I’m no bigot, but I feel the dear old C of E is ‘sleepwalking’ into a same sex marriage crisis
From fighting for his country in WW2 to being an anti-apartheid ‘thorn in the flesh’ clergyman, Rev George Wood, 91 and nearly blind, has written (via a friend) to share what is weighing on his heart
I FEEL SUCH TREPIDATION as I see the dear old Church of England sleep-walking into a growing crisis arising from the proposed legislation concerning same sex marriage.
Today, the task is to try and help certain politicians and like-minded electorate to see why it is so dangerous to “play God” with his Creation process. Let us not pussy foot, and explain to those ignorant of God’s Word and ways the harm that will befall the nation if we oppose the living God. Already he is fulfilling the prophecy of “shaking the nations” (Haggai 2:6), which so far has gone unheeded by many in the Church, especially in the part of Sussex where I live, and certainly in politics, local and national.
Issachar Ministries cannot be accused of pussy footing, having been engaged with politicians about this subject for many years. Recently they pointed out that President Obama and other prominent politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are ignorant of God’s Word and have been deceived, resulting in their support of same sex marriage without realising the seriousness of what can happen when you “play God”.
If the proposed legislation becomes law, we will bring upon ourselves the wrath of God in judgement. Issachar Ministries foresees that the fury of Hurricane Sandy, the great storm that brought disaster to New York recently will be as a gentle summer breeze in comparison with what we will bring upon ourselves if we play God and tamper with marriage. But God, who is a keeper of promises (Numbers 23:19), will fulfil his promise from John 15:10 – “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love”.
Now, our Prime Minister has jumped on this band wagon of deception, and has begun the process of making it legal here. If successful, this law will be presented to our gracious, God-fearing Queen, expecting her to deny her Coronation Oath and give her consent to a law that meddles with the Word of God in such a way that it will bring judgement upon our government and nation.
I hope and pray it is only ignorance on the part of most politicians and the electorate who agree;, that they are blissfully unaware of what they are doing, relating same sex marriage simply to a human rights issue, when the human rights and equality issue has already been won. Same sex couples have been given legal status, but same sex marriage goes further, and is an insidious ploy to bring down the foundations of our society and institutions. Tampering with the God-given institution of marriage attacks God and his Creation, which makes a man and a woman “one flesh”. This, God alone can do.
I feel I have enough experience of life and ministry, though, to show that I am not a bigot. During the Second World War in the RAF, my plane was shot down over France, but I was given forged papers and had a miraculous escape. After the war, leaving my family in East Grinstead, I sought a new life in South Africa and began to ‘do God’ in a small way. In 1954 I was ordained in Pretoria Cathedral but just a week later at my first clergy meeting I accepted the challenge to ‘stop pussy footing’ and take on the evil of apartheid.
During this struggle with the white apartheid government, with no quarter given, I was appointed First Dean of the Diocese of Zululand by Bishop Alphaeus Zulu, South Africa’s first black bishop. At his enthronement, the picture which hit the headlines was the spectacle of a white priest kneeling to kiss the ring of a black bishop in symbolic gesture of obedience. This incensed some of my pussy footing white parishioners, who left the Anglican Church.
From being an anti-apartheid ‘thorn in the flesh’ to the minority white government, I returned to Britain and ministered in Littlehampton, then came to live in Rustington where my wife died of cancer in 1988. I have always believed that denominations should work together and it was at an Anglo-Catholic charismatic conference that I first heard Clifford Hill and have continued to listen to his prophetic challenges.
I am now 91 and visually impaired. All I can do is join in praying that politicians in favour of this legislation will have a rethink, stop trying to “play God” and draw back from the brink before it is too late.
Rev George Wood
Rustington
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