National Covenant & the Antichrist

There was a time when the Protestant world was united in the identification of the antichrist of Biblical prophecy. John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Cranmer, John Bunyan, Sir Isaac Newton, John Wesley, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edward, Charles Spurgeon all “saw the office of the Papacy as the Antichrist.”

 http://www.markbeast.org/mark-beast-who.html

The writers and signers of the National Covenant in 1638 were in full agreement with this recognition. In the opening section of the document, the condition and state of the church at Rome are thoroughly enumerated and defined leaving the reader in no doubt as to the authors’ beliefs regarding the notorious beast of Revelation.

“But in special we detest and refuse the usurped authority of that Roman Antichrist upon the Scriptures of God, upon the Kirk, the civil magistrate, and consciences of men;...” This statement in itself would be enough to raise papal eyebrows.

“…all his tyrannous laws made upon indifferent things against our Christian liberty; his erroneous doctrine against the sufficiency of the written Word, the perfection of the law, the office of Christ and His blessed evangel;..” This is an early chastisement directed at the papacy for its open and utter deprivation of Christian liberty, the diminuation of God’s Holy Word, His Law, and the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement.

 “…his corrupted doctrine concerning original sin, our natural inability and rebellion to God's law, our justification by faith only,...” Probably the most important key to the Protestant Reformation is the text “…the just shall live by his faith.” Hab. ii. 4.

 “…our imperfect sanctification and obedience to the law, the nature, number, and use of the holy sacraments; his five bastard sacraments,..” An 1859 commentary of the catechism by John Brown explains Q. 93.

Q. 93. What are the Sacraments of the New Testament?

A. The Sacraments of the New Testament are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Q. How do these differ from the Sacraments of the Old Testament?

A. The sacraments of the Old Testament more darkly represented Christ as to come; but those of the New clearly represented him as already come.

Q. Do baptism and the Lord’s Supper succeed in the place of circumcision and the Passover?

A. Yes; baptism is come in place of circumcision, and the Lord’s Supper in place of Passover.

Q. Are there no more sacraments under the New Testament, than baptism and the Lord’s supper?

A. No more of divine institution; but the Papists have added five bastard sacraments, viz. marriage, ordination, confirmation, penance and extreme unction.

Brown goes on to explain that these five are completely and utterly without Biblical basis or authority, a fact noted below by the Covenant authors, “without the Word of God.” ^1.

“…with all his rites, ceremonies, and false doctrine, added to the ministration of the true sacraments, without the Word of God; his cruel judgments against infants departing without the sacrament;…” In these days it was commonly believed among the papists that if an infant died having not been baptized, he would spend his eternity in “limbo,” a sort of nothingness, “imagined as a kind of neutral residence for souls, with neither the torment of hell nor the joy of heaven.” ^2.

“…his absolute necessity of baptism; his blasphemous opinion of transubstantiation…” Prominent among the features of John Knox’s service of worship was the discontinuance of kneeling at the Holy Communion. He regarded this attitude as a symbolic endorsement of transubstantiation and of the idolatry of the host. ^3.

“…or real presence of Christ's body in the elements, and receiving of the same by the wicked, or bodies of men; his dispensations, with solemn oaths, perjuries, and degrees of marriage, forbidden in the Word; his cruelty against the innocent divorced; his devilish mass; his blasphemous priesthood; his profane sacrifice for the sins of the dead and the quick; his canonization of men, calling upon angels or saints departed, worshipping of imagery, relics, and crosses; dedicating of kirks, altars, days, vows to creatures; his purgatory, prayers for the dead,…” a practice still encouraged today and is said to be “bound up inseperably with the doctrine of purgatory.” ^4.

“…praying or speaking in a strange language; with his processions and blasphemous litany, and multitude of advocates or mediators; his manifold orders, auricular confession; his desperate and uncertain repentance; his general and doubtsome faith; his satisfactions of men for their sins; his justification by works, opus operatum,..” a technical term meaning that grace can be earned through certains “acts” such as baptism.

“works of supererogation,..”, or works that are “beyond what God requires,” relieving one from the necessity of penance, viz. the vows of “chastity, poverty and obedience.”   

merits, pardons, peregrinations and stations; his holy water, baptizing of bells,…”, a practice that today is played down by Catholics who refer to the phrase as “merely popular and metaphorical” and it was “not really meant that the bells were truly baptized,” though at the time it was indeed referred to as “baptism.”

