The Daily Mail (28 April 2021) reported that,

“John Sherwood, 71, was led away in handcuffs, questioned in a police station and held overnight after being accused of making homophobic comments outside Uxbridge Station in west London.

“A statement posted to a Christian Facebook his supporters read; ‘Whilst he was preaching, he expounded the final verses of Genesis 1, declaring that God’s purpose in creating mankind was to set human beings in families, headed by a father and a mother, not by two fathers, or by two mothers... The distinction within mankind of just two genders, male and female, made in the image of God, constitutes the essence of God’s created order.’

“Police said they had received complaints the man had been making ‘allegedly homophobic comments; and arrested him under the Public Order Act.”

A different Minister is reported by the Mail newspaper as saying:

“You don’t have to be an evangelical Christian to be shocked by this. Anyone who cares about liberty should be concerned about what happened in Uxbridge.

“This is about defending our Christian civilisation, or what is left of it. The belief in Genesis 1:27 is fundamental to Christian belief.

“This arrest of a faithful minister for doing nothing other than declaring what the Bible teaches about one of the important moral issues of our time reveals a dangerous assault upon freedom of speech and, not least, upon the freedom of Christian pastors to declare in public all that the Bible teaches. The State has no right to designate that some parts of God’s word are no-go areas.

“Whatever one’s personal views on homosexuality might be, it is surely pertinent to ask what kind of nation have we become that the minister of a Christian church is arrested for upholding in the public square the very truths which Her Majesty the Queen promised to uphold in her Coronation Oath in 1953, with a Bible in her hand?”

The report concludes: “This arrest of a faithful preacher for doing nothing other than declaring what the Bible teaches about one of the important moral issues of our time reveals a dangerous assault taking place in modern Britain upon freedom of speech, and not least, upon the freedom of Christian pastors to proclaim in public all that the Bible teaches (see Acts 20:27).”

“ For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”

The Bible has been in the News in another report also. The Daily Mail (Thursday April 29, 2021) has reported on the situation in Northern Ireland where the leader of the DUP is stepping down from her position. Arlene Foster is expected to be replaced as leader of the DUP by Edwin Poots who, says the Mail, “is a Creationist who believes the world was created 6,000 years ago.” The report says:

“He also hit out at scientists who he claimed wanted to ‘indoctrinate everyone’ with the theory of evolution.

“Mr Poots this afternoon formally announced his intention to stand for the leadership of the DUP. The Lagan Valley Assembly member outlined his reasons for running in a video posted on Twitter.

“ ‘I am a proud Northern Ireland man, I love its people and its place, and it faces many challenging times. It’s with that in mind, I’m putting my name forward for the leadership for the Democratic Unionist Party,’ he said.

“ ‘I look forward to the engagement and the debate with colleagues and the wider public in this contest. Northern Ireland is a place that has had many great things over this last hundred years, I wish to see us rebuild, revitalise, reinvigorate and revive for the next hundred.’

“Mr Poots was asked about his religious beliefs during a BBC radio interview back in 2007. Asked how old he believes the earth is, he reportedly replied: ‘My view on the earth is that it’s a young earth. My view is 4000 BC.’

“Mr Poots was a culture minister at the time of the interview and he was asked by another interviewee: ‘You’re the culture minister and you don’t believe in evolution?’

“He replied: ‘Yes, absolutely. And you’re telling me that all of this evolution took place over billions of years, and yet it’s only in the last few thousand years that Man could actually learn to write?’

“Mr Poots hit out at the scientist Richard Dawkins during the same interview, telling the programme: ‘He (Mr Dawkins) wants to indoctrinate everyone with evolution.’

"Mr Poots was also asked about his faith when he was appointed environment minister in 2009. He told the Belfast Telegraph: ‘I am a Bible-believing Christian and I do not see that will impact in any way, shape or form on my role as Environment Minister.’

“Mr Poots has held a number of senior executive portfolios at Stormont and he has been tipped by many as the leading contender to replace Mrs Foster.”

The party was formerly led by the renowned anti-Catholic Ian Paisley for many years.

Our comment is found in the words of Psalm 9:17—“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

Join us again next week for another edition of The Bible in the News.