UK Convicts Christian,

Coming soon to America

The Trumpet

Muslim Judge In UK Convicts Christian, Says Which Verses Are Allowed In Street Preaching

Posted: 25 Mar 2015 10:48 PM PDT

Coming Soon To America?

A Christian street preacher convicted and fined by a U.K. judge, who also serves with an Islamic Shariah court, is guilty of having breached the public order by his choice of Bible verses.

Michael Overd, a former British paratrooper who has been street preaching for five years, was convicted this week of delivering “homophobic sermons” over a loudspeaker in Taunton, Somerset, last summer.

Overd faced two charges relating to claims by homosexuals he had offended them and another of causing “racially aggravated” harassment targeted at Muslims, the BBC reported. He was found guilty of only one of the “homophobic” charges.

Overd, 50, was fined $300 and ordered to pay compensation and costs totaling $1,800 at Bristol Crown Court.

“I have been ordered to pay compensation for causing ‘emotional pain’ to someone who approached me aggressively demanding to debate the issue,” said Overd. “There was no harm, injury or theft, just a simple disagreement over theology which I have now been fined for.”

District Judge Shamim Ahmed Qureshi told Overd he should not have referenced Leviticus chapter 20 in explaining the biblical view on homosexuality, but “clearly indicated that he could have used chapter 18 of the book,” reported Christian Concern.

Qureshi, who according to a 2009 article in “The Brief,” chronicling the rise of Shariah law in Britain, serves with the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, the overseer of the nation’s Shariah courts.

Qureshi found no problem with Overd’s use of Leviticus 18:22 which describes homosexual activity as an “abomination,” but a reference to Leviticus 20:13 was impermissible because it prescribed the death penalty.

Overd agreed he used Leviticus 20 in his comments but never referenced the death penalty.

“I am being punished for words that never passed my lips,” he said.

Overd, who initially told the judge he would not pay the fine but relented when threatened with 45 days in jail, took particular issue with Qureshi dictating which passages from the Bible were lawful for him to use.

“I am amazed that the judge sees it as his role to dictate which parts of the Bible can and can’t be preached,” he said.

“I did not quote the full text of Leviticus 20 or make reference to the death penalty, but the judge is telling me that I should use other parts of the Bible. This is not free speech but censorship. The judge is redacting the Bible.

During sentencing, Qureshi criticized Overd’s speaking style and his training as a preacher.

“In my view he enjoys coaxing people into asking him questions so that he can reply loudly into the microphone to answer them. The only semblance of civilized conversation is when they commend him, if they disagree he shouts them down.”

Accusing Overd of “double standards,” Qureshi said the street preacher believed he was right and everyone else was wrong.

Qureshi continued: Overd “does not display any scholarly approach to the topics but merely preaches whatever little he had learned, regardless of being rude or bullying to others. He happily shouts out the negative points in any other religion.”

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Center – Overd’s attorney – disagrees.

“Mike is clear that he is motivated by love, not hate. Indeed, this is in line with the message of the Bible,” she said in defense of her client.

“It’s clear from the evidence that he has consistently dealt with people’s objections in a balanced and reasonable way. He has explained his beliefs. He hasn’t been aggressive or targeted anybody in particular. The evidence bears all this out.

“Mike’s boldness and his witness to Jesus is remarkably similar to that of the apostles in the early years of the church.

“They were also hauled before the courts to defend themselves for preaching a message of love and truth. They also faced trumped up accusations in an attempt to portray them as ‘disruptive.’

“Now, as then, the disruptive ones appear to be the people who bring accusations, on the flimsiest of evidence, against a man who loves Jesus and loves people. This is why Mike gets up and preaches in Taunton town center.

“There will always be those who disagree with the Bible’s teaching. But we should defend to the hilt the freedom to proclaim it in a loving way, which is what Mike Overd always seeks to do.”

As for Overd, he said he has no intention of allowing the court to dictate his street preaching.

“Bloody Mary,” daughter of Henry VIII died November 17, 1558

American Minute with Bill Federer

“Bloody Mary,” daughter of Henry VIII, reigned 5 years, during which time her government sentenced 300 people to death.

On October 16, 1555, facing their execution, Bishop Hugh Latimer exhorted Nicholas Ridley:

“Play the man, Master Ridley. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

When Mary died, NOVEMBER 17, 1558, her half-sister Elizabeth became Queen.

Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, replied at her Coronation in 1558, when questioned as to the presence of Christ in the Sacrament:

“Christ was the Word that spake it,
He took the bread and brake it,
And what that Word did make it,
I do believe and take it.”

