The Bedford Sermon

Dennis F. Orme
May 16, 1971

Sermon given in Bedford market square in the afternoon of May 16th (Transcription of tape)

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,

This summer we're running a campaign to preach and teach publicly the word of God, in the open air, in remembrance of the Russians, Ukrainians, Polish people, Czechs and the many others who are unable to do this.

But we know one thing, we are not here to tell the Heavenly Father of the terrible atrocities that are transpiring today. He knows them already, and He doesn't want them to continue to happen, and He doesn't want to be reminded of them. However, He does want one thing, and that is the thing that Jesus came to this earth to show us: he came to show us that we should express the Heart of God. If you study the life of Jesus you will see what it really -- Jesus expressed it many times -- the great feeling that God has for men. Sometimes there was great love and compassion; other times there was great anger.

Jesus knotted the cords, and went into the temple, and scourged the people. He was not an easy man to love. He was no sweety-sweety. He was a man who wanted to build a better world, centered on the Heart of God.

And other times he turned the other cheek.

Now if you look through the Bible, if you study the scriptures, you will see one thing that stands out, that the men who have changed this world, the men who have inspired others, are men who have expressed the anger of God. Men like Elijah. He had an argument with the king, and the king sent a captain of fifty men to come and get him, and Elijah brought forth the fire of God and they were all as dust in the ground. He didn't do this once, he did it twice! Another such man we know was Moses. God did not say to Moses,

"Go down and negotiate with Pharaoh about your suffering children. "He went and told Moses,

"Go down and say: Let my people go," and God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Why? Because God wanted all the people, all the Egyptians and all the Jews, to know precisely and exactly what they should do.

That is how God works today. He doesn't want us to be mealy-mouthed. He doesn't want us to pretend everything is all right. He wants us to build a better world, centered on God.

Moses went down to Pharaoh ten times to ask Pharaoh to release His children. I say to the Christians of this country --Have the Christian church of this country gone ten times to those Soviet tyrants? Have the Prime Ministers of this country gone and asked for religious freedom that we so richly enjoy? We know John Bunyan fought on this very spot for religious freedom; we take it for granted. We know Tyndale was murdered, he was strangled-- why? Because he translated the Bible into the English tongue so that everybody could understand and read how God works. This is our heritage. A heritage of men have laid down their lives that we might enjoy the freedom that God longs us to enjoy.

In the beginning it said, "God spoke to His angels," and said, "Let us make men in our image and likeness." The likeness of God means that we must be free. Whether you like it or not, the spirit of God working within you tells you this, and I don't care how many tyrants there are in this world, you cannot stamp out this urge of freedom. It may be Russia one year, Poland the next, Czechoslovakia the next, Hungary -- a great and bloody list can be read out, of people who aspire to a freedom of religion and a freedom politically, economically and even militarily. However, let us be quite clear as to why God wants us to be able to come to Him. It is so that we can build and give to our brothers and sisters the same creativity and enjoyment that we possess.

It is no good praying to God to protect this country, to protect the queen, to protect anybody, if we are not prepared to protect our brothers and sisters who are held in the grip of tyranny. What do you think God's up there for, or down here? Is He going to listen to us? I'm quite certain He'll say,

"You've got enough freedom already. Why do you want protection? What about my other children? They are suffering."

Have you never felt the prayers of those people going to God? God's hands are tied.

One of those who recently came out of the Iron Curtain said that when praying to God, God had said,

"What can I do? I do not have a gun in my hand. I cannot clear these men out."

This means one thing that we who have our freedom must speak on their behalf. Unless we speak on their behalf we are neither worthy of our ancestors, nor are we worthy to call ourselves Christians, nor are we worthy to pray to the Heavenly Father and tell Him that we will take His burden, that we will comfort His children, that we will stand and protect those who have no one to protect them. I ask you as fellow Christians that we must awaken the Christian conscience of this country in a very real sense. Until the Christians feel the anger of God for what is transpiring--unless they feel that -- there will never be a change. The men who reformed this country felt a great anger against evil. They were men like Lord Shaftesbury, men like Wilberforce, men like John Howard here behind me, and they were men, if you are really interested, like Winston Churchill, who could not stand Fascism, nor any smell of it, around his nostrils. He hated evil. And God hates evil. Because He is working to restore all men. Therefore, when we pray to God, I ask not that you just pray and say,

"Release me from this. Release me from that. Make this world better."

Rather pledge yourselves to take upon the burden that He has, to stand as our forefathers have stood, as those great Christians have stood who've brought Christianity to this country, and resolve yourselves to bring a truly God-centered world to all people. I don't need to demonstrate to you what Churchill told this nation some forty years ago or thirty years ago, but I'll do it. He waved a piece of paper and he said that if you think peace lies on bits of paper you've got an illusion in your head peace lies in our hearts, in our hearts that respect others, our hearts that respect God.

Therefore, ask yourself about the wisdom of God. Was not God right when He said to Moses, not to go and negotiate with Pharaoh, but to go and tell him, "Let my people go!" Don't you think God knew better than man?

We are in the same position today. There are millions of people who are suffering, and our words must be,

"You must let these people go! You must give them religious freedom. We do not want to have a compromise with evil."

The man Marchenko, who wrote this book, is in a concentration camp-why? Because when he came out of a concentration camp he wrote about what happened. He knew that he would not get a penny for it, He knew that his wife and family would be persecuted. There was no capitalistic greed in his motives: he's gone back into Siberia, and for all -now, he may be dead. Yet that is the type of man who fights for freedom, who writes with blood, instead of ink. Today, as Christians, we must remember the prayers that go up to our Heavenly Father, Our Heavenly Father, if you really come close to Him, is not happy. Our Heavenly father is frustrated because why? Because the Western nations, the Christian nations of the world, have not stood, neither for God, nor for freedom, but only tried to negotiate a comfortable existence.

Until the Christian conscience leads this country again, then we have no right what so ever to pray before God and ask His protection, until we are prepared to others. Then, believe you me, if you are prepared to protect others, the Heavenly Father will not only protect you, but He will bring forth a might revolution in this world, which will make this world in ten years' time a fit place for all people to live.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen!