A Real Prophet and a Court Prophet

Baroness Cox is a real prophet. She recently spoke to a missions conference in Ridgecrest, NC and this is a report on her speech:

"An English evangelical Anglican baroness told 825 Anglican and Episcopal missionaries including three archbishops, 20 bishops and numerous clergy and laity that resurgent Islamic fundamentalism poses a threat to Western Civilization. Citing Bishop Michael Nazir Ali, Caroline Cox said the British nation has "lost its soul."

England, she said, is in a perilous situation, "Where there is a vacuum, it is liable to be filled with alternative ideologies and belief systems. Without a vision the people perish," she said to a New Wineskins for Global Mission participants coming from 28 countries of the world.

Describing herself simply as a "nurse and social scientist", her political pedigree allows her to address England's most senior parliamentarians in England (the House of Lords.) "It is more important to speak in the House of the Lord than the House of the Lords," she quipped.

"A resurgent Islam requires gospel bridges. We do not need walls, but reconciliation can only be achieved through realism," she said.

Baroness Cox is a voice for the persecuted and marginalized of the world, especially in the war torn country of the Sudan that she has visited numerous times. Two million Sudanese, mostly Christians, have been slaughtered by Islamists over oil rights in the southern part of the country which is predominantly Christian. Many believe another war is imminent.

Cox also sees a major threat on what she called "the home front". She outlined four areas of threat.

"I see an aggressive sexual humanism, a misplaced utilitarian, multi-cultural and extreme relativism playing out as well as a basic ignorance of [Britain's] Christian heritage and divisions within the churches giving off an uncertain trumpet call. As a result there is a deep fundamental assault on the deepest values of liberal democracy and an inculcation of guilt in Britain. I want the British people to look out and wake up and understand the dangers which confront us," she told the stunned mixed audience of global missionaries.

She said the growth of a political, strategic and militant Islam is mostly to blame for it. "The vast majority of the worlds' 1.2 billion Muslims are law abiding hospitable people, but there is a growth of militant Islamists who follow the teachings of traditional Islam associated with Al Qaeda.

Read the rest here.

The current Archbishop of Canterbury, on the other hand is a court prophet who cries "Peace, peace" where there is no peace. Here is a taste of his Easter sermon in which he mocks recent cases of Christian persecution in Britain from his loft establishment perch.

"The Archbishop of Canterbury today condemned the "overheated language" used to describe Christian suffering in Britain as a coalition of religious groups launched a campaign to protect what they see as the country's religious heritage.

Rowan Williams told a congregation at Canterbury Cathedral that "wooden-headed bureaucratic silliness" combined with a "well-meaning and completely misplaced anxiety about giving offence to non-Christians" should not be mistaken for persecution. - - snip - -

t was not the case that Christians were "at risk of their lives or liberties in this country simply for being Christians", Williams noted. "Whenever you hear overheated language about this, remember those many, many places where persecution is real and Christians are being killed regularly and mercilessly or imprisoned and harassed for their resistance to injustice."

The call for calm and proportion put him on a collision course with Christian leaders who yesterday urged people to vote for parliamentary candidates "who will promote policies that protect vulnerable people and also respect the right of Christians to hold, express and live according to Christian beliefs".

Signatories to the Westminster 2010: Declaration of Christian Conscience include the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who has retained a high profile and legions of admirers since leaving office, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland, and Steve Clifford, who heads the Evangelical Alliance, which has links with more than 7,000 churches.

They said the manifesto was a direct response to an increase in reports of Christians "facing discrimination in all walks of life" and that proposals in the Equality Bill "would have made it illegal to insist that their employees including the clergy believed in God and the teachings of the Bible"."

Read the rest here.

His name should be on the list of signatories of the Westminster Declaration, but no, he has no time to stand up to secularism any more than he has time to stand up to militant Islam. He thinks that endless talking and dialogue can change the world - a typical attitude for an intellectual, but a bad one for a shepherd.

Maybe someone should tell the Archbishop that there is a war going on. Who better to do so than Baroness Cox? The question is, will he ever stop talking long enough to listen to reason?