Category Archives: Take Heed Ministries

An open letter to the Belfast Telegraph

In recent weeks several letters that I have sent to the Belfast Telegraph have failed to be published. One of them related to their Religion Correspondent, Alf McCreary, being “cross” with the current Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Harry Uprichard, and that unpublished letter can be viewed on our website through this link

https://www.takeheed.info/alf-mccreary-cross-with-presbyterian-moderator/

The most recent letter was sent to the Belfast Telegraph on Monday 15 May but once more it has failed to be published by them. I have discovered that ‘oversight’ for the ‘Letters’ section of the paper has in recent times changed and any honest observer of the letters now being published will note the obvious change in tenor and tone of those that make it for publication.

This failure by the Belfast Telegraph to ‘give voice’ to the views of Biblical Christians like myself is a very worrying development and so I have today sent the following letter by email to the Belfast Telegraph and any response from them will subsequently be added to this article.

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News From The Front – June 2006

Dear praying friends,

As you will read in the first article we had a very stimulating ministry visit by Pastor Gary Gilley [thank you for all your prayers] and it was evident that his diagnosis of the problem that much of professing Christianity is afflicted with today is centred on ‘the heart’. What I mean by that is that, in much of today’s apparently ‘blossoming’ and ‘successful’ Christianity, the very ‘heart of the gospel’ has been removed in favour of ‘another gospel’. This new ‘gospel’ is all about ‘self’ and is ‘justified by men and women’. But truly found at ‘the heart of the gospel’ are Christ and the truth of ‘men and women being justified’ by God. Enclosed with this newsletter are copies of 2 very helpful leaflets that in one, identify the problem found at ‘the heart’ of the ‘gospel’ proclaimed in today’s ‘Market-Driven’ churches and in the other, restate the glorious biblical truth of God’s ‘justification’ of guilty sinners. Also enclosed is a leaflet with 2 emails from Pastor Jerry Moser of Bayou Du Large Baptist Church in Louisiana. Many of you sent contributions to our appeal for Jerry and the fellowship there as they coped with the damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I trust you will be as thrilled as we have been to see how God has gloriously used these difficult trials for the furtherance of His gospel amongst a very needy [spiritually and materially speaking] people. Margaret and I once more thank you for all your much-appreciated support.

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Roman Catholicism and Indulgences

Any changes since Luther’s days?

Each day I receive via email the daily news bulletin from the Roman Catholic Zenit news agency. This gives comprehensive details of the major statements, pronouncements and activities as they affect the Roman Catholic ‘world’.

The following is an item that was included in the bulletin received today and true believers should weep as they read of how the Roman Catholic Church still proclaims its ability to dispense ‘forgiveness’ of sin upon its terms. This matter concerns ‘indulgences’ and this is what the item stated:

  • Plenary Indulgence Offered for Pentecost Meeting
  • VATICAN CITY, MAY 24, 2006 (Zenit.org)

A plenary indulgence can be gained by participants in the meeting of ecclesial movements and new communities with the Pope in St. Peter’s Square on the eve of Pentecost. The decision was made by the Apostolic Penitentiary, a tribunal of the Holy See, in response to a request of Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

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‘Strange Bedfellows’ with ‘Evangelical Alliance’

  • ‘Evangelical Alliance’ and the ‘Global Day of Prayer’:
  • ‘Evangelical Alliance’, Morrris Cerullo
  • Steve Munsey,Benny Hinn and R T Kendall:
  • ‘Evangelical Alliance’ and ‘The Emerging Church’

On the Evangelical Alliance website there is a section that deals with ‘Relationships Commitment’ and it can be found by following this link – http://www.eauk.org/connect/about-us/basis-of-faith.cfm#erc

It tells of discussions between the ‘Evangelical Alliance’ and the ‘British Evangelical Council’ [BEC]. We learn that one of the aims was ‘to provide an up-dated version of the eight “general resolutions” agreed at the 1846 Assembly that launched the Evangelical Alliance’.

Earlier we read in the article ‘we seek to promote good Christian practice, as well as true Christian doctrine’. Later there is a listing of ‘the eight “general resolutions” already mentioned and they are subdivided between ‘Affirmations’ and ‘Actions’.

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Alf McCreary ‘cross’ with Presbyterian Moderator

Alf McCreary, the Belfast Telegraph ‘religion’ correspondent in his weekly article on Saturday 22 April 2006, gave it the title ‘An Unholy Mess’ and in it he publicly expressed his dismay at and disapproval of the decision taken by the current Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Harry Uprichard not to take part in an ecumenical service linked to the anniversary of the awarding of the George Cross to the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

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Global Day of Prayer: Sunday 4th June 2006

According to the ‘Transformations Ireland’ website  the next ‘Global Day of Prayer’ is scheduled for Sunday 4th June 2006 and locally the event will, as last year, be staged at Stormont in Belfast. The website gives the names of the local committee as follows –

Ian Ballentine, Margaret Clarke, Niall Griffin, David Hamilton, Larry Kelly, Peter Murray, Priscilla Reid, Mairisine Stanfield

These members represent what I would describe as an ecumenical, charismatic mix. For instance, Larry Kelly was one of the ‘testimonies’ in the Roman Catholic publication ‘Adventures in Reconciliation’ where he was introduced in these words – ‘Larry leads the Lamb of God Community in North Belfast and has been a pioneer in interdenominational relationships in Belfast over the past 20 years. A trustee of the Christian Renewal Centre in Rostrevor [ultra ecumenical and charismatic] Larry leads cross-denominational ALPHA [need I say more?] Bible Study Courses in Belfast’

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Pastor Gary Gilley – DVD

Between 19 March 2006 and 4 April 2006 Pastor Gary Gilley of Southern View Chapel, Springfield, Illinois spoke on 18 occasions in Northern Ireland about the dangers posed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by movements such as the ‘seeker sensitive’ movement [pioneered and promoted by Bill Hybels of ‘Willow Creek’ and Rick Warren of the ‘Purpose Driven’ movement] and the ‘emerging church’ movement headed up by people like Brian McLaren [USA] and his close friend, Steve Chalke.

Pastor Gilley’s talk was recorded and is now available on DVD. There is an introduction of about 8 minutes by myself [Cecil Andrews] and Pastor Gilley’s talk lasts 45 minutes.

For those in the UK, DVD’s can be ordered by writing to me [enclosing cheque for £8.00 payable to ‘Take Heed’ Publications] at ‘Take Heed’ Publications, PO Box 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland.

As an alternative folks in the UK could order by email from me on takeheed@aol.com and could then make the appropriate payment of £8.00 through the secure ‘DONATION’ facility found on our website of https://www.takeheed.info

If you live outside the UK and wish to order the DVD please email me in the first instance on takeheed@aol.com so that I can advise you of the total costs, including overseas postage, and also discuss the payment alternatives available to you.

Cecil Andrews – ‘Take Heed’ Ministries – 8 April 2006

 

News From The Front – March 2006

Dear praying friends,

By the time this newsletter arrives with you that ‘landmark’ birthday that I mentioned in my December 2005 newsletter will be part of history. As I contemplated the passing of yet another decade of my life, a phrase that will be familiar to those who have travelled by air came to mind – it’s the one that is said to the cabin crew by the captain as an aeroplane nears the runway at the start of its journey – the intercom will sound and the captain will inform the stewards and stewardesses to ‘prepare for take-off’ and this instruction will usually be followed by feverish last-minute activity. Those of us who have tasted God’s ‘so great salvation’ should always be ‘prepared for take-off’ for truly none of us know ‘what a day may bring forth’ [Proverbs 27:1]. Is there any purging, pleading, ploughing, praying or even reparation that needs to be attended to? Well, do it now, for how close to or even how far down the runway that leads to ‘take-off’ we are, none of us know. Enclosed with this newsletter are several enclosures and on one are copies of faxes sent to Tony Blair. ‘The family’ as established by God is under attack as never before due to recently implemented legislation and it has also been recommended that God’s guidelines for raising children should be ignored and indeed outlawed. I have available [on audio cassette – price £2.50 – includes p&p] 2 sermons by a good ministerial friend entitled ‘Children obey your parents’ and ‘Parents discipline your children’. Although not quoting the AV the teaching is consonant with the AV translation and I heartily commend these sermons.

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Muslim Hypocrisy and Arrogance by Shaun Willcock

Cartoons of the Islamic founder and “prophet”, Mohammed, one of which depicted him with a bomb, were published in various European newspapers – and Muslims worldwide went wild with (albeit carefully choreographed) anger. Depicting Mohammed is prohibited by Islam. The cartoons were first published in a daily newspaper in Denmark. Later, other newspapers published them as well, insisting on the western tradition of freedom of the press.

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‘Dear Muslim neighbour’

Witnessing for Christ has never been and will never be an easy task and this is probably truer today than ever before. Today, any notion of there being an absolute, exclusive, narrow ‘truth’ in the spiritual realm flies totally in the face of the ‘spirit of this age’ – an age that is characterised by an unwillingness to accept the ‘truth’ of absolute ‘truth’, that promotes as dogma, both religiously and politically, the supposed ‘truth’ of ‘truth’ being relative and that despises those who would preach an absolute ‘truth’, such as faithful Christian witnesses [a good example was both the audience and some panel reaction to the participation of Stephen Green of Christian Voice in the BBC’s Question Time on 29 September 2005] and ministers of The Gospel. In recent years the focus of the world has been very much directed to the religion of Islam. Constantly high-ranking politicians such as Tony Blair and George W Bush tell us that ‘Islam means peace’. Well, even the new Pope has more sense than to agree with such an erroneous statement. In a report of an interview given by the Pope to journalists, the Roman Catholic Zenit News Agency reported as follows [25 July 2005]

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