Elizabeth continued the Church of England begun when her father, Henry VIII, separated from Rome, though “Puritans” objected to many rituals being retained.

During Elizabeth’s 45 year reign, Shakespeare wrote plays, Francis Bacon began the scientific revolution and Sir Walter Raleigh began a colony he named Virginia, in honor of the “Virgin Queen Elizabeth.”

Virginia’s Charter, 1584, stated:

“Elizabeth, by the Grace of God of England…Defender of the Faith…grant to our trusty and well beloved servant Walter Raleigh…to discover…barbarous lands…not actually possessed of any Christian Prince, nor inhabited by Christian People…

Upon…finding…such remote lands…it shall be necessary for the safety of all men…to live together in Christian peace…

Ordinances…agreeable to…the laws…of England, and also so as they be not against the true Christian faith.”

In 1588, the Invincible Spanish Armada sailed to invade England with 130 ships, 1,000 iron guns, 1,500 brass guns, 7,000 sailors, 18,000 soldiers, plus 30,000 soldiers from the Spanish Netherlands.

Queen Elizabeth told her troops, August 19, 1588:

“Let tyrants fear…I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that…Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm…

I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general…Your valour…shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people.”

The smaller, more maneuverable English vessels proved difficult for the Spanish to catch.

At midnight, July 28, 1588, Sir Francis Drake set eight English ships on fire and floated them downwind to the closely anchored Spanish ships.

In a panic, the Spanish ships cut anchor, and then were hit by a hurricane.

With Spain’s Armada destroyed, its monopoly of the seas ended, England was established as a major European power, and Holland, Sweden, and France joined in founding colonies in America.

Queen Elizabeth, the last Tudor monarch, stated in 1566:

“I am your Queen. I will never be by violence constrained to do anything. I thank God I am endued with such qualities that if I were turned out of the Realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom.”

Queen Elizabeth told the House of Commons in The Golden Speech, November 30, 1601:

“Though God hath raised me high, yet this I count the glory of my Crown, that I have reigned with your loves…

I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a Queen, as to be a Queen over so thankful a people…

The title of a King is a glorious title, but…we well know…that we also are to yield an account of our actions before the Great Judge.”

When rumors arose of a plot to assassinate her, Elizabeth executed dozens, including her cousin who was under her protection, Mary Queen of Scots – the mother of England’s next monarch, King James I.

Of her epitaph, Elizabeth said:

“I am no lover of pompous title, but only desire that my name may be recorded in a line or two, which shall express my name, my virginity, the years of my reign, and the reformation of religion under it.”

---

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s books here.

276 – Oct. 03 –This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 

Clarke’s church became distinctly Baptist

John Clarke was born in Suffolk County, England on October 03, 1609, and received pedo-baptism five days later. Because the University of Leyden shows a “Johannes Clarke” among its students in 1635, some conclude that he attended that famous Dutch school and while there became acquainted with Dutch Baptists. Clarke was a reputable physician, occasionally a lawyer, an able statesman and diplomat, and a successful Baptist pastor. He was certainly an important instrument in the establishment of religious liberty in Rhode Island and the American colonies. He along with many other early Baptists in America, step by step embraced Baptist principles. Often they left the English state church (Anglican) and joined the ranks of the Dissenters because they were moved  by the horrible persecutions of the sects, and then they were ultimately persuaded of believers baptism and freedom of conscience as biblical truth. The corruption among the state-church clergy, spiritual deadness were also other catalysts. The belief that Baptist principles were rooted in the Word of God caused John Clarke to separate from the Puritans in New England. We do know that he was one that was relieved of his weapons by  Boston authorities in 1637 on suspicion of being “tinged with anabaptism.”  There was a church in Portsmouth by 1638 that had two factions. One group held for the authority of the “inner light,” and the other held for the authority of the written Scripture. The controversy led to a division, and the church scattered. Clarke led a group and set up a church at Newport, Rhode Island, where, under his leadership, it became distinctly Baptist. Satan tried to destroy this church through schisms of various kinds, but it remained for the rest of the century, as one of the leading Baptist churches in America.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 410-11.

