Wake up and smell the coffee

With the successful prosecution of yet another Christian B&B owner over her refusal to give a double room to a gay couple, it's time for Christians in the UK to wake up and smell the coffee, because if same-sex marriage becomes a reality, this will only be the start. Sadly, it's the BNP who have taken up the case and who are campaigning for the "rights of all home owners, gays included, to rent or not rent rooms to whomsoever they wish". The problem is a law which was passed a few years ago and which outlaws discrimination in the provision of goods and services on the basis of sexual orientation, however laws are not set in stone - they can, and in this case should, be changed. As Christians we need to be challenging legislation which goes against our religious convictions, or at least arguing for a freedom of conscience clause. It is just not acceptable for us to be told that we should find another job or business if we can't comply with equalities legislation. Christian B&B owners have had 'married couples only' policies for their double rooms for a lot longer than the equalities act has been in place. It's hard not to feel that the legislation is being used as a stick to beat Christians with. That said, if we don't make our feelings known to politicians, it's our own fault if they pass laws which discriminate against us.

Why what we believe matters

What we believe matters because it affects our actions.

• If we believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, we will not prepare ourselves for the tribulation.
• If we believe that Roman Catholicism is a Christian religion we will not evangelise Roman Catholics.
• If we believe that, as Christians, we cannot fall away, we will be complacent about deception and sin.
• If we believe in the power of positive thinking we will end up trying to pray a 2 deg rise in temperature from below freezing to above freezing. (I am not kidding - I have seen this being tried! It didn't work.)
• If we believe that the Bible is not absolute but has to be interpreted in the light of modern day thinking, we will accept homosexual marriage and female ministers.
• If we believe that we have to conquer the world as Christians before Christ returns then we will become militant and will try to impose Christianity on others rather than winning them to Christ.
• If we believe that we need to overcome the principalities and powers over a geographical area before we can evangelise, we will spend more time in so-called strategic spiritual warfare than we do in witnessing to the unsaved.

There are so many subtle deceptions coming into the church in these last days. The only way to avoid them is to know the Word. When tempted, Jesus answered Satan with 'it is written' - we should do the same. We need to be so familiar with the Bible - old and new testaments - that we can recognise a false teaching when we hear or see one. We need to check that what we believe is actually the truth because it is not only a matter of life and death - it is a matter of eternal salvation or eternal damnation.

'Take heed that ye be not deceived' Luke 21:8 KJV

121 speak with forked tongue?

Well, the Church of Scotland has got its knickers in a twist and no mistake. Just before the end of the Scottish Government's consultation, it finally came out and said that the laws on marriage should not be changed to allow same-sex marriage. That must have taken some soul-searching on the part of 121 (George Street – HQ of the church). Given that we already have at least one minister who has been openly living with a same-sex partner in a CofS manse, what this latest pronouncement means is that the CofS has ditched the requirement that sex should be kept only for within marriage. To put it another way, by upholding one part of Scripture, the CofS has effectively denied another. Forked tongue indeed. It will be interesting to see how they slither their way out of this one.....