A fervent Puritan John Hooper examined all of his clergymen and
found that some did not even know the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments or the Apostles' Creed. He set out to remedy this, and to
educate the people, preaching every day, often up to four or five times.
He was known for his kindness to the poor. The people of Gloucester
loved him. In spite of that, under the new government his marriage cost
him his position as bishop; and his views on the Lord's Supper (the
Eucharist) and other doctrines, cost him his life.
On February 9, 1555 he rose up early in the morning, when it was still dark, to pray. When it was light, he asked that no one be allowed into his
room until the hour of his execution, as he wished to continue in
prayer. If only he would
change his religious opinions he could spare his life.
"If you love my soul, away with it!"
he
exclaimed, repeating the words for emphasis. Though his executioners had strict orders not to allow him to
preach to the crowd he still could reach them with his words and asked the people to
pray the Lord's prayer with him, which they did.
The reeds that were supposed to kindle the
fire were so wet they had to rebuilt the fire three times. The stump of the stake at which he was
burned was rediscovered in the twentieth century and shown to the
curious.
His writings influenced generations of Puritans and evangelicals.
A YouGov pol has revealed that only six of the ten commandments of God are still important to British Christians.
Not to our surprise most Britain's the four which have fallen by the wayside are the requirement not to
worship idols, use the God His name in vain, to worship no other God, and to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Concerning the Sabbath or the Sunday since the 2012 ruling by a High Court judge - the first on the issue in nearly a
decade - Christians have no right to decline working on Sunday
as it is not a “core component” of their beliefs. The fact that some Christians were prepared to work on Sundays meant it was not protected, the court said.
In 1994, when Sunday trading in England was liberalised shopworkers
were given a guarantee that working would be strictly voluntary, but the
guarantee did not apply to people in other sectors.
The
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations, published in 2003,
say employers must justify Sunday working as a “legitimate business
need” and does not give a blanket right to Christians not to work.
If employers fail to treat staff fairly and proportionately, the employee may be able to claim discrimination, the rules add.
The last ruling by judges was when a quarry worker claimed his
Christian beliefs had been treated with “contempt” by employers who
tried to force him to work on Sundays in 2003.
When we look at lots of Christians and see what they do on Sabbath and / or on the Sunday it is no surprise courts consider it not of any religious importance.
Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is seen as the least relevant of the
Commandments in the modern era. Fewer than one in five (19%) Britons say
keeping Sundays holy is still an important principle to live by,
including fewer than a third of Christians (31%) and 7% of the
non-religious. Almost half of Catholics said they supported keeping the Sabbath day
holy nut by that they mostly mean keeping the Sunday as rest day. Just 29 per cent of Protestants said they felt the same.
Concerning the first commandment a real Christians must recognise that the majority of Christians do worship more than one god and mostly do not even know the Name of the Holy Father. As such they do not mind swearing or using one of more tittles of God to make their words stronger or to show their disgust over something.
Just under
a quarter (23%) of the overall population say that you may not use the
word "God" in or as a curse, including 38% of Christians and just 7% of
the non-religious.
Less than one in three Christians believe in preserving Sunday as a day
of rest, with 38 per cent against using the Lord's name in vain and 43
per cent condemning the worshipping of idols, though lots of them do not worry to bow down in front of graven images or statues and pictures of gods and saints.
On
Tuesday the Archbishop of Canterbury signalled support for a day of
rest, tweeting that he was "encouraged" by the Chief Rabbi's campaign
for people to spend time offline over the Sabbath.
While almost half of Catholics said they supported keeping the
Sabbath day holy, just 29 per cent of Protestants said they felt the
same.
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, said: " In an age as
busy, frantic and feverish as ours I would have thought that keeping the
Sabbath, or at the very least observing a balance between work and rest
and play was more important than ever.
Sabbath is both a radical idea and a practically useful idea for it
simply acknowledges that we need to rest and we need to play. Indeed, it
says this is what we are made for."
The Rt Rev
David Walker: 'Believers and non-believers alike support the simple,
ancient statements which continue to provide the foundations of our
legal system and our shared sense of right and wrong.'Credit:
Martin Rickett/PA
He also
lamented Christians' abandonment of the commandment about idolatry,
saying:
"Whether it is celebrity, wealth, a certain designer label pair
of jeans jeans or a make of car, we have all construct a sense of worth
in the desire to own and possess certain things that we believe will
give value.
Today we do find lots of christians spending more time on their idols than on the Divine Creator God. In the United States we see a similar trend having 'money' or 'wealth' having become the most important god. There even in mega-churches people have special services to offer them more wealth.
Fewer than a third of Britons (31%) say that people should not worship
idols (defined in the survey as statues or symbols). Christians are
split on whether they still consider this to be an important
commandment, with 43% saying it is and 44% saying it is not. Meanwhile,
only one in five non-religious Brits (20%) say it is still an important
rule, though most, not to say all, of the respondents who claim to be Christian worship a triune god and as such go in against the first commandment of God.
Only one in five Britons (20%) still believe that the Christian God’s
monopoly on worship is still relevant in modern Britain (including 36%
of Christians and just 5% of non-religious Brits).
The survey shows that believers and non-believers alike support the simple, ancient statements
which continue to provide the foundations of our legal system and our
shared sense of right and wrong.
Having been central tenets of Biblical teaching for several millenia 6 from the 10 commandments are still considered of value today.
"Thou shalt not kill" receives 93% of the votes. Most Brits think it is still important to live by this and by the command "thou shalt not steal". In the case of both Commandments, they were seen as still important by 94% of Christians and 93% of those with no religion.
Being honest about certain matters seems surprisingly still important for 87%, though we can see a lot of boasting and hear lots of fake stories and hear a lot of people not telling the truth.
Not bearing false witness (telling lies) about others came third
among all groups, with 87% of all Brits, 90% of Christians, and 86% of
those without a religion saying that it is still important to live by.
Honesty has also to do with how we treat others and how we behave ourselves in relationships. Though we hear a lot about people having good fun with different people of the opposite or even same sex, close to three quarters (73%) of the population at large say that not
committing adultery is still a top life principle, including 69% of
non-religious Brits and 76% of Christians. Which is strange that it is so high on the roster because we encounter lots of divorces and mixed families.
Today we also find lots of elderly people left alone in homes. Police also often have to come to help by violence against parents. Though the poll shows that "Honouring thy father and thy mother" is still an important rule to follow for 69% of all Britons, including 78% of Christians and 60% of the non-religious.
The Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, said:
"This survey shows that
the practical morality which has lain at the heart of the Judeo
Christian tradition for the last 3500 years still finds favour with most
British people today, even where explicitly religious commandments gain
less support.
“First, let it be known, that I created each and every person on this planet; also, That I Love Each And Every One Of Them. Furthermore, let it be known unto them, that I have a purpose for them now, during the millennial reign of my Son Jesus (Yeshua) and Then Throught All Eternity!
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - NARA - 515673 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“My precious humans are eternal spiritual beings: yes, for the time being they are in flesh, blood and bone bodies, at death, that changes. When I send Yeshua to rapture up the church they will be changed as well. I am having you tell humanity this because it won’t be long before I tell My Son to get His Bride, the Church, the believers.”
Strange that this God calls those human beings eternal spirits, when He has created them as mortal elements in the universe.
Then that god speaks about the Satans or adversaries of God and the ones who fool the world, with their own false teachings.
As he (the Satan or devil) sees the approaching of Christ’s appearing, he and a few of his partners (doubt and fear) have really been stepping it up.” One of his lies is,” God (Yahweh) does not exist.” Another is, “Jesus (Yeshua) did not really die and rise again.”
“So, consequently he has turned a great number of people against me. He really does hate my precious humans.” “Another one of his tactics is he has chosen very weak minded individuals to enlist in his destructive task and they have fallen for his lies, hook, line and sinker. He tells them to go to various places and spread these lies. He even pushes his agenda onto governments. He even tells people that it is not right to have people display Godly things in government institutions; like the Ten Commandments for instance. He has them say it is offensive to pray in public places.”
