FROM TIME TO TIME your editor finds in other Christian periodicals and publications some articles and statements which may be of interest to our readers. One such periodical is THE CHRISTIAN DIGEST, "A PROTESTANT AND REFORMED JOURNAL" which is issued bi-monthly from P.O.Box 2771 George 6530, South Africa, - R 15 for those living there, but issued from 14 Whitelea Court, Kilmacolm. PA13 4LA, Scotland, at £ 7.50, or U.S. $12.00 for other Readers. (E-Mail address: Christdig@aol.com and Web Page: http//members.aol.com/christdig/digest.htm.) An example article, an Editorial by The Rev. Lt.Col. R.J.G. Begbie OBE in their Vol VII No. 41 of Nov 1999, follows. [Although the source does not appear to be totally on the British-Israel "wavelength" which we favour, and we might thus take issue on a few minor points, we feel that the overall thrust of the Editorial is to be highly commended. We copy it as printed although we would have preferred, for example, to avoid the ambiguous term "Judaeo-Christian."]

"As this is the last issue before the millennium one is bound to ask, 'What on earth is the £800 million dome for?'

When men built the tower of Babel God confounded their language, but men have built the dome because they have confounded themselves, not even knowing what to put in it till construction was well under way. Why is this?

It is because modern man has lost his way and is utterly confused on so many matters. He is alarmed by the rejection of authority at every level of society, the vast increase in crime, immorality and collapse of family life. He is increasingly concerned with what modern technology and what unusual climatic changes may be doing to the environment.

He has tried communism and he has tried nationalisation and socialistic state control and they have not worked. He has foisted one-man one-vote democracy on the developing countries and has witnessed the chaos and death it has brought to many of them. He is beginning to realise that even in the developed countries such democracy is manipulated by the media in the hands of powers behind the scenes. Politicians seem to be increasingly baffled by the complexities of the problems with which they wrestle.

All this results from Europeans having forgotten and lost touch with the faith which inspired their forbears to create western civilization. Few now realise what immense benefits the Judaeo-Christian faith brought them. Greatest of all these is of course the salvation from an eternal future in hell-fire which God has mercifully provided only for those who repent, believe that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh to redeem them from sin and its consequences, and obey Him as their Lord in terms of God's Word written. But there are also man other subsidiary benefits.

Perhaps the most important is the concept of time. People of pagan religions, such as still predominate in sub-Saharan Africa today, have a circular concept of time. They see the sun and the moon rising and setting and always coming back to the sane place. They see the seasons coming and going and all the other cycles of nature and everything coming back to where it began. Evereything remains the same and so there is no need to make provision for the future. Coupled with this are the superstitions of pagan religion. This leads men to think, for instance, that a crop failure is not due to lack of fertilisation but to the anger of offended spirits. What is needed is not so much the cancellation of 3rd World debts but the Gospel to free men from such stultifying ignorance and superstition (John 8:32). It is a fact that sub-saharan Africa could become the bread basket of the world without resort to the questionable advantages of G.M. foods.

But Christians know that time had a beginning when God created the heavens and the earth and is moving in linear progression to a climax when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again to judge the world and to set up His perfect Kingdom to last for ever. This has caused Europeans to be forward looking and progressive.

Next in importance is the knowledge that nature is not the product of chance evolution but the creation of a vastly intelligent Designer. This knowledge gave man the incentive to observe and discover the laws which govern it.

It was this fundamental understanding allied to their correct understanding of time which set white men on the path of scientific and technological advance.

Two things have cut mankind adrift from these moorings. The first are the heresies of modernism, or liberalism, and post-modernism which have invaded the institutional churches. As Bishop D. N. Samuel of the Church of England (Continuing) has written in his Mountain tracts No 1; "Liberal theology, first nurtured in Germany, then in the academic institutions of this country, has so eaten the heart out of Christian teaching in the churches and schools of this land, that people have been dispossessed of their inheritance".

The other thing is the lie of evolution. If man was not created ab initio in the image of God, but has evolved by chance from the animal world, then there is no reason why he should not continue to evolve into something better, especially with the aids of modern science and medicine, and without the assistance of God, even supposing that He exists.

Yet the plain and obvious fact is that despite his advances in science and technology man remains morally flawed. His material advances have made his capacity to do evil even greater with damage to the environment, terrorism, nuclear and biological weapons, and so on. His rebellion against the authority of God and rejection of His laws for man's good government are causing the whole fabric of civilised society to break down. It is seen in the current rejection of authority at all levels, sexual perversions and the disintegration of family life which God initiated as the basic brick of society.