The post 276 – Oct. 03 –This Day in Baptist History Past appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

246 – Sept. 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

 

He evangelized a wild and barbarous people

 Sept. 03, 1884 – W. Holman Bentley sailed from England to the Congo to begin his second tour of missionary service, married for the first time with four other men and their families. Holman was the son of Rev. William Bentley, Baptist minister at Sudsbury, Suffolk, England. Holman was born Oct. 30, 1855. At 17 young Holman was reading from the Hebrew Psalter and Greek New Testament, and at 19 was baptized into the Downs Chapel (Baptist) at Clapton. He became actively involved in witnessing. He was appointed as a missionary by the Baptist Mission Society on Jan. 15, 1879. The Congo missionaries had many trials including escapes from wild animals, disease and cannibals. Bentley served longer than any of the others who left with him in 1879. Even though he only lived to be fifty he translated the N.T. into Congolese and gave the people a complete dictionary and grammar. He saw over 1200 baptized and according to historians saw a whole district of wild, barbarous people almost completely evangelized and civilized, if not Christianized. [H.M. Bentley, W. Holman Bentley-The Life and labors of a Congo Pioneer (London: religious Tract Society, 1907), p8.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp.  481- 83.

The post 246 – Sept. 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

220 – August, 08 – This Day in Baptist History Past

 

Baptism has always been by Immersion                                                                        

At Westminster in England on August 8, 1644, after another warm dispute, it was voted that “’pouring or sprinkling water on the face’ was sufficient and most expedient.” This event was reported by the historian, Dr. John Lightfoot, who was present. Out of this meeting came the Westminster Confession of Faith, “a creedal standard for all Presbyterian churches.” This conference was called on June 1, 1643. Some Episcopalians, Independents, and Puritans were present but no Baptists. Lightfoot’s entry for Aug. 7, 1644 tells of a “great heat” in the debate over the issue of baptism.  Rabbi Coleman, a great Hebrew scholar and Marshall, a great pulpit orator insisted that the Hebrew word tauveleh – dipping, demanded immersion “overhead.”  The vote was 24 for dipping, 25 against it. How did this Presbyterian body, without a Baptist in it, come to such a “great heat” on this subject of immersion if it were a novelty and among believers in England at that time? The answer is clear. Immersion was practiced from the days of the N.T. Dr. Philip Schaff, a member of the German Reformed Church, wrote:  In England immersion was the normal mode down to the middle of the 17th century. The New Catholic Edition of the Holy Bible with the imprimatur of Francis Cardinal Spellman states: “St. Paul alludes to the manner in which Baptism was ordinarily conferred in the primitive church, by immersion. The descent into the water is suggestive of the descent of the body into the grave, and the ascent is suggestive of the resurrection to a new life.” The ordinance of believer’s baptism has historical perpetuity from the days of the apostles until now.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 325-26.

The post 220 – August, 08 – This Day in Baptist History Past appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

William Penn died July 30, 1718

American Minute with Bill Federer

He was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London eight months for being a Quaker.

Later King Charles II gave him land in America as repayment of a debt owed to his father.

On this land he started a colony and invited persecuted Christians of Europe to join his “Holy Experiment” of religious toleration.

Soon Quakers, Mennonites, Pietists, Amish, Anabaptists, Lutherans, Reformed, Moravians, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, Dunkers (German Baptist), Brethren, Schwenckfelders, French Huguenots and other Protestant Christians arrived in Pennsylvania.

Who was he?

William Penn, who died JULY 30, 1718.

William Penn named his capital city Philadelphia, which means “Brotherly Love.”

Lutheran missionary Johannes Campanius translated the very first book published in the Algonquin Indian language, Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.

He dedicated Philadelphia’s first church, Gloria Dei “Old Swede’s” Church in 1646. Penn’s religious tolerance allowed the church to grow and build their present church building in 1698.

In 1695, the Merion Friends (Quaker) Meeting House was built. It is the oldest church building in Pennsylvania and second oldest Friends meeting house in the United States.

In 1695, Philadelphia’s Christ Church was built. It is called “the Nation’s Church,” as George Washington, Betsy Ross, Benjamin and Deborah Franklin, and their daughter, Sarah Franklin Bache, worshiped there, along with Signers of the Declaration John Adams, Benjamin Rush, Francis Hopkinson, Joseph Hewes, Robert Morris, James Wilson and George Ross.

In 1711, Old Trinity Episcopal Church was built in Philadelphia.

In 1732, the Seventh Day Dunkers (German Baptist Brethern) built Ephrata Cloister near Philadelphia.

They had the second German printing press in America and published the largest book in the colonies, “Martyrs Mirror,” listing Christian martyrs from Christ until 1660.

In 1733, Philadelphia allowed the first English-speaking Catholic Church in the world after the Reformation – St. Joseph Church.

