The late Queen Elizabeth II, as likable as she was as a person and as effectual she was as a royal figurehead, lived in a fantasy world, as most people do. When the queen died on September 8 at age 96, she was England’s longest-reigning monarch. She came to the throne in 1952, not long after World War II. Winston Churchill was Prime Minister. She was decorous, dutiful, dependable, cheerful. In public, she was always impeccably and modestly dressed. She took her job as queen seriously. In her 21st birthday message (1947) broadcast from South Africa, she made the following public vow: “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and to the service of our great imperial family to whom we all belong. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.” By all counts, Elizabeth fulfilled her vow. The problem is that she was living in a fantasy world. Her throne was a fantasy. She had no real authority. Her church was a fantasy. As an institution, the Church of England is real, but as a church, it is a fantasy. It has no likeness to the church we see in Scripture. The saddest thing is that Elizabeth’s gospel was a fantasy. In her annual Christmas messages, which were heard by millions, her only gospel was the gospel of love your neighbor. She mentioned Jesus, but He was only a Teacher, an Example, a Light to follow, not a Saviour from sin and judgment. She spoke of God and His love, but it was the heresy of universalism. What she said in 1997 was typical: “St. Paul spoke of the first Christmas as the kindness of God dawning upon the world. The world needs that kindness now more than ever, the kindness and consideration of others that disarms malice and allows us to get along with one another with respect and affection. Christmas reaffirms that God is with us today, but as I have discovered afresh for myself this year, He is always present in the kindness shown by our neighbors and in the love of our friends and family. God bless you all and happy Christmas.” That is not the gospel of Jesus Christ, and no amount of human kindness can remove man’s sin before God and take away the wages of sin, which is eternal death. Like probably all of her predecessors, and like a very large portion of the world’s population, Queen Elizabeth had Christianity as religion, but Christianity as a religion doesn’t save. Salvation is not merely a doctrine to believe; it is a supernatural new life in Christ. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).
(Friday Church News Notes, September 16, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)