“…conjuring of spirits, crossing, saning,…”, referred to by Catholics as the “ultimate rite of passage for an infant. It serves three primary functions: formally naming the child, accepting the child as a member of the larger community and bestowing blessings on the child in the form of nine drops of sacred water.”  Today this is also called “Wiccaning.” ^5.  

 “…anointing, conjuring,..” not sure about this. Could this make reference to the “Dia de los muertos” in which Catholic believers leave fiesta-style food out to please the spirits of dead relatives who come by and smell the food.

“hallowing of God's good creatures, with the superstitious opinion joined therewith; his worldly monarchy and wicked hierarchy; his three solemn vows,..”, vows dealing with conditions for admission to religious orders for men, noted above regarding “supererogation.”

“…with all his shavelings (priests, with shaved heads) of sundry sorts; his erroneous and bloody decrees made at Trent,…” At the Council of Trent (1545-1563), the Roman Catholic church launched an all-out assault on the Protestant battle cry of “Sola Scriptura”. The council upheld the concept that tradition as taught by the church outweighs Scripture. They also declared that the Latin Vulgate was the true Bible and the priests only, and not the laity, were able to interpret it. This council leveled the playing field and to some degree actually gave the Catholic church high ground. More later.

“…with all the subscribers and approvers of that cruel and bloody band conjured against the Kirk of God. And finally, we detest all his vain allegories, rites, signs, and traditions, brought in the Kirk without or against the Word of God, and doctrine of this true reformed Kirk. To which we join ourselves willingly, in doctrine, religion, faith, discipline, and life of the holy sacraments, as lively members of the same, in Christ our head, promising and swearing, by the great name of the Lord our God, that we shall continue in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of this Kirk, and shall defend the same according to our vocation and power all the days of our lives, under the pains contained in the law, and danger both of body and soul in the day of God's fearful judgment. And seeing that many are stirred up by Satan and that Roman Antichrist, to promise, swear, subscribe, and for a time use the holy sacraments in the Kirk, deceitfully against their own consciences, minding thereby, first under the external cloak of religion, to corrupt and subvert secretly God's true religion within the Kirk; and afterwards, when time may serve, to become open enemies and persecutors of the same, under vain hope of the Pope's dispensation, devised against the Word of God, to his great confusion, and their double condemnation in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

Some have described the National Covenant of 1638 as being an antiquated and “dull” document. It is to me a rather pointed indictment of the world’s greatest “usurper” and an enumeration of some of the myriad non-biblical doctrines forced by him upon a world of believers who had no choice but to believe it having been deprived of the Scriptures for centuries. It is quite exciting considering that in its writing, one must surely realize that the wrath and power of that Roman antichrist would have to inevitably fall on its subscribers. It was not long in coming.

1. Brown, John, Minister at Haddington. An Essay Towards and Easy, Plain, Practical, and Extensive Explication of the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism 

2.  http://www.stclementchurch.org/worship/sacraments/baptism/baptism_FAQ.php

3. Cowan, Henry John Knox: the Hero of the Scottish Reformation  p. 98

4.  http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04653a.htm

5.  http://moonpathcuups.org/rituals/saining.htm

Scotland and the Papacy

It cannot be overly emphasized that the hostility and division in England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was not due to divisions between highlanders and lowlanders, or royalists and parliamentarians, or kingsmen and the people.  The problems in England must be kept within the context of the Protestant Reformation and in such context it must be considered central to the issue that the once-entrenched power of the Roman Catholic church was desperately trying to destroy and erase any encroachments on it authority from the elements of the Prostestant Church, namely the Covenanters and Presbyterianism.

          From the death of Henry Viij in 1547, there was a precarious balance of power between the Papists in the king’s court and the Episcopals. The church of England at this time could not be considered a true “Protestant” church, but during the brief reign of Edward Vi, it gained some ground in that respect. Murder and intrigue was the rule of life and the quest for survival was far more political than spiritual.

          Though not insignicant, the small gains for the Reformation during Edward’s rule and the ever-so-brief tenure of Lady Jane Grey, were abruptly put on hold with the ascension of Mary I. A staunch Catholic, Mary set about immediately to restore the strength of her chosen faith. In 1553 she abolished Edward’s religious laws; her new husband, Philip of Spain, persuaded her to repeal all religious laws passed by her father, returning England to Papal authority; in 1554, with the approval of Pope Julius, the Heresy acts were passed. Under these abominable acts, nearly three hundred faithful Protestant leaders were burned at the stake in England, a period of horrible persecution that caused even her Catholic husband to flinch. She is remembered as “Bloody Mary.”

          With Mary’s death and Elizabeth’s ascension to the throne in 1553, religious tolerance was restored and Episcopacy was once more adopted as the faith of the court.

