VICAR

Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy.

This week, I’d like to draw Your attention towards the need for maintaining free speech. Although the Church over the years has failed too often on free speech, the Bible has some good passages that shed light on the subject:

Proverbs 31:8-9 

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 

Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.

Galatians 4:16 

Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

Romans 14:1 

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 

And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

British Christians do not have total freedom of speech. There are things we believe, ideas clearly taught in the Scriptures, that are now considered “hate speech” in our world of political correctness. A society that proudly proclaims freedom of speech and then creates laws against hate speech is talking out of both sides of its mouth.

Laws and governments aside, there are still what we might call “social laws” in place, and when Christians are faced with ostracisation due to their beliefs, it certainly does not demonstrate freedom of speech. Many believers throughout history have been persecuted by their societies because the expression of their beliefs did not line up with the status quo. A notable example is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, whose refusal to bow down to the king’s idol landed them in the midst of a fiery furnace (Daniel 3:1–26).

God wants us to obey Him and to speak according to His Word. If obedience to that principle makes people hate us or gets us thrown in jail or even killed, we are not to back down. God wants us to speak the Truth boldly (Ephesians 6:20), but He never promises that we will always be free to speak without consequences.

St. John Chrysostom is the patron saint of preachers, orators, and lecturers. You can ask him to pray for You if You are a preacher, an orator, a writer, or a lecturer.

Have a good week and God Bless You All.

Dear Lord Jesus,

This week we pray to You to guarantee free speech in our land. Without high levels of it we shall become oppressed and at the mercy of blind leaders and a weak-minded, Marxist government that has not thought through its policies nor recognised the failures of historical precedents. We pray that You continue to shine the light of Truth through our journalists and investigators. Please, Lord Jesus, hear our prayer.

Amen