The author calls all those who do not want to believe and those who agreed to let such things happen "atheists, non-believers, heathen or just plain lost". But he reminds the people they have to remember that God, no matter what happens, still loves these people: "don’t ever loose sight of that fact."
And that is very important: god loves His creation and all what we can see around us is part of that creation. All people on this planet earth are also created in the image of God and are loved by the Divine Creator. He also gives them the necessary time to be able to find Him and to come closer to Him. though many also donot want to recognise the person God provided to save the world, He gave His only begotten son, to offer himself as the most justified ransom and to become the mediator between Him (Jehovah God) and men.
A nice building in the United States of America. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So therefore I also would call like that author to the United States of America and to other nations:
Hello America, are you not the New World, where so many of the Europeans went to because at the continent many denominations limited their people and because many governments brought strong limitations of all sorts of freedom?
Did you America also forgot that many of your ancestors looked for the Truth and looked for God His Word and His Will?
Though many descendants from those pioneers went far away from those Bible Students and Bible researchers, and prefered to follow 'standard churches' or even more 'mega churches'. With times (you or) they became not so interested any more in reading regularly the word of God, available in much more versions now in their own or in their new language. You also wanted to be called Christians but pick and choose which laws to live by and to impose on others living around you.
II (The Presidents of the United States of America album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
They prefered to make new gods, like the many movie stars, football and other sports idols, but also the fashion models and idols form other worlds like the cooking world. In this some did not mind to fit their other god, Jesus. So many americans are not willing to accept hat he was a real Jewish man, of flesh and blood, who could be seen by many, who was tempted more than once and who really was brought to death in a cruel way, but less cruel than many other tortured people.
God is an eternal spirit, who can not be seen by men or they would die. God also can not be tempted. that is all be written in the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, many do not want to take for the words which are there black on white, but they do prefer to hold fast on tradition and denominational dogma's, like the 'Holy Trinity'.
Yes, America, wants to stay blind and does not want to have its eyes opened by the Biblical truth. Do they ever wounder if it is not because of their blindness, their ignorance that america is turning upside down?
But is it not the disease which is spreading all over the world, where money is the Manon, the new god worshipped by so many? The Love of money is the root of all evil church in America and every other culture that has turned its back on Christ and his Father, the Only One God. The Biblical message has been corrupted to such a degree that seminaries are supporting a “priest class” that has elevated itself above the laity. This shift toward relying on a seminary educated expert trained in Christian theology to lead the church is inherently risky and flawed. The body of Christ and it’s shepherds are to be vigilant with discerning and testing the doctrines being introduced into the churches. The modern day Protestant denominations have completely capitulated the hard won gains of the Reformation and the American bible Student movement. America and with it other nations are re-instituting the old Catholic paradigm of ignorant congregation and all knowing priest class. On top of the increase in creating Biblically ignorant congregations, America has hybridized Biblical Christianity with of all things “The American Dream”. The dream has been shattered. The New Atheism has made it safer for people to declare their godlessness.
Godlessness and Unbelief is it there to stay?!? Or not?
It can change, but we shall need time and lots of people wanting and daring to come out into the world to assign their love for Christ and to show the world the work this son of god has done, and which blessings we have received by his offering himself for us.
You, like every other humans on the face of this planet, have one overwhelming and stupendously important need … to be forgiven for the sins you have already been condemned for, and released from the death sentence that you have already been sentenced to. No matter what happens in this world, as long as Christ shall not have returned, all people shall share the same 'lot', the same burden of finding death at the end of the road. We all shall die, believers and unbelievers. But do know, afterwards there shall be something different for believers and non-believers. Than it shall be too late to change direction God has given each of us and you, time enough to think, to consider, to find out, to look for the right way, for the right path.
From time to time surveys are undertaken asking people whether they believe in God. Surprisingly about 60% usually say they do, but when you wuestion them about their God often you get not much information and have to constatate that they seem not to know much about their God or have various thoughts which not always can be according what is written in the Holy Scriptures. Their general view of God reflects their view of themselves. Most people are inclined to be indulgent towards their own failings.
A lot of people who believe in god never took the opportunity to get to know their God better by taking up the Bible and reading it. They seem to have to be forgotten that all through the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets of the Old Testament, and then through the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament we are given a picture of whom is God and what He wants from us. The picture of God is not complicated or confused, for there emerges one outstanding Personality with His own decisive character, closely concerned with the career of the human race and the future of the world. He cannot be relegated to the fringes of human concerns, nor pushed away "somewhere" in the distant heavens, to be conveniently ignored. If men and women do that, the consequences for themselves will be disastrous.
It was to Israel that was granted the great revelation of God's supremacy over all the gods of mankind in the stirring events of their Exodus from Egypt. God had brougth terrible things over the country. The Israelites saw the effects of the plagues upon the Egyptians and witnessed their own deliverance at the crossing of the Red Sea. Moses put it very strikingly 40 years later:
"For ask now of the days that are past ... whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is? ... Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials (R.V. margin), by signs, and by wonders ... according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?" (Deuteronomy 4:32-34).
Upon this open demonstration of His power and salvation on their behalf, God based His appeal for their service towards Him:
"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar (special) treasure unto me from among all peoples ... " (Exodus 19:4,5).
Notice particularly here that God's appeal for faith in Himself was solidly based not upon His moral excellence (of which He would give plenty of evidence later on), but upon the demonstration of His supremacy over the greatest pagan system on earth at the time (the Egyptian). This is reinforced when God reveals through Moses His Law for Israel, for the very first clause begins:
"I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exodus 20:2).
Then follow the Ten Commandments, the kernel of God's Law for them.
People are given the ways how to honour their God and they are told how many gods there may be worshipped.
Do you believe in a Unique God?
Do you have an idea about the personality of your God and how He want to be looked at? How do you see the relation between Him, you and Christ Jesus?
How do you interpret: "We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods ... yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things ... and one Lord, Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 8:4-6).?
This month's survey question:
Does God Exist?
POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
- Whatever God we invent will be true for us. Everyone is right.
- No. The cosmos is the product of chance and the laws of physics.
- Yes. He is the creator. He has a purpose. His will is revealed in the Bible.
- Yes. However, He is not interested particularly in us or the earth
““If you [apostles] continue to love me, you will continue to observe my commandments.” (Joh 14:15 MHM)
“The person having my commandments and continuing to observe them, that person is the one who continues to love me. Also, the person who continues to love me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him, and I shall make myself visible to him.”” (Joh 14:21 MHM)
“Jesus answered and said to him: “If anyone continues to love me, he will observe my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come toward him and we will make an abode alongside him.” (Joh 14:23 MHM)
“You remain in my love if you continue to observe my commandments, even as I have observed my Father’s commandments and continue to remain in Him.”” (Joh 15:10 MHM)
“For this is the love of The God, that we observe His commandments, and his commandments are not a burden,” (1Jo 5:3 MHM)
“Now this is how such compassionate affection is manifest: so that we may continue to walk in [God’s] commandments, just as you originally heard, that you continue walking in [that same compassionate affection].” (2Jo 1:6 MHM)
“I am giving to you [disciples] a new commandment, so that you may love one another just as I loved all of you, so you may love one another.” (Joh 13:34 MHM)
“You remain in my love if you continue to observe my commandments, even as I have observed my Father’s commandments and continue to remain in Him.”” (Joh 15:10 MHM)
“Now, be doers of the Word and not just hearers, deceiving yourselves.” (Jas 1:22 MHM)
A fervent Puritan John Hooper examined all of his clergymen and
found that some did not even know the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments or the Apostles' Creed. He set out to remedy this, and to
educate the people, preaching every day, often up to four or five times.
He was known for his kindness to the poor. The people of Gloucester
loved him. In spite of that, under the new government his marriage cost
him his position as bishop; and his views on the Lord's Supper (the
Eucharist) and other doctrines, cost him his life.