          Six years later, John Knox returned to Scotland and the following year the Scottish Parliament established Protestantism in Scotland. Knox and five colleagues wrote and published for the church The Book of Discipline and the Directory of Worship of the Church of Scotland. In the spirit of protest, the Scots made it clear against whom they were protesting.

          John Knox intended to abolish “that tyranny which the pope himself has for so many ages exercised over the church.” He further stated that the pope should be recognized as “the very antichrist, the son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks.”

          Knox’s mentor, John Calvin stated that “Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt…I shall briefly show that [Paul’s words in II Thess. 2] are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the papacy.”

http://www.remnantofgod.org/4fathers.htm

The realization of this fact must be considered at the heart of the Reformation movement in Scotland. Without this, an understanding of Scottish religious history is very difficult.

Extinction of Religion in Wales & Ireland?

A new study documents ominous revelations from the census records of nine countries.


Leading the study, Dr. Wiener states, "In a large number of modern secular democracies, there's been a trend that folk are identifying themselves as non-affiliated with religion; in the Netherlands the number was 40%, and the highest we saw was in the Czech Republic, where the number was 60%."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197

Christian Literacy

I just read “Fifth of Scots Have Poor Literacy,” from the BBC News channel website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/8393805.stm

The “Literacy Commission,” a group set up to “tackle literacy problems in Scotland” found that almost one in five Scots have difficulty reading and writing and are unable to meet the literary demands of daily life. The commission suggested that the solution to the problem will need to be focused around “problems caused by social and economic disadvantage at an early age.”

“The commission found that 18.5% of children in Scotland leave primary school without being functionally literate - some 13,000 youngsters a year.”

Interesting that today in Scotland we find only 42% of the population adhere to the Church of Scotland while 27.5% profess “no religion.”

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Scotland

I’ve been involved in teaching for most of my adult life and have seen the deterioration of American literacy first-hand. The last thirteen years of my career was spent at a new, neatly kept, suburban middle school, near a small, middle class Southern city conveniently located near government housing. One in five students in our school of 600 was “specially” classified. 85% received free-lunch. The school was conceived, designed, and staffed with these demographics in mind. We were special.

The teachers with whom I taught were truly dedicated professionals and the finest, hardest working group of teachers I ever had the privilege of working with. The principal and his staff were totally encouraging, cooperative and open to new (or old) ideas. But it was a constant struggle to attempt to overcome the baggage the students brought into the classroom. We began to measure our successes in individual student achievement. At teachers’ meetings we would discuss our little successes and find some sort of satisfaction. In my last year before retirement we had a full-time “resource officer” (on-duty and armed city policeman ready to cuff and haul away). Arrests were at least weekly. One of our special education teachers, a soft talking and gentle old lady, while assisting a disabled student in the restroom was beaten and left unconscious on the restroom floor. The student was in class the following day. The teacher, after extensive therapy, never returned.

Bush’s “No-Child-Left-Behind” stated that if any school did not achieve a specified academic percentage level in three years, the principal would be replaced. With our demographics, there was no way in the world that we could ever meet the desired level. Our principal was as good as could be had, superior to any I ever taught under. But the law was laid down and we could see the wave coming. His departure coincided with my retirement.

In my last year of teaching I was privileged, so I thought, to teach a class of G/T (gifted/talented) State History. I looked forward to it. Around November, I surveyed the class and was taken by surprise with what I noticed. Our hard-working school librarian, in an effort to promote extra-curricular reading, used a program called “Accelerated Reading.” In it students check out the book of their choice, read it, take a simple comprehension test and are awarded points which are saved in their file on the computer. After a certain number of points they were awarded a gold colored name tag cord and initiated into the “Gold Cord Society.” Later awards included parties in the library at lunch and at the end of the year a down-town pizza party. As I surveyed my G/T class, I noticed no gold cords at a time of year when most were showing up and noted my observation. A few looked around in curiosity, maybe a little surprised that I had mentioned it, then one boy finally said, “Mr. D, we don’t read!” Those words still sound in my head. Others then joined in with the same matter-of-fact reply.

I thought that if the ones we call gifted and talented don’t read, what hope is there?

Evidently things are not going so well in our country as a whole. It is common knowledge that we have graduated high school seniors who go on to college and have to take remedial reading before entering the college program.

“According to the literacy fast facts from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), literacy is defined as "using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential."

