STOP PRESS 20/11/2015:
CASE ON THURSDAY 19th DROPPED!
CASE ON FRIDAY 20th DROPPED IN RETURN FOR BIND-OVER ORDER!
PRAISE THE LORD!
BUT WHY WERE THESE CASES EVER BROUGHT?
Article continues:
Another Christian evangelist is in court on alleged public order offences.
Bill Edwards, well-known to this ministry for his tireless efforts for the Gospel, is to face magistrates in Northampton twice this month, on 19th November and then again the following day, 20th November. The cases will both be heard at 10.00am at Northampton Magistrates Court, Campbell Square, Northampton, NN1 3EB. Both charges have been laid under the Public Order Act 1986.
PRAYER IMPORTANT
Mr Edwards has told Christian Voice he values prayer more than actual physical presence. He said: ‘Obviously I will be glad of support by Christians at either of the court cases but it is a very long way for folk like you to come and prayer for the Lord’s help is, of course, more important.’
Despite that, members local to Northampton will surely want to support him, and those who can reach the court will wish to demonstrate how serious their prayers are by being there in person.
LOCAL MP COMPLAINED
The first charge relates to a peaceful protest Bill Edwards carried out outside the house of local MP Andrea Leadsom (Conservative) in the village of Slapton on 18th July.
Mr Edwards said: ‘I did not expect to be arrested and planned after an hour to move to another village for door to door evangelism. I did try to inform Northamptonshire Police beforehand about the protest but was unable to get through in time before I left home. I told Mrs. Leadsom why I was there and spoke to her husband and children and their friends.’ He is charged under Sections 4A and 5 of the Public Order Act.
ARRESTED AT SCHOOL
The following day the evangelist is charged under Sections 5 and 6 of the Act. Mr Edwards told us: ‘The second arrest and charge occurred after I carried a banner against homosexuals outside a primary school in Brackley on July 21st. There was a great deal of anger and physical opposition from certain people and again I was surprised with the outcome. Both of my banners employed words of Scripture.’
A personal note:
Evangelists like Bill Edwards are rare. They often do things others of us wouldn’t. I should probably content myself with writing to my MP or asking to lobby him at the House of Commons. I am not sure, even if he refused to meet me, that I should protest outside his home. If I did, of course, I should expect him to have a thicker and more avuncular skin than the average person and should be extremely surprised if he were to call the police.
As for the school, I know how liberal many parents are these days and have myself been shouted at when trying to encourage parents to protect their children from homosexual propaganda. In that situation, one really would expect the school’s head teacher to call the police, but would expect the police to defuse the situation on their arrival rather than start arresting people.
On the other hand, for some years now the police have been arresting evangelists for so-called ‘homophobic’ language, to the extent that even the National Secular Society became embarrassed by the negative publicity around assaults on our freedom of speech and joined the Christian Institute to call for a change in the law.
But despite that high-profile joint campaign by the National Secular Society and the Christian Institute to draw the teeth of the Public Order Act by removing the word ‘insulting’ from the list of behaviours it made illegal, nothing has actually changed. The police appear to carrying on with ‘business as usual’.
That is why, although Bill Edwards’ approach might differ from my own (although I too was arrested under the same Act of Parliament for witnessing outside Cardiff ‘Mardi Gras’ in 2006), I am honoured to stand with him and to show the magistrates that at least one of his brothers in Christ supports him enough to turn up on the day.
READ: Deut 31:6; Psalm 103:6; Jer 1:17, 5:14; Luke 12:11-12; Acts 4:18-20; Rom 10:8; 3John 1:17.
PRAY: Thank the Lord for evangelists who are prepared to risk arrest for preaching the Gospel. Pray that Bill Edwards finds favour with the magistrates. Pray for his solicitor, Michael Phillips, to be a good and effective advocate. Pray for much support from local Christians. Pray for Bill Edwards, as he says, ‘that the Lord will be glorified whatever the outcomes … and that I may witness a good confession against the homofascism and antichrist attitude of the authorities of our country.’
SUPPPORT: Come to Northampton Magistrates Court, Campbell Square, Northampton, NN1 3EB at 10.00am on Thursday 19th and Friday 20th November.
Find out how to join Christian Voice and stand up for the King of kings (clicking on the link below does not commit you to join)
Please note that persons wishing to comment on this story must enter a valid email address. Comments from persons leaving fictitious email addresses will be trashed.
I will add this to my prayer list.
Today I saw in the street a group of Muslims, Roman Catholics in khaki dressing gowns, and a few other people mostly bearded, praying for peace in the Middle East. I expect your prayer will be just as effective.
Well, I must admit it does seem to have worked, and I very much hope the men in khaki dressing gowns, Muslims and others will be as successful as Mr Jones was.
This case may have been brought because parents and teachers didn’t want this bloke going on about homosexuality in front of children of all ages and in terms which were not to their liking. After all, these were (at least mostly) not his children.
Stephen seems look on this as something of a victory, but presumably the man has been bound over not to do it again, and will appear in court again if he does. So Mark Jones may be called on to remotely control Northampton Magistrates Court again.
I think you’ll find that the children are receiving material in sex education lessons in schools which would make your hair stand on end. But too many parents trust the schools and the teachers and regard any suggestion that they are putting their children at risk by so doing as a personal affront.
Appropriate to their age, though.
My little grand-daughter expects “teenagers” to be found in the street fondling each other, as they often are, and she takes it in her stride as being what teenagers do; but I have never heard her comment on homosexuality. On the other hand, if two ladies came to live together in the house next door, I don’t suppose she would be any more put out by it than most people ever have been.
Children tend not to talk about subjects foisted on them by sex educators which they instinctively know to be shameful. But it’s still an assault on them and an abuse of their innocence. You see, sex educators always want to give too much information too soon. They will claim it’s age-appropriate, but it’s what they think is age-appropriate. I think we should be suspicious of adults who want to talk about sex to other people’s children.