Call for Catholic rethink

The NZ Herald newspaper, 24 December 2001, read thus:

"Britain should lift its constitutional ban on Catholic
inheriting the throne or marrying the monarch, England's senior Catholic
clergyman said yesterday.

'It is rather odd,' Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor
said. 'A member of the royal family can marry probably anybody, except for
Roman Catholics, so I think there are some anomalies there.'

The Act of Settlement of 1701, which outlines the rules of
royal succession, bars Catholics and people married to Catholics from succeeding
to the throne...."

I think anybody who has read Fox's Book of
Martyrs, will understand why the rules were made barring Catholics from the
throne -– a result of many periods of history where there has been much
bloodshed committed in the name of religion.

It is noteworthy that in at this our day in the year 2002,
many Catholic people who have been brought up in the religion of their
forefathers, have suddenly received the light and asked the Lord Jesus Christ
into their life, to give them a full and free salvation, which has been
forbidden them, under their previous doctrines.

It was with great joy at the end of the year 2001, I had
opportunity to visit Belfast to conduct meetings in the area of Northern
Ireland. There I met an Irish gypsy preacher, who told me that he had been
brought up in the Roman Catholic Church most of his life and then later in life,
he came across a born-again believer who led him to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This man was so full of joy and excitement that he is now one
of the top preachers around Northern Ireland, and told me that he went to visit
his priest to ask him a couple of questions.

Arriving at the priest's house, he said, " I cannot call
you Father, therefore I will address you by your name (which we will assume at
this stage to be John). John, have you read John chapter 3, verse 3, where it
says, 'You must be born again?" The priest admitted that he had read that
verse. Then the Irish gypsy preacher went on to ask him, "If you have read
John chapter 3, verse 3, about being born-again and realise that Jesus said the
word must, how is it that all the years I was in your church, you never
told me about this? I trusted you as you were responsible for my soul in this
life and in the next, and you never told me. I think it's disgusting that you
could spend your whole time deceiving people and leading them away from this
wonderful experience of knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour!"

Should anybody doubt that this event really took place, I
would be glad to furnish you with the name and address of this Irish gypsy
preacher, and he will gladly verify the story that I have printed in our
newspaper, the Omega Times.

Our advice is this, that if your minister or priest or
preacher is not preaching the born-again message, you had better find yourself a
church where it is being preached. Jesus said that without this born again
experience, no man or woman can receive what God has prepared for them.

We must be born-again - not we should be born-again
-– we must be born-again.

Elsewhere in our newspaper we outline the steps for this
experience and should you pray this prayer of salvation, we invite you to write
to us and tell us what you've done, and we will send you literature to help
you in your new life in Christ Jesus.

It is not our job to put down religions or churches, but it
is our job to exalt the one who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life;
no man cometh unto the Father but by me."

It is not through a religion, it is not through a church, it
is not through prayer, it is not through Bible reading, it is through the blood
of the precious Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Repent, believe on Him alone,
receive Him and enjoy salvation from His beautiful hand.