So what should the millennium celebrate? Certainly not man's achievements, which however ingenious, are resulting in an accelerating descent into the abyss. Instead with enormous thankfulness we ought to celebrate the amazing forbearance of Almighty God in keeping the only way of salvation open for those who will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ despite the continuing rejection of His love by the majority of mankind. The signs of the times are such as to indicate that the time of God's forbearance may be drawing to a close. There is a plinth in Trafalgar Square which has remained unoccupied for years. Recently men have put a dimunitive figure of the crucified Christ on it. It might have been less expensive than the dome and far more meaningful to have removed Nelson from his column and put him on this plinth, and to replace him with a crowned Lord Jesus Christ carrying a sword of justice as a warning to all that He is soon coming again to judge the world, and that the time for repentance and faith may well be becoming very short indeed."

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 438, of December 15-21, 1999:
A four-column article headed "Luther King killing 'was a conspiracy'" by By Philip Delves Broughton in New York, begins with the words "THE assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. the revered leader of the American civil-rights movement in the Sixties, was the result of conspiracy involving government agencies and disgruntled Southerners, a jury in Memphis has decided. ..."

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 438, of December 15-21, 1999:
An illustrated two column article by Aisling Irwin, Science correspondent, deals with the Bronze Age timber circle at Holme-next-the-Sea, which has fascinated scientists since it emerged at a low tide. Mentioned in the article is the fact that it has been dated from the oak timber of a tree felled between April and June, 2050 BC and "appears to be of religious significance."

From the Toronto Globe and Mail, December 15, 1999: Swiss craftsmanship
An evangelical organization in Britain has trained cameras on Jerusalem's Golden Gate and the Mount of Olives and is broadcasting the pictures live on the Internet (www.messiahcam.org) in the hope of witnessing the Second Coming. Christine Darg, who runs the Daystar International ministry with her husband Peter, says she doubts the cameras will be able to record the actual event because it will be so overwhelming. "The Bible says that His Feet will stand on the Mount of Olives and there will be an earthquake, so our cameras might not even stand up to the impact. But we have a Swiss company who helped design these Web cameras and the Swiss are very impressive technically." Sources: The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Sunday Telegraph

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 438, of December 15-21, 1999:
Under the heading "Spirit Zone architect says God is irrelevant" written by Matt Born, we learn that "The architect hired to create the Millennium Dome's Spirit zone is an agnostic who believes the Christian Cross is a symbol of human misery and that God is 'irrelevant' to the Millennium celebrations." "Eva Jiricna, a Czech-born architect who runs her own London-based firm, was awarded the contract despite an ambivalence towards organized religion, and Christianity in particular, which borders on antipathy." The two-column article continues with amplifying details, and mentions that the matter arose in a four-part BBC2 documentary telling the behind-the-scenes story of the making of the Dome.
COMMENT: Why are we not surprised at this disclosure?

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 438, of December 15-21, 1999: In Brief - Scientology not a religion
SCIENTOLOGY is not a religion under English charity law and does not confer any public benefit, according to a ruling by the Charity Commission.
The Commission rejected the Church of Scientology's application for charitable status after a three-year inquiry.
The commission acknowledged that Scientology believes in "a supreme being" but said its core activities did not amount to worship.

From the Toronto Globe and Mail, December 21, 1999: Egypt abandons plan to crown Cheops pyramid at New Year Reuters News agency, Cairo
Egypt said yesterday it has scrapped controversial plans to place a golden capstone on the Cheops pyramid at the climax of a year 2000 concert.
The project was harshly criticized by opposition newspapers that accused culture minister Farouk Hosni of involvement in a Masonic-Zionist conspiracy to lay claim to the pyramids. Some parliamentarians had also complained of foreign art taking centre stage at Egypt's New Year celebration and expressed concern about possible damage to the pyramids.
"The minister of culture has decided to dispense with the part of the celebration involving putting a capstone on the Great Pyramid," a ministry statement said.
Organizers of a dusk-to-dawn concert by French musician Jean-Michel Jarre had wanted a helicopter to lower a golden cap on the Great Pyramid at midnight.
The statement gave no reason for the decision to abandon the idea and said a technical committee had concluded that the capstone would cause no damage to the ancient monument.
It said crowning the pyramid would have occupied only four minutes of the 12-hour nonstop celebration, which it said 2.5 billion people were expected to watch on satellite television.
A ministry spokesman said a desire to avoid negative propaganda lay behind the decision to drop the plan. "Why let the capstone spoil the event?" he asked. Critics of the scheme welcomed the decision." It was our opinion from the beginning that this symbol should be cancelled and we feel quite happy that popular pressure can change ministerial decisions," said Adel Hussein, secretary-general of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party.

