CHURCH FOR SALE
How can you sell a church? Didn’t Jesus
say that He would build His church and that the gates of hell, i.e., the gates
of hades, would not prevail against it? Yet, I was saddened to see a church I
had attended as a schoolboy while growing up in Scotland has a “for sale” sign
on it. How can this be?
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| Jamestown Primary School & Jamestown Parish Church |
I set off into the world from Scotland
just before my 21st birthday way back in 1977. Occasionally I return
to my hometown to visit. Invariably, while back, I head for Balloch, (at the
southern end of beautiful Loch Lomond), the place where I grew up. There are
two Church of Scotland churches there, (three, if you count the one further down
river, i.e., the River Leven), at Bonhill. One we called the “White Church” and
the other “Jamestown Parish”. It’s the Jamestown Parish Church that’s sadly up
for sale.
I attended Jamestown Primary School, which
was next door to the church. It was constructed of the same red sandstone as
the church’s, all hewn, as my dad many years ago told me, from a local quarry
up the Auchencarroch. The sandstone had been transported by horse and cart.
The following is a little bit of history
regarding the building of Jamestown Parish Church,
It
was arranged that the foundation-stone of the church be laid with Masonic
honours in addition to the religious ceremony, and on 17th October 1868, this
was duly accomplished. The Rev. John Alison, the minister at Bonhill, conducted
the religious ceremony, while R.W.M. Ross of Dumbarton, in the absence of
P.G.M. Alexander Smollett through illness, carried through the Masonic
ceremony.
A
glass jar was deposited in the cavity of the foundation-stone, and in it were
placed the following articles:- A copy of the “Glasgow Herald”, containing an
account of the laying of the foundation-stone of Glasgow University; the “Daily
Mail and Dumbarton Herald”; the “Missionary Record” of the Church of Scotland;
the “Illustrated London News”; abstract Accounts of Bonhill Parochial Board;
the Statistical Account of the Parish of Bonhill; and an account of the
proceedings in connection with the erection of the church. Along with these papers
and documents there was placed a specimen of the Turkey Red manufacture of
Levenbank Works.[1]
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| The "White Church" |
I wrote a book, published by Nordskog
Publishing Inc., called From Mason To Minister.[2] Among other things, the
book tracks my geographical journey as well as my philosophical, and spiritual
journeys. I became a Mason, i.e., a speculative mason, aka, Freemason, in 1986 in
Manitoba, Canada. I had been searching for meaning in my life, which became a
quest for truth, and then a cry to God. I had thought that maybe God could be found hiding in the Masonic Lodge.
Though I had attended church on occasion with
Jamestown Primary School, and subsequently with the 1st Jamestown
Boys’ Brigade, I had been more interested in counting the church’s big organ
pipes, than listening to any of the preacher’s sermons! The Bible was read in a
language that was foreign to me (i.e, the King James’ Version), and I never had
any idea what the preacher was going on about! Sure, that may have been my own
problem. Or was it?
I was ordained as a minister of the
Presbyterian Church of Australia in 1998. You see, when I had been attending
the Masonic Lodge in Manitoba, I had been given an award for some papers I had
written and presented on Freemasonry. Part of the award was a Bible, albeit a
Masonic Bible, (which was simply a complete King James Bible with some masonic
material as a preface to its contents). With the Bible in one hand and a
dictionary in the other, I read the Book I had been given in 1988 through which
I was converted by God! His Spirit had worked with His Word in my heart,
especially the verse which says, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6.
I had learned through Freemasonry that we
shared the masonic altar equally with Muslims, Jews, and various other
religions. However, here was Jesus Christ making an extraordinary claim of
exclusivity! Don’t miss it: Jesus is saying that Christians, Muslims, Jews,
Hindus, Sikhs, Atheists, you name it, must go through Him if they want to get
to God! Yet, the organisation that the ones who had laid the foundation stone of
the beautiful red sandstone of Jamestown Parish Church taught that there are
other ways to get to God, i.e., without Jesus Christ. Yet, Jesus, speaking of
Himself said, “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The
stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner:
this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?” Matthew 21:42.
I'll let you be the judge as to whether Jesus,
“The stone which the builders rejected” is also being rejected by the organisation
the Jamestown Parish Church foundation-stone layers belonged to. But know this,
to reject Jesus’ teaching is to reject Him. For Jesus says, “Whoever is ashamed
of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His
glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:26. Yes,
words matter, especially the words of Jesus.
Jesus says to Christians, to His church, “You
are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be
made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled underfoot.” Matthew 5:13.
There is a church for sale. Why? Could it
be that the Church of Scotland has lost its saltiness? On the occasions I
visited Jamestown Parish Church and the “White Church” when back on holiday, I
did not hear the Gospel, i.e., the Good News of Jesus Christ, proclaimed from
the pulpits. I was looking for bread but was given only stones from the theological
liberals who occupied the pulpits on Sunday.
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| Church with "for sale" sign |
Sure, pep-talks and motivational speeches,
even with some Bible allusions thrown in, like the ones I heard, may help some
people to get through their week or through life, but they are not the Gospel!
How are these wee pious spiels supposed help Christ’s church prevail against
the very gates of hell? Granted I only attended a couple of services here and
there while back on holiday. Therefore, I was unable to gather much intelligence
on the state of Jamestown Parish Church. But it is up for sale. Little wonder.
The good news? The church is not the
building. It’s the people who gathered in the building. Speculative Masonry and
Theological Liberalism may have had a negative impact on Jamestown Parish
Church, but, “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the
head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes”
and Jesus said, “I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.” Therefore, be encouraged!
Jesus lived, died, was resurrected, and
was taken up to glory that sinners could be forgiven all their sins and receive
everlasting life. Therefore, trust Jesus and His words.
And, for the record, I cut my ties with
Freemasonry when I left Canada to settle in Australia in 1990. Also, the
Presbyterian Church of Australia, to which I belong, though descended from the
Church of Scotland, officially cut its ties too with Freemasonry during the
1980s.
[1] Malcolm B. MacGregor, Jamestown
Parish Church 1869-1934, Printed at the Herald Office, Church Street, Dumbarton,
1934. http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/docs/JamestownParishChurch.pdf
[2] From Mason To Minister: Through
the Lattice, Nordskog Publishing Inc, Ventura, California, 2011. https://www.nordskogpublishing.com/product/from-mason-to-minister-through-the-lattice/
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