Letter to the Editor: Churches in UK Caving in to LGBT and New Age

Dear Lighthouse Trails:

Much is spoken about apostasy in the Roman Catholic Church, but I would also draw your attention to the Methodist Church here in the UK.  Below are some pics from the Gay Pride event in Chester the other week; you cannot see from the pictures but one carried a banner stating “This is the gay that the Lord has made.” . . .

I have written a letter to the [Wesley Church Centre], the body of which is attached (see below) and also have ordered booklets from you to send to them.  It breaks my heart to see the church so led astray especially as I have a friend in another Methodist church who I am trying to encourage to leave.  The problem is where to go?  I have just left a spiritually abusive church, identified from your booklet (thank you).  I cannot find another solid church anywhere and am loathe to go and try and put up with false teaching as I have left 2 churches now.  I listen to solid teaching online, read, have fellowship with solid Christian friends and go out with a Christian witness group in Chester on a Saturday giving out tracts.  I keep myself busy writing and/or sending booklets/tracts where I see false teaching, yoga, mindfulness.  There is so much of it now that I am kept quite busy for the Lord.

Thank you for your website, a true beacon of light for the faithful.  I am lucky as I have a small band of friends solid on the Bible but for those alone, your website is a bastion of truth.

Every blessing in Jesus,

Sharon

Portions of Sharon’s letter to the church:

“Sanctify them by Your truth, Your Word is Truth.” (John 17:17)

I am writing to you to express my concern at the things I see on your church website and I see that you are endorsing practices which are not Biblical.

Can I ask how familiar you are with the teaching of the Bible?  As a shepherd, you are not just responsible for your own soul but for the souls of your flock also, and God will hold you accountable for their souls on Judgement Day.  If you believe the Bible then that very thought should terrify you, for we are told that:

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)

Do you believe the Bible?  Do you even read it?  Do you fear God for that is the beginning of wisdom?  Sadly I can see little evidence of this.  Familiarity with the Word of God would give you an awareness of the times we are in.  It would enable you to understand that as we move closer to the return of Christ, the organised church will fall further and further away from the true teaching of the Word of God.

“Let no one deceive you by any means, for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first…” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

 A quick glance at your website and I am sad to say that the Wesley Methodist Centre simply affirms the times we are in.  Rosary beads, a tool of the Roman Catholic religion, are not referenced once in the Bible yet your website suggests that they be used to aid personal devotions.  Where did Jesus or any of His apostles whip out their rosary beads to aid them in prayer?  The same goes for your Dice prayer and prayer props, Lectio Divina, Taize chants, and praying through the senses.  Where do these ideas come from?  They do not come from the Word of God.  The answer is mysticism.  The Catholic Church is steeped in mysticism and it is NOT a Christian practice. How did the Methodists, once so faithful to God’s Word, fall so far away from the truth?  I find it hard to take in the things that I see on your prayer pages as you seek to draw people into what are, in fact, practices rooted in the occult.  I also see that you are practicing Mindfulness, another occult activity.

As Christians we are commanded to call to account any Christian who is deceived.  Several times in the Gospels, Jesus warned us of deception in the last days. . . .

 We know that God protects his own if they stay faithful to Him for Jesus said:

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me.” (John 10:27) . . .

I noticed on your visitors section that Margaret comments, following a visit to your church, that “my faith in humanity is re-kindled.”  This is very sad as we know from the book of Jeremiah that a man’s heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. (Jeremiah 17:9)  A visit to a church should surely build faith in God. But isn’t this the root of the problem?  As you seek to please man, you are not pleasing God.  . . . If the organised church would stand against the catalogue of sin we see in this country today, then it may well turn back the wrath of God which is sure to fall upon us.  And remember judgement always begins at the house of God.

I am also concerned about your stance on Israel as you pronounce Palestine as “occupied” on your website.  Palestine is not occupied; it belongs to Israel.  The title deeds for the land are there in the Bible (Psalm 105:9-11), the book that as a Christian, you are supposed to be upholding.  God gave that land to the Jewish people, and He also made Abraham a promise:

“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

 History bears out that this was no idle threat.  The Jews are God’s chosen people, the “apple of His eye,” and you would do well to lead your flock in supporting Israel.

I hope you will take this letter as coming from someone who is concerned about the state of the church and genuinely wishes to see the church back on the narrow way as Wesley, himself, would have wished.  I am glad that John Wesley cannot see the direction in which a church carrying his name is going. I have included some booklets which will explain the issues with your various prayer activities far better than I could.  I hope you will read them for your sake and for the sake of your flock. 

I pray that you will seek God anew, with a desire for a faithful and obedient heart.

Sharon _________

(photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission)