29 November 2023
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“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]
Presbyterians Week Headlines
[1] Indi Gregory Funeral to Be Held at Nottingham Cathedral on Friday
[2] Popes Condemned the Bible Societies
[3] Hamas Vows to Destroy Israel
[4] The Goose and the Gander: How Feminism Paved the Way for Transgenderism in Sports
Additional Articles of Interest
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[1] Indi Gregory Funeral to Be Held at Nottingham Cathedral on Friday
The funeral of Indi Gregory, the eight-month-old baby at the centre of a tragic end-of-life legal battle, will be held at Nottingham Cathedral this Friday, 1 December at 10.15am.
The family has said that the media are welcome to attend the service which will be led by the Bishop of Nottingham, the Rt. Rev Patrick McKinney.
The family will make a statement on the day and the congregation will hear a moving tribute from Indi’s father, Dean Gregory.
An Italian delegation will be in attendance at the funeral and Italian government has offered to pay for the funeral following their dramatic intervention to have Indi transferred to the Bambino Gesù Paediatric Hospital in Rome for specialist treatment.
The refusal of the NHS and UK courts to allow Indi to be transferred to Rome has sparked international outrage, with the Wall Street Journal, for example, running a headline: ‘Britain’s NHS Left Indi Gregory to Die’.
Indi had been battling a rare mitochondrial disorder since she was born in February. In September, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust brought a case against the family to the High Court arguing that life-support should be removed in Indi’s ‘best interests’.
The family wanted Indi to continue to receive treatment or be allowed to be transferred for specialist support abroad. Throughout the legal battle they were supported by the Christian Legal Centre.
On November 11, after all domestic legal routes had been exhausted and the High Court had ignored the Italian government’s intervention under under Article 9§2 of the 1996 Hague Convention, Indi was transferred with security and a police presence from the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham to a hospice.
Life-support was removed and two-days later, on November 13, Indi died in her mum Claire’s arms.
Mr Gregory has since told the media that Indi died in ‘excruciating pain’.
He said: “In the weeks before, she had been calm and relaxed and didn’t appear to be in any pain – but this all changed after life support was removed.”
He added that: “On her last day, she was in excruciating pain. She suffered. After she’d passed away, we gave her a kiss and told her we loved her.”
Following Indi’s death, the family were stunned to received personal letters of condolence from the Pope and the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.
Pope Francis described little Indi as “an innocent, fragile human being, who in her silence only asked for love, relationship and care.” And Ms Meloni added that her country had done “everything [it] could” but “unfortunately it was not enough.”
The UK government has remained silent throughout the case.
Of the Italian government’s offer to pay for Indi’s funeral, Dean said: “It’s amazing. It makes you feel emotional but also sad, as you question what the UK has done to help. The answer is nothing.”
Dean said: “We’re going to give her the best send-off we can – and she deserves it. She was baptised so it will be a Christian send-off with a choir and organ music. It’s going to be a very sad but amazing day. She’ll be with her musical lamb in the coffin. The NHS and the courts tried to get rid of Indi without anybody knowing – but we will make sure she is remembered for ever.”
+ Christian Concern, 70 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8AX, England, 020 7935 1488, Contact Page
[2] Popes Condemned the Bible Societies
The following is excerpted from A History of the Churches from a Baptist Perspective, www.wayoflilfe.org –
Bible Societies multiplied in that century and distributed Bibles throughout the world. The British & Foreign Bible Society was the first in 1804. This was followed by the formation of Bible Societies in America (the Philadelphia Bible Society of 1808), Scotland (1809), Russia (1813), Iceland (1815), Norway (1816), Australia (1817), Greece (1819), Colombia (1825), South Africa (1831), New Zealand (1846), and the Philippines (1900).
Most of the Bibles were published “without note or comment.” They were distributed for free or for a small price. But instead of rejoicing at this, the popes were angry and condemned the Bible Societies.
a. In 1816, Pope Pius VIII condemned the Bible Society of Poland. He called Bible distribution “a most crafty device, by which the very foundations of religion are undermined.” He called it “a defilement of the faith, eminently dangerous to souls.” He said that the distribution of Bibles “produces more harm than benefit.” He put all Bibles printed by the “heretic” Bible Societies on the Index of Prohibited Books.
b. In 1824, Pope Leo XII condemned Bible distribution. He said to the bishops of Ireland, “[B]e persuaded, that if the sacred Scriptures be everywhere indiscriminately published, more evil than advantage will arise thence” (R.P. Blakeney, Popery in Its Social Aspects, p. 136).
