Meet the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD: the vicar (or ‘senior pastor’) of Christ Church, the international community church of Virginia Water, Surrey, UK.
The Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD is a trustee of the Amos Trust, of which more here. One of his colleagues wrote the ‘relevant’ version of O Little Town of Bethlehem, that was sung at that odd service in London last month.
The Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD appeared recently on the Premier Radio’s “Unbelievable” show, in which he expressed the following view (listen here)
“My concern is with so-called Christian Zionist organisations that … equate the Gospel with helping Jews .. without telling them about the Cross … my concern is with those so-called Christian organisations that do not engage in Evangelism, that do not share Jesus with Jewish people: that’s antisemitism”
I agree with the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD in many ways. There is a very nasty strand of Christian Zionism that stems from the ‘dispensationalist’ tradition, in which some pretty ghastly things happen to the Jews in the end (i.e. the End).
But I also agree that it is anti-semitic for a Christian like the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD not to offer the chance of Salvation to Jews. If you believe that those who do not accept Jesus as their saviour will burn in Hell for eternity if they do not convert, and you care for the wellbeing of Jews, only anti-semitism, or at the very least callousness would prevent you from sharing the chance of redemption with them.
But look here!
We join the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD at Tehran airport. But – oh dear. Officials open his bag. And they find… Christian publications!!
Now, at school I had a very dear history master, the Reverend Rider. During the Summer holidays, the Rev used to smuggle Bibles, at great risk to himself, into the USSR: which at that stage had yet to collapse. Is it possible that the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD is doing the same thing, within the Islamic Republic?
No. He has simply arrived to lecture his hosts on the evils of Christian Zionism. As he explains:
The invitation letter from Dr Mostafvi helps convince them that my primary objective is not to plant a church.
Let us give the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD the benefit of the doubt. Let us assume that he cares, equally, for the souls of his Iranian brothers, and other non-Christians in places like Gaza, Bagdhad and Kabul. Let us pray that his secret secondary objective, after preaching against the evils of Christian Zionism, is to save the benighted heathen of Persia, Arabia and the North West Frontier.
The future is yours, the Reverend Dr Stephen Sizer PhD. Quit Virginia Waters, and head South!