It was the only place in the British Empire where a public Catholic church service took place legally. Marquis de Lafayette and Comte de Rochambeau worshiped there.

On May 21, 1789, the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America was held in Philadelphia. Signer of the Declaration John Witherspoon preached the first sermon at that assembly.

Philadelphia is the birthplace of the Methodist Episcopal churches in America, with St. George’s Church, built in 1769, being the denomination’s oldest church building in continuous service in the world.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, sent the church a communion chalice.

St. George’s pastor, Francis Asbury, was the first Methodist bishop.

He traveled 270,000 miles on horseback and ordained more than 4,000 ministers, including Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, the first African American Lay Preachers of Methodism in 1785.

In 1792, Absalom Jones started the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, being the oldest black Episcopal congregation in the United States.

In 1794, Richard Allen started the African Methodist Episcopal Church, building “Mother Bethel,” the first A.M.E. Church in America.

In 1796, also out of St. George’s, Rev. “Black Harry” Hosier started the African Zoar Church.

St. George’s appointed Mary Thorne as the first woman class leader.

Philadelphia’s first synagogue, Mikveh Israel, was built in 1782 by Sephardic Jews from Spain, Portugal and the West Indies, many of whom fled from New York in 1776, when the British captured the city.

Contributors to the building fund were Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris-Signer of the Declaration, and Haym Solomon, Polish Jew financier of the American Revolution.

Beginning in 1845, Rabbi Isaac Leeser of Philadelphia’s Mikveh Israel synagogue produced the first Jewish translation of the Bible into English to be published in the United States.

When Mikveh Israel synagogue burned in 1872, Philadelphia’s Christ Church contributed to rebuild it. The two congregations have a long custom of sharing a fellowship-dinner once a year which alternates between their two buildings.

In 1795, the first Ashkenazic Jewish synagogue in the Western Hemisphere was founded in Philadelphia, Congregation Rodeph Shalom.

Pennsylvania’s Charter, granted March 4, 1681, stated:

“Whereas our trusty and well beloved subject, William Penn, esquire, son and heir of Sir William Penn, deceased, out of a commendable desire to enlarge our English Empire…

and also to reduce the savage natives by gentle and just manners to the love of civil society and Christian religion, hath humbly besought leave of us to transport an ample colony unto…parts of America not yet cultivated and planted.”

William Penn wrote in his Charter of Privileges for Pennsylvanians 1701:

“…because no people can be truly happy though under the greatest enjoyments of civil liberties if abridged of the freedom of their consciences as to their religious profession and worship.”

William Penn’s “holy experiment” of “Brotherly Love” resulted in Philadelphia providentially being where the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written, as well as the city being the first Capital of the United States.

Get the book, The Original 13-A Documentary History of Religion in America’s First Thirteen States

---

The Moral Liberal contributing editor, William J. Federer, is the bestselling author of “Backfired: A Nation Born for Religious Tolerance no Longer Tolerates Religion,” and numerous other books. A frequent radio and television guest, his daily American Minute is broadcast nationally via radio, television, and Internet. Check out all of Bill’s bookshere.

215 – August, 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past

300th Anniversary of

Broadmead Church – Now Hanham Baptist

Prayer in England brought the Toleration Act

Pastor George Fownes proposed that the congregation seriously consider the steps that should be taken if the services were interrupted by law officers. On August 03, 1680, they determined to continue their services unless the magistrate himself used violence. This tactic worked well until Dec. 18, 1681, when the civil, ecclesiastical, and military powers invaded the house of God on the Lord’s Day and Pastor Fownes was sent to  prison at Newgate.  After six weeks in jail, he appeared before the judge and was acquitted due to a flaw in the warrant. Returning to his flock, for safety’s sake, they began holding services in the fields rather than in their church building, regardless of the weather. In March of 1682 Pastor Fownes was arrested again and committed to Glouchester Jail for six months. His persecutors declared that he would not leave the jail alive. The pastor served as his own attorney and the jury returned a verdict of “not guilty”, but he was returned to the prison in spite of the verdict. When his six months were ended he demanded his freedom and a bond was demanded of him and the promise to stop preaching. He requested a judicial inquest. Two justices appeared before the judge and said that if he was released “he would draw all the country after him.” He was held for two more years in prison until the Lord in mercy released him in death in Dec. of 1685. After the Act of Toleration, the Broadmead Baptist Church, in Bristol, England finally knew peace, and Pastor Fowne’s son, George Fownes, became pastor in 1693. In 1695 “the church built a new meeting house 50 feet long by 40 feet, with no debt.”

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 318-19.