"One measure of literacy is the percentage of adults who perform at four achievement levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. In each type of literacy, 13 percent of adults were at or above Proficient (indicating they possess the skills necessary to perform complex and challenging literacy activities) in 2003. Twenty-two percent of adults were Below Basic (indicating they possess no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills) in quantitative literacy, compared with 14 percent in prose literacy and 12 percent in document literacy."

http://www.begintoread.com/research/literacystatistics.html

In addition to our decreasing literacy percentage, our country is keeping pace with Scotland in the world of faith.

 “The percentage of Americans claiming no religion, which jumped from 8.2 in 1990 to 14.2 in 2001, has now increased to 15 percent. Given the estimated growth of the American adult population since the last census from 207 million to 228 million, that reflects an additional 4.7 million "Nones." Northern New England has now taken over from the Pacific Northwest as the least religious section of the country, with Vermont, at 34 percent "Nones," leading all other states by a full 9 points.”

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/god-and-country/2009/03/09/new-survey-those-with-no-religion-fastest-growing-tradition

 In 1521, as the great reformer and scholar William Tyndale began to be noticed as “controversial” in his beliefs and was being called before the magistrates, his determination to translate the Bible into English became stronger. He was convinced that the way to God was through His Word and that Scripture should be available even to common people. Tyndale is most famous for his often-quoted “ploughboy” statement. According to John Foxe, an argument developed between Tyndale and a "learned" but "blasphemous" clergyman, who had asserted to the reformer that, "We had better be without God's laws than the Pope's." With incredulous disdain, Tyndale responded: "I defy the Pope, and all his laws; and if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!"

After the publication of the Holy Bible in the English language it became the textbook most present in every country cabin. So very many great men learned their first course of reading at their mother’s or father’s side searching the Scriptures. As the early immigrants reached and settled these North Carolina hills, a well-stocked home library would include at the most three books; these being Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Pilgrim’s Progress and the Holy Bible. But if they were only able to bring along one book, it would be the Bible. Governors, Senators, Judges, Farmers, and Merchants alike began their childhood studying the Book of all books, the greatest textbook in the history of the world.

And like our Scottish forebears, we were literate.

Just wondering. Could it be that our declining literacy rate is directly related to our apathy toward the Holy Bible?

Scots & Literacy

From “Scottish Society of Louisville,” Contributions.”

http://www.scotsoflou.com/public/pages/contributions.html

“The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75-percent level of literacy.”

“The Scottish emigrants of the 18th Century were an educated group because of the Scottish Reformation, which had stressed the need for education, allowing every Scot the ability to read the bible. Education has always played an important part in Scottish society, and these Scots played a crucial role in the early development of the New World. Most headmasters of the schools in the new colonies south of New York were Scottish or had Scottish ancestry. These establishments were fundamental in the education of America's future leaders; both Thomas Jefferson's and John Rutledge's tutors were Scottish immigrants.”

From “National Tartan Day: The Legacy of Scottish Immigrants”

http://www.tartanday.org/immigrants.htm

“The Reformation stressed the need for literacy so that every Christian could have direct contact with God's word in the Bible. Because the Scottish Presbyterian Church took this so seriously, Lowland Scots became a highly literate people. These Scots played a crucial role in the early development of the New World. Both Thomas Jefferson and John Rutledge were tutored by Scottish immigrants.

“Scots arriving in the New World soon established universities, colleges and other educational establishments such as Princeton University, which was initially named the College of New Jersey, when founded in 1746.”

From GenealogyMagazine.com, “Migration patterns of our Scottish ancestors” by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, American Genealogy Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2000.

http://www.genealogymagazine.com/scots.html

“Education was widespread in Scotland and you will find most of your Scot ancestors were literate. As early as the 17th Century the immigrants were writing letters home telling of their success and prosperity and describing the beauty and richness of their settlements. Many successful settlers sent funds back to the old country to enable family members to follow — wife or sweetheart, brothers and sisters, and sometimes ultimately the parents as well. The Scots tended to immigrate as families rather than individuals.”

From “The Australian People: an encyclopedia of the nation, its people and their Origins, by James Jupp, Cambridge Univ. Press, p. 649.

http://www.amazon.com/Australian-People-Encyclopedia-Nation-Origins/dp/0521807891

“With the gold rushes of the 1850’s, both assisted and unassisted immigration increased enormously. This was particularly true of Scottish immigration from the Lowlands. The decade also witnessed the last phase of movement from the Highlands to Australia; thereafter, more than 90 per cent of Scots immigrants were Lowlanders…The literacy of Lowland Scots was probably 90-95 per cent…Over 96 per cent of the Lowland immigrants were Protestants…Most Lowlanders came in families, with literacy and skills and were imbued with the ideas of John Knox and Adam Smith.”

