The Hindu festival of Diwali took place this week and with it came a celebratory message from the Archbishop of York. He took to social media to congratulate the false religion claiming it was all about building bridges across communities. You would not expect the leaders of other religions to congratulate Christians at Christmas, so why do church leaders celebrate false religious festivals and tacitly endorse their beliefs?
This sort of empty platitudinal nonsense should simply not be happening. Do Hindus really need a message congratulating them in their false beliefs (which they presumably do not consider to be false) or would it be more profitable to point them to the true light of the world, Jesus Christ? Is it too much to expect Christian leaders to promote the truth of Christianity and expose the false nature of every other religion? The answer sadly, seems to be yes given the growing sad trend of church leaders celebrating other religious festivals.
Diwali is one of the most deceptive festivals of all the false religions because it attempts to co-opt the theme of light over darkness and good defeating evil. All very reasonable sounding so far. You might ask why would you not want to celebrate such a thing? The problem is it celebrates a false light, a false ‘good’, the victory of one demon over another. It is celebrating the triumph of demonic powers. We know that Jesus is the light of the world and all demons have been crushed under his authority, so it is hardly unsurprising that false religions such as Hinduism would look to set up their own version of light and have an imposter festival to celebrate this false light.
“Ultimately, that is what it is: An empty message of nothingness. A tragic metaphor for the current state of the Church of England.”
However, what makes it much worse is that the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, decided to mark the occasion not by calling it out, but by releasing a social media video. The video, (which is so boring I almost fell asleep watching it) celebrates the occasion of Diwali when he should be calling it out for what it is – evil. In the video he refers to, “building understanding across difference”. What does that even mean? It is simply a poor-quality word salad picked up from the discount section of the local supermarket. He goes on to say, “I wish a very happy Diwali to everyone celebrating”. There is nothing “happy” about people celebrating a false religious festival. It is rather sad, made worse by the Archbishop endorsing it. He talks about, “Hindus across this nation who are helping to build a stronger society”. This is yet more empty ‘community leader’ garble designed to sound lovely yet means absolutely nothing. That there are people who follow the Hindu faith who are decent members of our society has nothing to do with their faith, but this is where the deception is. For what this does is seek to promote the idea of various religions simply contributing to making our nation whatever it is these liberals want it to be. I know plenty of decent people who have no faith at all, but I would not dream of celebrating them in their belief in nothingness. Ultimately, that is what it is: An empty message of nothingness. A tragic metaphor for the current state of the Church of England.
If a church leader is to make any statement on another religion’s festival it should be to expose it and to instead point people to Jesus. Yet Archbishop Cottrell’s statement does nothing more than exalt some random member of the Hindu community who he heard on the radio during a ‘thought for the day’ slot, congratulating them for following a false religion and celebrating evil under the guise of all their various wonderful efforts to bring the community together (whatever that means).
It is a tragedy that some prominent church leaders seem to see themselves merely as an extended form of community wardens who simply seek to celebrate everyone in whatever they believe rather than shepherds charged with upholding the truth and guiding their flock towards the true light of the world, Jesus. I would not expect Hindu leaders to make statements celebrating Christmas, Easter, Passover or Eid for they are not the religious festivals of their own belief system. Why is it that it only seems to be Christian ‘leaders’ taking part in this compromise of celebrating other religions?
“It is a tragedy that some prominent church leaders seem to see themselves merely as an extended form of community wardens”
I would suggest it is because they are more concerned with seeking to be accepted by the world rather than calling the world to repentance. They appear to have a warped view of the gospel with a heavy focus on ‘loving each other’ and ‘doing good’ rather than being salt and light in a darkened world. Love is actually seeking to rescue people from peril, especially when they don’t know the situation they are in.
I am sure they will talk of ‘building bridges’ between different faith communities and all that nice sounding stuff. I might be able to swallow it to an extent if I saw Hindu leaders renouncing their faith and turning to Jesus as a result, but we don’t. It is not really the role of the church leader to just ‘build bridges across communities’ for all it ends up doing is building a bridge to hell paved with many good intentions. We need to be constantly assessing whether what we are doing is pointing people towards or away from the cross of Christ.
