January
15
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Pastor in Dundee, Scotland to Tony Miano: You’re Not Helping, You’re Harming and Crying Wolf
I ask all who follow Cross Encounters Ministries and/or visit this website to pray not only for me, but for Christians around the world that are facing various forms of persecution, most far more serious than what I experienced in Scotland, as they lovingly and boldly proclaim the gospel to a lost and dying world. ~Tony Miano
From Pastor David Robertson of Dundee Scotland:
“From my perspective having worked hard in this city to build up good public relations with the police, council and local community groups; having tried to overcome the narrow and ignorant stereotypes of Christians that many people have; and having sought to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in many different ways and contexts (however imperfectly); the last thing we needed was an American preacher standing in our city centre … shouting out words that no-one understands, getting arrested and then finding it front page news in The Dundee Courier, the next day….
We are not banned from preaching the Word of God, nor are we restricted (for now) in doing so. So whatever else the arrest of Tony Miano means, it is dishonest and wrong for Christians to say this means that the Gospel cannot be preached in Scotland today….
Being put in jail in Scotland for ‘preaching the Gospel’ will play well with the supporters back home and Christians in the UK who are desperate to jump on the persecution bandwagon. But in terms of communicating the Good News to the people of my city, it is not helpful. In fact, to be honest it does the church and the gospel, harm, both in the short and the long term. In the short term it reinforces the cultural stereotypes and ignorant prejudices of those who already think we are mad and bad.
In the longer term it means that when real persecution does occur – the kind that our brothers and sisters are facing in many countries throughout the world, no-one will notice. They will simply shrug their shoulders and say, there go the Christians again, moaning about ‘persecution’.
Let’s not cry wolf until the wolf is actually at the door. And in [the] future is it too much to ask that self-appointed evangelists and ‘ministries’ might actually have the humility and Christian courtesy to liaise with local Christian churches before they minister in our name to our people? Or are we simply to be those who are left to pick up the pieces and deal with the consequences of the inevitable train-wreck?
5 Pt. Salt 
Praise the Lord there are still some with discernment who can see through this circus. How shameful is it to use God’s name as a means to draw attention to self, and to seek financial suppport as well. What is the difference between this shenanigan and that of the WOF/name it claim it hucksters? There is no difference; just say you adhere to the reformed view and you will be embraced and , regardless of your sinful arrogance. May God have mercy…
“If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point.”
–Elizabeth Rundle Charles (not Martin Luther, as commonly thought)
“After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” 1 Kings 19:12
It is not in noise that God usually reveals Himself in greatest power. He works silently, without noise.
Jesus was a still small voice in this world. He did not strive nor cry out; neither was His voice heard in the streets. He did not break a bruised reed, so gentle was He in His goings and in His workings. Yet that one sweet, quiet life, pouring forth its spirit of love and tenderness, wrought more than has been wrought by all the armies of conquerors since the world began!
In the same way, it is the silent things, the unconscious influences of our lives, which make the deepest and most lasting impressions–and not the things which get advertised in the papers, and are most talked about.
If we would be effective in our work, we must learn to work quietly.
The greatest preacher is the one who most deeply impresses men, in matters that affect their living and serving, inciting and inspiring them to worthy deeds and beautiful godly living. The best Christian workers are those who make the least noise. We never can do our best work if we have not learned to work quietly, for Christ glory, and not for our own exaltation. ~ J. R. Miller