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day

For each petal on the shamrock,

This brings a prayer your way,

Good health, blessings, and happiness

For today and every day.

May the embers from the open hearth warm your hands,

May the sun's rays from the Irish sky warm your face,

May your children's bright smiles warm your heart,

May the everlasting love God gives you warm your soul.



These things I warmly pray for you-

Someone to love, some work to do,

A bit o' sun, a bit o' cheer,

And a guardian angel always near.

May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow.

May the soft winds freshen your spirit.

May the sunshine brighten your heart.

May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you.

And may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.

 

A article on Patrick from an interesting point of view:

http://www.truthseek.net/stpatty.html

KJV Anniversary 2

Well, I’ve been browsing around and have found that there is a little more recognition that I believed. A British site called the King James Bible Trust has done a pretty elaborate job with written articles and videos. I will check it out further, but after my first visit, it seems that they just don’t quite hit the target.

In the first video we meet Neil MacGregor.

http://www.kingjamesbibletrust.org/

Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum. introduces us to the Holy Bible as a very influential book: He begins his narration by stating his “fascination” with the Bible in that it is one of the first British “things” to be made. It’s one of the first “things” that is made by the whole island to be used by the whole island. The fact that it is devised to be read by churches in England, Scotland and the whole English-speaking world, in diverse cultures, countries and churches, seems remarkable to him.

He continues, “It is, I think, one of the most unifying texts that has ever been made. It’s also, of course, in a sense, the official text of the British empire. It is, I think, one book the British took with them everywhere. And there are very few objects that have those kinds of connections. For several hundred years it was the one shared text of English speakers around the whole world. And it held that world together, I think, in a way that no other text could have and indeed very few texts have done anywhere. Very few empires have founding texts like that.”

Afterward the mayor of London extols the Bible as “one of the greatest pieces of world literature” and endorses it for the “supreme place it enjoys in our history and our culture.” Joan Baker, “author and broadcaster,” tells us that the KJV is “one of the greatest works of literature ever written and a great inspiration for us all.” An MP, Frank Field, and “chairman,” I assume, of the Trust, says that the Bible is the “single book which not just helped shape our nation but helped England in the world and gave the world one of its great languages.”

Lord, help us! What carefully worded statements of non-committal secularism! Is this the reason scores of churches in England have closed their doors and become community centers.? Every year in England, around twenty churches close their doors for good. Want to buy one? There are eleven available here.

http://www.churchofengland.org/clergy-office-holders/pastoralandclosedchurches/closedchurches/closed-churches-available.aspx

In an article on “Redundant Churches,” we learn that a painfully large number of Church of England congregations are dwindling in membership, some severely. Many churches are combining in an effort to at least keep one church going, leaving some buildings abandoned. “Closed churches can have a variety of uses. Depending on the listed status of a building, many can be converted for other uses. Several former churches are used as community or education centres, for example All Saints' Church, Bristol or All Saints Church, Harthill. Likewise, Holy Trinity Church, Chester now serving as the town's Guildhall or St Michael's Church, Chester as a heritage centre. St Peter's Church, Offord D'Arcy managed by the Churches Conservation Trust is used to host festivals, including a film festival.

St. Mary’s , Wythall, (right) is used as offices for an electric company.

“Others are used in more unusual ways; Old St Ann's Church, Warrington is an indoor climbing centre (one of several churches used in this way), other former churches may be art galleries, coffee shops and even pubs and clubs. Many are converted into residential properties.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundant_church

God worked in great power in 1611 in inspiring those in a position to do so to make his Holy Word available in the native language of the country to a people starving for it. It changed history. Churches grew. England grew. God blessed England and used the growth of empire to spread his Word to all parts of the world. At its peak, the sun never set on the British Empire. God’s word was taken to Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia. And God blessed his people.

In the following century the British and Scottish Missionary Societies began filling in the gaps by sending missionaries to the unreached people of the world.

The 1800's were rough on us all but in that century Secularists, fueled by Marxist philosophy, began a concerted assault on English spiritual life.

Now, in ever-increasing numbers, secularism is the religion of choice for our English, Scottish & Irish brothers. Many Christians are fearing “marginalization,” and the empire is tottering.

 http://www.christianpost.com/news/christians-illiberal-secularism-prevailing-in-uk-45001/

When the Holy Bible becomes to a people just great literature, inspirational reading, a means of unifying an empire, and a symbol of historical greatness and political power, one should not be surprised at the moral, spiritual, or political disintegration of the society.