The post 215 – August, 03 – This Day in Baptist History Past appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

202 – July 20 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Ten years that equaled a century

It is for some to go, and for others to hold the rope for others that go to the heathen world. Such was the lot of the Rev. Samuel Pearce who was ordained in 1789 as pastor of the Cannon Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, England in which he served until his death on Oct. 10, 1799. Though it only lasted ten years, William Cathcart said, “Measured by usefulness instead of years this young pastor preached for at least a century.” Pearce was a dear friend of Wm. Carey before the beginning of the missionary enterprise, and was one of the strongest advocates of the worldwide mission’s cause that the world has ever known. He desired to go with Carey but because of his physical frailties, the Missionary Society convinced him that he was of greater value for the cause of missions in England. His eloquence in the pulpit stirred many throughout England and Ireland to volunteer for and support of the work in India. As a staunch prayer warrior, Pearce carried every matter to the Lord and expected and received answers to his prayers. In 1794 he wrote to the ministers in the U.S. urging the formation of the American Baptist foreign missionary society, and credit must be given to Pastor Pearce, for the seed fell on good soil and bore fruit a hundredfold. Pearce was born in Birmingham, England, in July 20, 1766. As a boy he experienced seasons of great conviction as he considered his sin. When he was fifteen he saw a man die who cried out, “I am damned forever.” He was filled with terror for a year and hearing Rev. Birt of Plymouth, England, he was pointed to the Lamb of God, and found full assurance and peace with God. He was trained in the Bristol College. At 33 years of age he fell victoriously asleep in Jesus, with his dear wife comforting him.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 297-98.

The post 202 – July 20 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

193 – July 11 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST

 

Baptist multiplication

The Baptists of England, besides the physical persecution, had undergone vicious verbal

attacks misrepresenting their profession of faith. Therefore they found it necessary to set forth

a confession of faith to publicly declare their belief’s before all.

The first was put forth in the name of seven congregations in 1643. By the year 1689 the seven churches represented had expanded to “upwards of one hundred baptized congregations in England and Wales (denying Arminianism) being met together in London, from the third of the seventh month to the eleventh of the same, 1689, to consider some things that might be for the glory of God, and the good of these congregations.

Dr. Greg J. Dixon: From: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins/Thompson, pp. 284-85.

The post 193 – July 11 – THIS DAY IN BAPTIST HISTORY PAST appeared first on The Trumpet Online.

 

 

130 — May 09 – This Day in Baptist History Past

“So He Slew Me with the Words of His Mouth”
Founder of Brown Universitry

Morgan Edwards was born in Wales, May 9, 1722. He was educated at Bristol College under Bernard Foskett, its first president. He was ordained June 1, 1757, in Cork, Ireland, where he labored for nine years. He returned to England and preached for a year in Rye, in Sussex, when, through the recommendation of Dr. Gill and others, on the application of the Baptist church of Philadelphia, he came to that city and church, and entered upon the pastorate May 23, 1761.
At age sixteen he broke with his Anglican heritage and embraced the principles of the Baptists. This cleavage could have been caused by the infectious enthusiasm of the young Baptist missionaries who were sent out in such large numbers that hardly a village in the eastern and western valleys of Monmouthshire was not visited.  When he was pastor of the Baptist Church of Philadelphia many years later, he reminisced in a sermon as follows:
I remember the time (and the place too) when I first gave myself up as a lost man; for then I was halting between two opinions about it.  Fearing it was so, made me uneasy, and hope it might not be so, kept me from yielding to it.  But this sentence stuck on my mind in a light that it was not wont to do, ‘I will by no means clear the Guilty!’ then said I, I am gone, for I am guilty: if I am not damned God must be a liar. So He slew me with the word of His mouth. Then this commandment came, and I died.  Then I knew what sort of thing despair was. And you cannot imagine what jolt I felt, when I learnt so much of the Gospel as to know it was possible for me to be saved, and that God might stand to His word, and not send me to hell.
He was the founder of Brown University, at first called Rhode Island College. It is well known that this enterprise was started in the Philadelphia Baptist Association in its meeting in 1762, and Morgan Edwards was “the principal mover in this matter,” as he was the most active agent in securing funds for the permanent support of the institution. To Morgan Edwards more than to any other man, are the Baptist churches of America indebted for their grand list of institutions of learning, with their noble endowments and wide-spread influence.

Dr. Dale R. Hart: Adapted from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 189 -190
The post 130 — May 09 – This Day in Baptist History Past appeared first on The Trumpet Online.