c. In 1836 and 1844, Pope Gregory XVI condemned the distribution of Bibles. He commended the Council of Trent’s prohibition “against the publication, distribution, reading, and possession of books of the Holy Scriptures translated into the vulgar tongue” (J.A. Wylie, The Papacy, p. 182).
d. In 1846, Pope Pius IX condemned the Bible societies as following in the steps of “ancient heretics.” He concluded his encyclical by praising Mary as “our mediatrix, advocate, our firmest hope, the source of our confidence, and whose protection is most powerful and most efficacious with God.”
e. In 1870, a papal law required that copies of the Bible found in the possession of visitors to the Vatican City be confiscated (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, VI, p. 727).
f. In 1887, Pope Leo XIII placed the French Bible produced by Henri Lasserre on the index of prohibited books (Alexander Robertson, The Papal Conquest, 1909, p. 161).
+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
[3] Hamas Vows to Destroy Israel
[Editor’s Note: The latter half of this article is a summary of the dispensational perspective on modern Israel as related to Scripture, and not the perspective of Reformed theology.]
Speaking from relative safety in Qatar and Lebanon, leaders of Hamas say their goal is to destroy Israel from the land. “Khalil al-Hayya, a member of the terrorist group’s politburo in Qatar, said they planned the Oct. 7 assault to ‘change the entire equation and not just have a clash’ … Hamas’s goal is not to run Gaza and to bring it water and electricity and such. … this battle is to completely overthrow the situation.’ … Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad told Lebanon’s LBC TV on Oct. 24 that the terror group would continue to carry out massacres like the one it carried out in southern Israel on Oct. 7 until the Jewish state is destroyed. ‘Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation, and must be finished,’ said Hamad, according to a translation of the interview provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute” (“Hamas: We want permanent war with Israel,” Israel Today, Nov. 8, 2023). Hamas is whistling in the dark. Even in her present unrighteous condition, Israel is God’s chosen nation and that land is Israel’s by divine decree. All of the armies of the world cannot change that. In about 700 BC, speaking the infallible Word of God, the prophet Hosea summarized Israel’s future as follows. “For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days” (Hosea 3:4-5). The many days without a king and sacrifice and ephod (priesthood and temple) are nearly finished, and the conversion and restoration is at hand. “David their king” is a reference to David’s Son Jesus Christ who was promised an eternal throne. “Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, ?us saith the Lord of hosts … when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:8, 12-13). “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
[4] The Goose and the Gander: How Feminism Paved the Way for Transgenderism in Sports
For a man to pretend to be a woman and to compete in women’s sports is nutty, but it is a product of a society that has rejected the Word of God. Feminism says the woman can be a man. She can do whatever the man does and she must be allowed to do so. This is the philosophy that has put women into the front lines of the military. Deshauna Barber, 2016 Miss USA winner and a soldier in the U.S. Army, said, “We are just as tough as men. As a commander of my unit, I am powerful. I am dedicated. And it is important that we recognize that gender does not limit us in the United States Army … It’s time to show that we as women are versatile, strong and can be anything we set our minds to.” On the other hand, transgenderism claims that a man can be a woman. Why not? If the woman can be a man, why can’t a man compete in women’s sports? But now women are complaining. “It isn’t fair; it isn’t right.” This is the dilemma caused by exalting man’s thinking over God’s Word. The Bible destroys all of this confusion at its root. It says God made man “male and female” (Genesis 1:27). It says the man and woman are created for unique roles in society. They are to complement one another rather than compete with one another. That is the only right view of male and female. The Bible specifically says the man is stronger than the female (Proverbs 20:29; 1 Peter 3:7). This is obvious when men pretending to be women compete in women’s sports. It is obvious when women try to compete head-to-head with men in the military. The same reason there are no women in professional football or special forces is the reason why men should not compete in women’s sports.
+ Way of Life Literature, Post Office Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, 519-652-2619, fbns@wayoflife.org
Additional Articles of Interest
– More Evidence Emerges That Israel Bombed and Killed Its Own Citizens on October 7
– Exposing the Christian Zionism Cult
– Pilot Warns of Airline Industry Disaster Due to COVID-19 Vaccines
– ‘We’re Gonna Come for Your [Bleeping] Children’: Christian School-Shooting ‘Copycat’ Uncovered
– Christian Cleared of Bible-Sharing Crime Urges Believers to Do One Thing
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