The following was circulated in a ‘news letter’ sent out by “CitizenGO”.
The subject it raises is most serious but it fails to highlight the full implications of the incident. A petition to the Home Secretary may help in the short-term but such a response betrays a failure to grasp the full implications of this incident.
In brief, here is what the ‘newsletter’ stated.
His offence? Praying for his son, who died as a result of abortion 22 years ago, near an abortion facility in Bournemouth.
I replied to a good friend and supporter who sent me the report early this morning, in the following way:
“It is chiefly sad that this man was deceived into praying for his dead son, especially since the little one seems to have been deliberately killed by an abortionist.
The fact that he was issued with a fine for doing so ought not to surprise us. The nation at every level has departed from God and has returned to the only alternative to the true source of knowledge, which is the Word of God, to that of man’s own depraved heart and mind.
Such a source of instruction will result in utter folly and error as to what is right and what is wrong.
On this occasion there is a protest about a man being penalised for what he was mentally engaged in.
That reminds me of the court of Artaxerxes the Persian king. We read in Nehemiah 2, that God’s servant was sad of heart and distressed by his thoughts regarding the state of Jerusalem for he had just been informed of its ruined state, 1:2-3.
“Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.”
This set him to praying brokenly for the people and the city. his sadness showed on his face and his sorrowful countenance was noticed by the king since he was a chief attendant upon the king.
“Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,” Nehemiah 2:2.
Such a facial expression was not permitted in the presence of the king and could result in death!
This was man’s reasoning at its worst. The sad expression of Nehemiah could upset the king and ‘ruin’ his day!
By the mercy of the Lord, the king’s heart was made sympathetic toward Nehemiah otherwise he likely would have been executed.
My point being that pagan man, in the darkness of his mind, believes he has every right to judge the thoughts of others and penalise any which cause him displeasure.
This incident is not the result of ‘leftish thought policing’ but of man’s depravity unleashed from the restraints of the Bible. No action by the Home Secretary can set this right, irrespective of any short-term interventions. There will be no casting away of the right of officials to act as did the council officials in Bournemouth. They were but following ‘official policy’ instituted by Government!
We are back to paganism having abandoned God and His Word.
That is the lesson of this incident!”
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster