An emergency alert some still haven't heard

Ten days ago, some of us received a test alert from the government’s new nationwide emergency alarm system. Others are still waiting, and hoping the teething problems are ironed out before we need warned about a real emergency. Other countries have had such alert systems in place for a long time – my in-laws in Canada regularly get pinged about incoming tornadoes or snowstorms. It remains to be seen how frequently such alerts will be used here in the UK where the weather isn’t quite so extreme.

Long before we had the technology to warn people of danger via their mobile phones, some attempted to do the same with books. The most famous – and one which has never been out of print since it was first published in 1677 – is Joseph Alleine’s ‘An Alarm to the Unconverted’. Also published as ‘A Sure Guide to Heaven’, at one time Alleine’s book outsold every other book published in English other than the Bible.

As the title suggests, Alleine’s book is not warning about a physical danger, but about a spiritual one. It is aimed at those who call themselves Christians but have not experienced what the Bible calls ‘conversion’ (Acts 15:3), or to use the words of Jesus, have not been ‘born again’ (John 3:7). Alleine did not expect his message to be popular, explaining to his readers, ‘I am not fishing for your applause, but for your souls – my work is not to please you, but to save you’.

It might be expected that such a book would only be aimed at those in the pew, but remarkably there have been famous ministers in the history of the church who only realised they were unconverted after their ordination. Thomas Scott (1742-1821) is known for his famous Bible commentary, an edited version of which was published as a ‘Study Bible’ by former Stranraer minister William Symington in the mid-1800s. Scott became a minister as a way to earn a living after his plan to become a surgeon failed, and he realised that his father was going to leave the farm he had been working on to his brother. His conversion came later, through the influence of his ministerial colleague John Newton, the former slave-trader who became an abolitionist and wrote ‘Amazing Grace’. Scott describes his experience in his autobiography, ‘The Force of Truth’.

Here in Scotland, Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), one of the founders of the Free Church of Scotland, was appointed as a minister because of family connections, and spent most of his time lecturing on mathematics and chemistry at the University of St Andrews. Although censured by his local presbytery for neglecting his parish, he was unrepentant, arguing that a minister’s duties consisted of little more than preaching on Sunday, leaving the remainder of the week for whatever scholarly or scientific interests he wished to pursue. Unsurprisingly, attendance at his church declined!

One winter however he became dangerously ill and began reading the works of evangelicals, such as the abolitionist William Wilberforce and, ironically, Thomas Scott. Chalmers was soon converted and his parish ministry transformed. He then moved to Glasgow where his ministry had a huge impact on many who had been consigned to poverty by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.

In America, the Irish immigrant Gilbert Tennant made it his mission to awake his fellow Presbyterians from their spiritual stupor, and preached an infamous sermon entitled ‘The danger of an unconverted ministry’. Then as now, it couldn’t be assumed that those standing in a pulpit actually believed Jesus’ teaching.

The great danger of unconverted ministers is that it leaves the people in the pews unlikely to believe a gospel they never hear. They assume that being a Christian simply involves attending church and trying to live a good life – and are never told anything to the contrary.

Imagine the anger there would be if our new alert system wasn’t used in a time of real danger. Or if technical problems meant that those who could have been saved by an alert never received the message. To have information about an imminent danger and not alert people would be a serious thing.

Joseph Alleine wrote his book to ensure that no-one in his day could say that they hadn’t been warned. And all these years later, it’s not too late to hear and respond to his alarm. Which is, of course, simply the alarm sounded by the prophets, the apostles and Jesus himself: ‘Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish’ (Luke 13:5).  

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 4th May 2023

New First Minister, Same "Progressive" Agendae

A man the same age as me is the new First Minister of Scotland. Politicians, like policemen, are getting younger. It was the result that the SNP hierarchy wanted, but I can’t say I’m thrilled by it.

Some might think that is because I write as a Christian and Humza Yousaf is a Muslim. Many Christians, however, would be more enthusiastic about Mr Yousaf, if like Kate Forbes, his faith shaped his politics more rather than less! Forbes, in line with her faith, was open about her opposition to same-sex marriage. Yousaf supports it, despite skipping the vote on it due to ‘pressure from the mosque’ (according to former Health Secretary Alex Neil). Concern among Christians about Mr Yousaf is not about his faith but that he is the continuity candidate – pushing the exact same ‘progressive’ social agenda as Nicola Sturgeon.

Bible-believing Christians will argue that this is not good news for the country, but from a political perspective, it is not even good news for the SNP. Unionists feared Forbes but welcome Yousaf. Many commentators believe that the issue which finally brought an end to Nicola Sturgeon’s reign was, to quote the Times, ‘her government’s sending a male rapist to a female prison because he said he was a woman’. Sturgeon repeatedly refused to answer the question of whether Isla Bryson was a man or a woman, because Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill allows for self-identification. Yousaf was the only candidate who vowed to plough on with challenging the UK Government’s veto of the GRR Bill. When asked the question that stumped Sturgeon, Yousaf said, ‘I don't believe Isla Bryson is truly, and genuinely, a trans woman’.  As the SNP’s own Joanna Cherry pointed out, merely to say this would be be ‘transphobic’ in terms of the definition of transphobia adopted by the party’s National Executive Committee, and potentially open Yousaf up to a charge of hate speech under his own Hate Crime Bill. Incidentally, former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars has described that last Bill as ‘one of the most pernicious and dangerous pieces of legislation ever produced by any government in modern times in any part of the United Kingdom’. One of the most extradentary revelations of the leadership contest was the SNP being forced to admit (despite their previous denials) that while pursuing these issues, they had lost 32,000 members in two years. Surely it is significant that the two leadership candidates who were critical of gender ideology received over 50% of the first preference votes.

One issue which largely flew under the radar during the leadership contest was that of abortion. On paper, Christians and Muslims generally agree that abortion is wrong as it is the taking of a human life. Mr Yousaf, however, has promised to bring forward proposals to decriminalise abortion in the ‘current parliament term’. This would mean introducing abortion on demand, for any reason, up to birth in Scotland. Polling from Savanta ComRes on whether time limits for abortion should be increased showed that only one per cent of British women wanted the time limit to be extended to more than 24 weeks and one per cent wanted it to be increased right through to birth, in contrast to 70 per cent of women who favoured a reduction in time limits. The change would position Scotland drastically away from the European Union, where the most common abortion time limit among EU countries is 12 weeks. Premature babies can survive outside the womb at a younger age than the current UK abortion limit – removing that limit altogether is hardly the mark of a compassionate society.

Where does all this leave us? Surely it highlights that the diversity our society values has severe limits. It would be hard to make a case that gaffe-prone Yousaf has demonstrated much political competency in his previous roles. Crucially, however, he is committed to the progressive agenda of his predecessor. The closeness of the final vote, despite the demonisation of Forbes at the beginning of her campaign – not to mention the dramatic fall in SNP membership – suggests that people are ready for change.

The greatest change we need however is not political. What we need most of all is someone who can tell us why we’re here, what’s wrong with the world, and what human flourishing really looks like. The only one who can do that is God himself. Every politician will ultimately disappoint us because none of them are the Messiah. He has already come, and his name is Jesus.

Published in the Stranraer & Wigtownshire Free Press, 30th March 2023