie.

Just as the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church, so out of these buffetings came blessing as the Word of the Lord grew and the number of converts multiplied.”

When real revival comes it will be a clear sovereign act of God. The evidence will be many conversions, accompanied by opposition. Revival won’t be ‘worked up’, but will come through those who are obviously chosen by the Lord, humble and genuine, evidenced in the scars they bear.

Laudable though it is, talk of revival in the west may perhaps be a little premature, given the absence of fearless characters like Donald Ross and his colleagues: individuals who were without doubt 'specially chosen of God'.    

Vital Protection......The Shield of Faith

Continuing with our focus on the Armour of God, it is interesting to note that when asking true believers to ‘take up the shield of faith’ the Apostle Paul prefaces his instruction with the words “above all”. In doing so he is emphasising the importance of this piece of armour to believers living out their faith in a hostile environment.

The Roman army used different shields at different times for different tasks. Cavalry carried a light oblong shield while legionaries carried the small, round buckler or ‘parma’ whose design incorporated iron and was about 36 inches in diameter.

The Apostle is however alluding to the ‘scutum’ a much larger and more effective weapon which eventually became the standard shield in the Roman army.

Measuring 4' x 2 ' and curved to the shape of the body, these shields were made of wood and were covered on the outside with thick leather. This design minimised the impact of any rough missile and also protected the legionary from the fire-tipped darts used in the artillery of Roman times.

Roman legionaries used their shields expertly in different formations the most famous of which is the ‘testudo’.  In this formation, legionaries formed a packed square for either attack or defence which was protected on all sides and overhead by their scutums.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, quotes the Roman historian Cassius Dio’s description of the formation from Mark Antony’s campaign of 36 BC: "This testudo and the way in which it is formed are as follows…..The heavy-armed troops who use the oblong, curved, and cylindrical shields are drawn up around the outside, making a rectangular figure, and, facing outward and holding their arms at the ready, they enclose the rest. The others, who have flat shields, form a compact body in the centre and raise their shields over the heads of all the others, so that nothing but shields can be seen in every part of the phalanx alike and all the men by the density of the formation are under shelter from missiles."

The Apostle Paul is very specific about the function of this shield. It is to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

The Apostle was no fool. He recognised the reality of Satan and the fact that he would constantly be on the lookout for chinks in the believer’s armour to attack with his main weapon which is doubt. Satan’s strategy is to cause believers to doubt every aspect of their faith in Christ, their salvation, the presence of the Holy Spirit and even the reliability of God’s word.

The great 19^th century evangelist Charles Hadden Spurgeon in a sermon delivered in 1861 called upon believers to take up the shield of faith and become offensive as well as defensive warriors in the spiritual battle:

 “Like the Spartans, every Christian is born a warrior. It is his destiny to be assaulted; it is his duty to attack. Part of his life will be occupied with defensive warfare. He will have to defend earnestly the faith once delivered to the saints; he will have to resist the devil; he will have to stand against all his wiles; and having done all, still to stand! He will, however, be but a sorry Christian if he acts only on the defensive. He must be one who goes against his foes, as well as stand still to receive their advance. He must be able to say with David, 'I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.' He must wrestle not with flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. He must have weapons for his warfare—not carnal—but “mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”

Knowing God’s word inside out both individually and corporately as church fellowships, and putting it into practice, are vital aspects of the shield of faith. Where 21^st century Scottish evangelicals are genuinely prepared to take up the shield of faith, they can truly begin to push back the powers of darkness in the land.

The Shoes of Peace

Today we come to the third item in the ‘Armour of God’ as described by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Church at Ephesus…. “Stand firm then……………….with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

As a historian with a keen interest in military history, I am well aware of the prowess of the Roman army and its great leaders whose strategies, tactics and exploits are still taught to 21^st century officers in military academies across the world.

Well trained, disciplined and led, the sheer professionalism of its legions enabled Rome to conquer and hold most of the known world 2,000 years ago.

Roman soldiers were well armed and equipped from head to toe. While most Roman civilians wore thin sandals, soldiers had special footwear which time after time proved to be a decisive factor on the battlefield. Indeed some historians credit the military successes of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to their soldiers’ feet being well enough shod to enable them to undertake long marches over seemingly difficult terrain at speed.

The soldier wore the caliga, a thick-soled, hob-nailed, half-boot with leather straps tightly tied round the ankle. Studding with metal nails gave him stability in all forms of terrain. Good footwear ensured a firm footing when charging forward in battle and helped him to hold his ground and make quick moves without slipping, sliding and falling.

What then does the Apostle Paul mean when he says that believers should “Stand firm then……………….with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

The author John Piper writing on his website at www.desiringgod.org sheds some light on the ‘gospel of peace’: “Sometimes commentators point out how strange it is that Paul should mention a gospel of peace right in the middle of a passage dealing with spiritual warfare and conflict and armour. But it isn't strange is it? The aim of our warfare is that people would accept the terms of peace that God holds out, namely, faith in Jesus. And the only reason there is any conflict at all is because the power of sin and the powers of Satan are dead set against making peace with God.”

The Apostle Paul’s analogy here is one of having our feet shod so that we can resist Satan and stand firm when we are attacked. In ‘military-speak’ believers are to stand firm, hold their position and not run away. In order to do that their feet need to be both protected and equipped to keep from slipping.

In his Epistle to the Romans the Apostle gives this wonderful assurance to believers under pressure: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Standing firm with, ‘feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace’, true believers in 21^st century Scotland are more than conquerors.

The Breastplate of Righteousness

Continuing our series of posts on the ‘Believer’s Armour’ we come to the second of the Apostle Paul’s list of defensive items…..the ‘breastplate of righteousness’.

In the Apostle Paul’s day, this piece of armour was designed to protect the heart and lungs or ‘vital organs’ of the Roman soldier. Initially made of leather and strengthened with pieces of horn sewn in, the breastplate was improved over time. Later more sophisticated versions were manufactured from metals such as copper and were highly polished with elaborate designs on the visible frontal segment.

What then does the Apostle Paul mean when he talks about believers protecting themselves with the ‘breastplate of righteousness’?

The answer to this question lies in the holy nature of the Living God, a characteristic which some believers find hard to understand.

Blogger Tim Challies has recently attempted to clarify the issue: “Holiness is a difficult term to define. Most Christians know that a dimension of holiness is God’s set-apartness, his being essentially different from everyone and everything else, but there is far more to it than that……  If holiness is very near the heart of what it means for God to be God, it would make sense that it will be difficult for finite minds to understand and to distil to just a few words.

What does it mean that God is holy? Entire books would not come close to exhausting it. It means that God is different from everything else that exists in the universe. God is unique and set apart. Everything God is, everything God has, everything God does is saturated with holiness and flows out of his holiness. He is pure and good and perfect in all his works and all his ways. God’s goodness is good because he is holy; God’s justice is just because he is holy. Whatever God is, his holiness is right at the very heart.”

The great theologian Charles Ryrie wrote, “…holiness in the Bible means separation from all that is common or unclean.  In respect to God, holiness means not only that He is separate from all that is unclean and evil but also that He is positively pure and thus distinct from all others”.

This fact alone, abundantly clear in the Bible, places all human beings in a quandary: we are separated from God, the very source of life by something which we cannot fix by our own efforts…our sinfulness.

Today many people continue to put their faith in their own righteous deeds. Jesus however was very clear that self-righteousness cut no ice with His Father:
 
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

As every born again believer knows, God sacrificed His Son on a cross for their sin, and because of this every true believer is righteous in the sight of God. They stand justified and free of condemnation. This is God’s great gift to all who believe.

Blogger Dele Oke explains two key aspects of righteousness: “Firstly, it is imputed to us: this means something we are given free of charge without effort. This gives us the right to stand before God and speak to him as if we were sinless. Secondly righteousness is imparted into us: this means something that Christ works in us and with our cooperation. This grants us the inner strength to live and conduct ourselves in a manner that is pleasing to God.”
Despite the challenging spiritual environment of 21^st century Scotland, God still wants His people to live holy lives, not walking in sin or compromising their faith.

This means being properly equipped inside and out with the power of Christ by wearing the breastplate of righteousness 24/7.

Truth....The Absolute Gold Standard

There are new levels of hostility to born again Christians in 21^st century Scotland.

Enmity and opposition to the Gospel is increasing daily in society at large. Even within what can be loosely described as the church, orthodox Bible believing evangelicals are increasingly assailed on the one hand by liberals who deny the foundations of the faith.

On the other hand, they are faced with the covert infiltration of the church by a new breed of self-appointed church and ministry leaders who promote their own pronouncements over the veracity of scripture.

Orthodox true believers have two options in such a situation……curl up and withdraw from life, or do what the Bible says: recognise they are in a spiritual battle taking their stand for Christ while wearing the armour of God for protection.

The Apostle Paul describes this armour in terms of 6 items that a Roman soldier of his day would have worn: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Interestingly, the Apostle begins with the ‘belt of truth’.

The belt was a very important item of the Roman Soldier's armour. Worn round the waist the belt was very wide to give it the strength to hold a variety of items….at least one sword, a rations sack, a rope and other specialist pieces of equipment. The belt was tied in several places so that it would stay in place no matter how the soldier moved about.

It’s no coincidence that the belt the Apostle Paul talks about is the ‘belt of truth’.

In an article entitled, ‘The Battle for Truth’, the late Dave Hunt wrote:

“There is a battle raging for man's soul and for control of the universe. It is a very real war between the "God of truth" and Satan, "the father of lies" in whom there "is no truth". One either believes God's truth or Satan's lie. There is no neutral ground. The cosmic battle of the ages is the battle for truth. But what is truth?

An editorial entitled "Truth" in the Los Angeles Times noted that:

"in a contemporary eight-volume encyclopaedia of philosophy, 'Truth' has only three lines……. Yet in the King James Bible the word "truth" occurs 235 times in 222 verses. …….It is to God's Word, then, that we must turn to learn of truth.”

A Christian's survival in the world requires a firm grounding in the absolute truth of the Bible.  The power of truth is that it sets us free by breaking the power of Satan’s lies.

In the Genesis account of Eve in the Garden of Eden, Satan downplays the consequences of sin and promotes its pleasures.  When true believers are firmly rooted in the truth, they are best equipped to recognise lies, stand up to Satan and do God's will.

In modern warfare, Intelligence data and its interpretation plays a vital role in the outcome of conflict.  The Bible as God's word reveals the truth which enables believers to recognise and decisively defeat Satan’s lies.  The writer to the Hebrews sums up the role that the Bible should play in the life of a true believer:

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” 

When we put on the ‘belt of truth’ every day, we arm ourselves with the power and truth of God’s word.

Absolutely trustworthy and applicable to every situation…it’s ‘gold standard’ protection.