The Bible tells us in John 14:6 that, “Jesus is the way, truth and life and that no one comes to the Father but by him”. This immediately defines Christianity as the only truth and every other religion as false. Yet, here we have the second most senior Archbishop in the Church of England openly celebrating the festival of a false religion. Is it really too much to expect a church leader to hold to Christian truth? Is it really too much to expect a church leader to encourage those who have chosen the wrong path to change course and jump onto the path to Jesus?
The greater problem here is the deception behind all this. It is subtle of course and not explicitly stated, otherwise it would be outright heresy rather than mere deception. We need to appreciate what is happening here: Behind these statements is an anti-christ spirit of universalism that advances the idea of many paths leading to salvation. This demonic deception has taken hold in many who did not know the truth to begin with because it sounds all nice and fluffy. The idea that all we need do is simply ‘love’ each other more and celebrate our differences is a ‘nice’ message that offends no one (except God himself).
“Behind these statements is an anti-christ spirit of universalism that advances the idea of many paths leading to salvation”
I cannot celebrate difference when that difference has a destination of hell for those on any path other than the one walking towards Jesus. I love people on the wrong path too much to just cheer them on towards the condemnation of hell. I cannot celebrate difference when it muddies the waters so much as to alter the Christian message that we are all sinners, all in need of saving and there is only one Lord and one saviour – the man Jesus Christ. I will not celebrate difference that leads to death. Rather, I will grieve over those who celebrate such deception for they are leading people astray when their call is to be salt and light and to expose the darkness, not endorse it.
I believe this all points to the Church of England being the church of Sardis in Revelation 3 where it says, “you have a reputation of being alive but are in fact dead”. This is a damning indictment on the national established church of our nation, whose leaders have seats in the heart of Parliament and therefore in a unique place of influence that could transform the nation if they stuck to their calling. For where the Church of England used to hold to doctrinal truth, it has sadly chosen a path of compromise and capitulation, seeking to fit in with the world rather than setting the standard for the world to follow. It has become weak, full of pathetic excuses for leaders who having been deceived, do more following of demonic spirits than leading the church as they should do. I take no pleasure in writing this article and I do not seek to do down the Church of England unnecessarily, (they have done that to themselves in their chasing after the world). But when false beliefs and demonic religious activity is celebrated by church leaders, I cannot not speak out.
“I long for the Church of England to awake to the truth and arise to the challenges of our day”
I long for the Church of England to return to biblical truth. I long for the Church of England to awake to the truth and arise to the challenges of our day. I long for leaders in the church of England who are fearless and more concerned with God’s view rather than man’s view of them. I long for the Church of England to be a light on the hill, a beacon of hope in a dark place that offers people healing, deliverance and salvation through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. I long for the Church of England to once again offer the hope of Jesus rather than empty platitudes of ‘niceness’. I long for the Church of England to simply do its job.
God is stirring this nation back to him and it is notable that the churches that are growing most are Roman Catholic and Pentecostal. People, particularly young people are looking for authentic Christianity. Not a “form of godliness that denies the power therein”, but a church that stands boldly for the truth and proclaims it uncompromisingly and unashamedly. A church that walks in the supernatural in the power of the Holy Spirit. A church that offers real hope rather than an endorsement of misery and gloom.
“A church that becomes like the world has nothing to offer a world in desperate need of hope.”
So why do church leaders celebrate false religious festivals? Put simply – because they have abandoned their first love for Jesus and instead allowed a spirit of deception to come upon them to the point where they follow the world rather than set the standard for the world to follow. A church that becomes like the world has nothing to offer a world in desperate need of hope. And it is hope that we as follows of Jesus have bucket loads of. Archbishop Cottrell and others like him have neglected their basic duties as follows of Christ and as leaders in the church and so they must now follow the 3 R/s: Reflect, Repent and Resign.