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 439, of December 22-28, 1999:
Sebastian Biddlecombe, seven, presented the Queen with the Glastonbury Thorn when she visited the Somerset town last week. In an ancient tradition revived earlier this century, a sprig from a tree which according to local legend grew from a staff planted by Joseph of Arimathea, is given to the monarch at Christmas.

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 439, of December 22-28, 1999: Tidal wave fear over Med volcano
SCIENTISTS who found an active volcano under the sea between Sicily and the Italian mainland say the volcano, Europe's largest and called Marsili, could erupt at any time without warning, causing tidal waves in the Mediterranean. Marsili is 40 miles long by 25 miles wide, and its peak rises more than 10,000ft from the seabed. The fact that its main crater is 1,500ft below sea level conceals its danger, the scientists say.

From the Toronto Globe and Mail, December 14, 1999: Rains flood Mount of Olives Associated press, Jerusalem
Torrents of rainwater gushed down the slopes of the Mount of Olives yesterday and flooded a major Christan shrine, a church built on the site where tradition says Jesus was arrested by the Romans.
The water, which rose to the chandeliers of the Church of All Nations, trapped five Greek Orthodox monks and nuns who had to be pulled out with ropes. Navy divers were also called in, but did not find others in the floodwaters.
Church official said important artifacts were destroyed, including the Icon of Mary. The church was built in 1924 in the garden of Gethsemane, the place where tradition says Jesus came with his disciples after the Last Supper and where he was betrayed and arrested.
Brother Barnavas, a Greek Orthodox monk, said there was some flooding every year, but that recent construction has directed more rainwater toward the church. Police spokeswoman Linda Menuhin said the water rose 50 feet after being trapped in the church compound. Throughout Jerusalem, morning rush-hour traffic was hampered by the downpour - the first major rainfall this winter - but there were no reports of major flooding elsewhere in the city.
Brother Barnavas' eyes were puffy from crying and he said he was very distraught by the destruction. He said hundreds of people of different faiths worshipped before the Icon of Mary every day.

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 439, of December 22-28, 1999: Tomb of Virgin Mary flooded
A FLASH FLOOD deluged one of Christianity's most revered shrines, the Tomb of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, filling the Byzantine chapel with mud and rainwater. The underground tomb, which marks the site where many Christians believe the mother of Jesus was buried, was under several feet of fetid water resulting from the first rain in Jerusalem after one of the driest years on record.

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 439, of December 22-28, 1999: Rome rethink on burnt heritic
JAN HUSS, the Czech priest burned at the stake for heresy in 1415, may be recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as a reformer, a Czech cardinal said. Hus denied the infallibility of the Pope and asserted the ultimate authority of scripture over the Church. The Pope sought to heal one of the oldest wounds between the Catholic and Protestant churches by expressing "deep regret" for Hus's death at the stake.

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 439, of December 22-28, 1999: Jesus is a mystery in our nation of little faith
CHRISTIANITY has plummeted in Britain with less than half the population believing in Jesus Christ and 14 per cent claiming not to know who he is, acccording to a survey.
The number of people who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God has fallen from 71 per cent in 1957 to 45 per cent in 1999.
Another 22 per cent believe he is "just a story". In a Gallup poll in 1957, just six per cent of the population believed Jesus was fictional.
Only 48 per cent of Britains claim to belong to any religion.
The survey, by Opinion Research business, which interviewed 1,015 men and women on their beliefs, found only 28 per cent believed in the traditional Christian understanding of a "personal God". Catholics have remained constant at nine per cent of the population, according to the survey.
Yet 27 per cent of the population describe themselves as "spiritual", and another 27 per cent call themselves "religious".
It is now common for people to adopt New Age beliefs alongside Buddhist teachings, while dipping into Christian worship.
Christian imagery has disappeared from the top 20 Christmas card designs this year. Customers are choosing secular images of Santa Claus, Christmas trees and snowy scenes instead, says card seller Prontaprint.

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