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"Take
Heed" Ministries
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Cecil Andrews, PO BOX 13, Ballynahinch, BT24 8AL, Northern Ireland. Telephone/Fax 028 9756 5511. E-MAIL - takeheed@aol.com WEBSITE - http://www.takeheed.net |
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WIKIPEDIA ‘Encyclopedia’ on Cecil &
Creationism [Amended |
I was
recently informed by a Christian friend that there was an entry concerning
myself on the ‘WIKIPEDIA Encyclopedia’ website. This particular website
was in the news just last week in an article in the Daily Mail of
‘Teachers
criticised the Education Secretary yesterday after he encouraged pupils to use
a controversial Internet encyclopedia to research school work. Alan Johnston
hailed WIKIPEDIA as a more appealing version of the revered Encyclopedia
Britannica. Yet the unregulated site has been dogged by rows over inaccurate
entries because anyone can enter or alter the information themselves’…Founded
in 2001 in
I have to admit that I have personally cited links to WIKIPEDIA in
several recent articles but would naturally correct or withdraw anything that
proved to be inaccurate.
Now, to return to the entry about myself. Although it does not state
who posted this item about me, I wouldn’t need a degree in ‘rocket science’ to
make an educated guess that it is mostly based on what has already been written
about me on the ‘Who is Who’ page of the pro-evolution website of BCSE [and of
course there is an ‘external link ‘ to that website from this WIKIPEDIA
posting]. I dealt with the inaccuracies in the BCSE posting in the article
found on this link
http://www.takeheed.net/Cecil%27sBCSECRITICS.htm
What I now propose to do is to set out the entry as it appears on the
WIKIPEDIA website and insert some corrective comments in RED so that people will
have a true record of the facts – I do acknowledge that the gentleman who wrote
the original BCSE article is more used to dealing with speculative theories
rather than scriptural truths and I am sure that whoever penned this latest
article will appreciate having his posting factually corrected.
Cecil Andrews (born Belfast, 1946) is the founder of Take Heed
Ministries, a fundamentalist Christian [in reality it is simply Bible-based and Bible-believing] organisation
based in Ballynahinch, Northern
Ireland.
Cecil Andrews
was born in Belfast.
After a high school education [I’m not quite sure
how my old school, MCB (Methodist College Belfast) would take to being referred
to as a “high school” in view of the fact that for many years now they have
been one of the leading (exam-results performance-wise) GRAMMAR schools in the
British Isles. When I left in 1963 I had 3 ‘A’ levels to my credit in French,
German and Latin – qualifications that would have enabled me to go on to
University had I wished to do so], he worked in business for most of
his life before turning to [being clearly led by God
into] full-time religious work. He was a Building Society Branch
Manager in Portadown when he underwent a religious conversion in 1984. Soon
afterwards, he moved to Belfast to manage a Building Society Branch Office in
city, resigning in 1989. He has no formal qualifications in theology [apart from being regenerated by and indwelt by my guide and
teacher, God the Holy Spirit – I’m ‘in the same boat’
theologically-qualification-wise as for example the Apostles Peter and John] and
his ministry is financed entirely through donations from supporters [whose education qualifications both secular and theological
cover a very wide spectrum].
Cecil
Andrews founded Take Heed Ministries on 1 September 1990. The organisation
takes its name from a text in the Bible, in which [The
Lord] Jesus Christ warns his dsicples to "take heed
that no man deceive you" (Matthew 24:4). Prior to the foundation of the
ministry, Andrews was involved with the Breda Centre, a ministry in Belfast founded
by Jim McCormick focused on responding to religious cults and the occult. After
the death of Jim McCormick in 1989, Andrews determined to continue his work.
Take Heed Ministries was the outcome. He continued to be involved with the
Breda Centre as a "cult
consultant" until March 1999. Since then, Andrews has worked solely on
Take Heed Ministries.
In July
1993, Andrews responded to an invitation from the Slavic Gospel Association,
and spent two weeks lecturing on cults at a summer youth camp in Poland. This
partnership produced other invitations. In 1995 he lectured in Slovakia for 11
days on the "New Age Movement" in four separate towns
across the country. In January 1998, he gave lectures on cults in Romania to
trainee pastors/church planters.
He was a
vociferous [I had to be to be heard above the din of
all that hysterical ‘holy laughter’] opponent of the "Toronto
Blessing", which he regarded as an "epidemic" [simply because people who claimed to have ‘got it’ believed
they could pass ‘it’ on to others ‘by touch’]. He spoke at gathering
in Scotland
outlining objections to the events surrounding that spiritual movement [I also spoke in many locations in Ireland, both North and
South and I recently spoke with a
fellowship in the South of England that was formed by people who came out of
‘Toronto Blessing’ churches and the reason I was invited to speak at their
fellowship was that they had all been greatly helped through seeing the videos
of my talks on ‘Toronto’].
In October
1997, he became the first speaker at a new Bible Conference
hosted by Reformed Bible Church
in Vermont USA.
Andrews has
close connections with the Crich Baptist Church
[The author of this WIKIPEDIA entry, like the BCSE
entry, seems somewhat fixated with my friendship with Crich Baptist Church so
in the article for which I gave a link earlier I actually wrote - ‘It is true that have I
spoken on a number of occasions in Crich Baptist Church but this year alone I
have also for example spoken in Mersey Street Presbyterian Church,
Belfast, Lisburn Congregational Church, The Olivet Hall,
Belfast, New Buildings Independent Methodist Church, Londonderry and
Hillsborough Free Presbyterian Church’] in Derbyshire.
During that
same visit to the U.S., he spoke against Roman
Catholicism (which he regards as an anti-Christian cult) at conferences in Los Angeles.
The keynote speakers at one event included John
MacArthur and Dave Hunt. [This was actually
the first ‘Ex-Catholics for Christ’ conference and I felt very privileged, as a
‘never having been a Catholic’, to be asked to contribute to a conference where
90-95% of the large number of speakers were all former Roman Catholics who, in
agreement with myself, know from personal experience that Roman Catholicism is
a non-Christian cult and like myself, out of genuine love for the eternal
well-being of Roman Catholics they wish to present to them the truth of the Biblical
Gospel].
He has used
the letters page of the Belfast Telegraph to attack those he regards as
apostates [I’d be grateful if the author of this
WIKIPEDIA entry would cite an instance where I labelled someone as ‘apostate’] in
Northern Irish culture [I simply wrote letters to
challenge other published religious views and my challenge was always based
upon the truth of the Bible]. The newspaper no longer prints his letters.
[Again I dealt with this point in my previous
article when I wrote –
‘As for me being
“blacklisted”
by the paper, what appears to have happened is that they seem to have taken a
decision to radically change the nature of the letters published in their
Saturday night edition [where letters on religious matters normally appeared]
and so not only I but also others from a Roman Catholic perspective are no
longer given column-inch space’].
Andrews
believes in the literal truth of the book of Genesis's account
of creation
in six days. As a young earth creationist, he takes the universe to be
no more than six thousand years old [I am certainly
“a young earth creationist” but I would be very grateful if the author of this
WIKIPEDIA entry would cite an example of where I have put forward a personal belief
that the universe is “no more than six thousand years old” – if he
can’t then he should remove this portion] (rather than the
billions of years suggested by modern cosmology).
In 2002 he helped organise a tour of Northern Ireland by the American
creationist Roger Oakland.
Afterwards, Andrews mailed a creationist video of Oakland to all 659 MPs in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
at Westminster.
Only four MPs responded in writing.
Cecil
Andrews's ministry involves keeping files on [monitoring]
new developments within Christianity, particularly as it relates to
evangelicalism in Northern Ireland. He publishes these files on his website. He
applies an extremely fundamentalist definition of Christianity in order to
determine whether a particular person is in fact a [faithful,
professing] Christian. Thus he has attacked C.S. Lewis,
Billy
Graham and Tony Campolo as "apostates" and
"non-Christians" [I would be very grateful
if the author of this WIKIPEDIA entry would cite an example of where I have
ever used these expressions of “apostates” and “non-Christians” in relation to
all the names he has cited – if he can’t then he should remove this portion] .
He opposes the Billy Graham organisation's mission tours because Graham has
associated with Catholics in the furtherance of his evangelistic work.
Similarly, he has rejected as apostate all four main churches in Ireland: The
Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, and the
(Anglican) Church of Ireland [I do not regard the
Roman Catholic church as ‘apostate’- I regard it as a non-Christian cult. As
for the other churches/denominations - I treat each individual
‘congregation/church’ on its own merits with the result that I have spoken and
do speak in certain congregations/churches within those denominations].
He has also attacked [challenged] Belfast
Bible College as an institution which has, in practice, abandoned its declared
evangelical creed [Doctrinal Basis] .
Andrews's "vigilance" is regarded by some leading Christian
commentators [I’d be grateful to learn who these
supposed ‘leading Christian commentaors’ are and in what circumstances they
supposedly pinned the following ‘labels’ on me] in Ireland as
theological "paranoia" and dangerously obsessive.
When it comes to analysing this entry concerning myself I
hope you will agree that in the light of the amount of RED correction/challenge
inserted by myself then this particular WIKIPEDIA entry falls into the category
referred to in the Daily Mail article as ‘the
website that makes up facts’
Cecil Andrews – ‘Take Heed’ Ministries –
APPENDIX -
Following the brief posting of my original article on
this subject to our website I received a polite communication from the
[anonymous] author of the WIKIPEDIA posting who advised me that as a result of
my response to his posting he had made some alterations to his entry to take
into account [to some degree] the points I had made. I am naturally grateful
for the factual corrections made and as a result the amended WIKIPEDIA posting now
reads –
Cecil
Andrews (born Belfast, 1946) is the founder of Take Heed
Ministries, a fundamentalist Christian
organisation based in Ballynahinch, Northern
Ireland.
Cecil
Andrews was born in Belfast. He was educated at Methodist
College, a grammar school in Belfast, leaving in 1963 (aged 18) with 'A'
Levels in French, German and Latin. He did not attend university. Instead, he
worked in business for most of his life. He was a Building Society Branch
Manager in Portadown when he underwent a religious conversion in 1984. Soon
afterwards, he moved to Belfast to manage a Building Society Branch Office in
city, resigning in 1989 to pursue full-time religious work. He has no formal
qualifications in theology, nor has he ever studied theology at any college or
university, and his ministry is financed entirely through donations from
supporters.
Take
Heed Ministries
Cecil Andrews
founded Take Heed Ministries on 1 September 1990. The organisation takes its
name from a text in the Bible, in which Jesus
Christ warns his disciples to "take heed that no man deceive you"
(Matthew 24:4). Prior to the foundation of the ministry, Andrews was involved
with the Breda Centre, a ministry in Belfast founded by Jim McCormick focused
on responding to religious cults and the occult. After the death of Jim
McCormick in 1989, Andrews determined to continue his work. Take Heed Ministries
was the outcome. He continued to be involved with the Breda Centre as a "cult consultant"
until March 1999. Since then, Andrews has worked solely on Take Heed
Ministries.
In July 1993, Andrews
responded to an invitation from the Slavic Gospel Association, and spent two
weeks lecturing on cults at a summer youth camp in Poland. This
partnership produced other invitations. In 1995 he lectured in Slovakia for 11
days on the "New Age Movement" in four separate towns
across the country. In January 1998, he gave lectures on cults in Romania to
trainee pastors/church planters.
He was a vociferous
opponent of the "Toronto Blessing", which he regarded as an
"epidemic". He spoke at gatherings in Ireland, Scotland, England and
elsewhere outlining objections to the events surrounding that spiritual
movement.
In October 1997, he
became the first speaker at a new Bible Conference hosted by Reformed Bible Church
in Vermont USA. During that same visit to the U.S., he spoke against Roman
Catholicism (which he regards as an anti-Christian cult) at the first
"Ex-Catholics for Christ" conference in Los Angeles.
The keynote speakers at one event included John
MacArthur and Dave Hunt.
He has often used
the letters page of the Belfast Telegraph to challenge those whose
theology he disputes in Northern Irish culture.
Creationism
Andrews
believes in the literal truth of the book of Genesis's account
of creation
in six days. He is a young earth creationist who argues that the universe is
thousands, rather than billions of years old. In 2002 he helped organise a tour
of Northern Ireland by the American creationist Roger Oakland.
Afterwards, Andrews mailed a creationist video of Oakland to all 659 MPs in the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
at Westminster.
Only four MPs responded in writing.
Theological
beliefs
Cecil Andrews's
ministry involves monitoring new developments within Christianity, particularly
as it relates to evangelicalism in Northern Ireland. He publishes files on his
website. He applies an extremely fundamentalist definition of Christianity in
order to determine whether a particular person is a true Christian. Thus he has
attacked the theology of C.S. Lewis, Billy
Graham and Tony Campolo as "unfaithful" to the witness
of scripture. He opposes the Billy Graham organisation's mission tours because Graham
has associated with Catholics in the furtherance of his evangelistic work.
He has also
challenged Belfast Bible College as an institution which has, in practice,
abandoned its declared evangelical Doctrinal Basis.
In the profile under the heading above of
‘Take Heed’ Ministries reference was made
to a conference that I spoke at in Los Angeles in 1997 – it was the first
‘Ex Catholics for Christ’ conference. The following link will enable you
to view what I said at that conference on the topic of ‘Can we tolerate the
error’?
This whole episode has highlighted the
real dangers and serious potential for the spread of ‘misinformation’ through
the Internet via this WIKIPEDIA website.. In an article entitled ‘WICKED-PEDIA’
in the Daily Mail of Monday 23 April 2007, Petronella Wyatt, who,
unlike myself, had been the victim of a
particularly nasty and malicious profile posting on the WIKIPEDIA encyclopedia website, wrote –
‘Wikipedia
has become a hugely powerful research tool across the world…However anyone can
edit entries…recently the site has been dogged by rows over inaccuracies and
somewhat bizarre interpretations of history…Education Secretary Alan Johnson
may claim that WIKIPEDIA is educational history and “a force for good” but if
WIKIPEDIA is “history” then history is indeed bunk.