Christian Watch

11/03/2026

Christian Watch committee member, Pastor Peter Simpson, has just delivered the following address entitled 'Christian Freedoms and Christian Identity in the UK today'. We hope that you will find it helpful

Podcast Episode · Britain's Only Hope the Gospel · 9 March · 1h 11m

02/05/2023

Published today by Pastor Peter Simpson, Christian Watch Committee member : CHRISTIANITY MUST BE THE ONE FAITH AT THE HEART OF THIS CORONATION
https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/christianity-must-be-the-one-faith-at-the-heart-of-this-coronation/

25/08/2022

SLOUGH : PREACHERS DEAL WITH THE FAVOURITE MUSLIM ARGUMENT USED TO REJECT CHRISTIAN TRUTH

Pastor Peter Simpson (of Christian Watch) and Pastor John Sherwood were preaching the gospel in Slough High Street on August 16th. A short break was taken at one stage because of a downpour of rain, which of course was much welcome in terms of the recent very dry spell of weather.

Preaching on Jeremiah 5:22, Pastor Simpson emphasised how men must fear the God who controls the creation and the natural elements. It is He who brings the much needed rain, but why should He do so for such a sinful nation as modern Britain? It is He also who stops the oceans from flooding the continents, as the above text tells us. It is He who controls every aspect of the climate (not man), and who is able to decree that Britain should descend into a horrible and ongoing drought because of all its wilful rebellion against Him.

The nation’s need for rain, therefore, should make unbelieving men realise their utter dependence of the Creator God whom they so readily ignore. The preaching in particular emphasised how it is the eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is governing His creation alongside His heavenly Father. “By Him were all things created … and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16,17).

It was necessary to make this emphasis on the equal authority of the Son with the Father in the context of there being many Muslims in Slough who are continually denying that the Lord Jesus possesses any authority as God at all, because He is only a prophet. As one young Muslim woman put it to Pastor Simpson. “Show me in the Bible does where Jesus says, I am God worship me”.

Muslims of course have been trained to say precisely this to Christians, because they know that such exact words cannot be found in the Bible, but the demand for exact words is a totally flawed line of argument. The absence of preconceived exact words does not at all disprove the fact that the Lord plainly taught His divine status using different words.

As Christian apologist David Wood advises, Christians can respond to this demand for a format of exact words by saying, “I will show you such exact words if you can show me the exact words where Jesus says, ‘I am just a prophet; do not worship me’ ”. No Muslim of course can find those exact words either in the Quran or in the Bible.

This reply brings home the shallowness of the whole ‘exact words’ argument, because it has no bearing upon the truth of what Jesus actually taught about Himself. Because He did not use the exact words which Muslims themselves have demanded in advance that He should have used does not in the least disprove that He did not assert Himself to be fully divine using all kinds of words, arguments and Scripture references.

Pastor Simpson pointed out to the young woman who asked for the above ‘exact words’ that those who sought to put the Lord to death accused Him of blasphemy precisely for giving Himself a divine status equal with His Heavenly Father. We read of the Lord in John 5,

“Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he … said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18–19).

Various Muslims contended with the two pastors about the doctrine of the Trinity, asking, Why did Jesus pray to his Father when here on earth? They were told that He prayed to His Father in his humanity. He had laid aside the full glory of his deity and took upon Himself the restrictions of humanity precisely in order to accomplish the salvation of men - for there was no other way for men to be saved. Only man without sin can represent men before the Holy God, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only man who has ever lived who is without sin.

The Muslims further asked, How can God die? The ministers replied that the Lord Jesus died in His humanity on the cross, because there is no other way than through the shedding of blood for men to be forgiven; there is no other way than for the penalty for sin to be satisfied than through death.

Pastor Simpson also challenged another Muslim man who was suggesting that it was idolatry to introduce more than one Person into the Godhead. The Penn minister responded that, whilst the Godhead is one, it is made up of three persons, just as the sun in the sky is made up of gas heat and light, three constituent elements but only one sun. The Trinity is a glorious mystery and cannot be reduced to the level of crude mathematical logic.

Concerning idolatry, the minister also asked, in a spirit of courteous conversation, about the attitude of Muslims to the Black Stone in Mecca, which many are desirous of touching on any pilgrimage to Mecca. Is it right, in the light of the 2nd of the 10 Commandments, to seek a spiritual blessing by touching a physical object?

One Muslim lady with whom Pastor Simpson was debating said that he, the minister, cannot be a holy man because he does not have a beard as Jesus did, and as Muslim men do. The preacher responded that surely the condition of the heart before God is more important than whether or not a man grows a beard.

Pastor Simpson also told the lady that despite the great differences between Muslims and Christians, is it not good that there is the freedom in the UK to discuss these issues in the high street? There would not be the freedom to do this in, for example, Saudi Arabia. The young woman responded, inaccurately, that there would be such freedom in Saudi Arabia.

Another area of dispute with passing Muslims was the claim that no one else can suffer for another person’s sin. In response to this, Pastor Simpson endeavoured to explain that if we were all to suffer for our own sin, we would all inevitably end up in an everlasting hell.

Furthermore, to deny that one who is all holy cannot suffer on behalf of others is to deny the vital principal undergirding all the Old Testament animal sacrifices, namely the shedding of blood which prophetically foreshadowed the the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.

May many who heard the gospel in Slough upon this day come to realise that without the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ they have no hope and will die eternally in their sins.

22/01/2022

UXBRIDGE WITNESS : PREACHERS TOLD THAT THEY ARE GIVING ALL CHRISTIANS A BAD NAME BY THEIR UNLOVING STYLE OF PREACHING

Pastor Peter Simpson (of Christian Watch) and Pastor John Sherwood were preaching the gospel in the centre of Uxbridge on a cold, wintry day on January 21st.

There was a good flow of people going to and fro. Pastor Simpson emphasised the omnipotence of God in creating and sustaining the earth. Stop being overcome with fear over climate change and over health issues. Do not put your trust in scientists to solve all problems, but humble yourself before your Maker, He who manifests himself to the world in the Person of His Son. The preacher’s text was Jeremiah 5:22 - “Fear ye not me? saith the LORD; will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it?”

As Pastor Simpson was preaching, he caught the eye of a young man walking past and asked him, Do you believe in Christ? He replied that he believed in Allah. The minster then said, But are you saved from your sins? The man responded that he was, because he was a praying Muslim. The minister came back and said, But on what basis are you forgiven? How can you be sure that you are the recipient of Allah’s mercy? Does not Allah have to judge and punish sin?

There was sadly not time before the young man walked away to explain to him that Allah and the Trinitarian God are not the same God (and there is of course only one God); nor to explain that belonging faithfully to a religion is no guarantee at all of being saved from sin. The only basis for forgiveness is the atoning death of Christ on the Cross, He who died as the sinner’s Substitute. God’s justice must first be satisfied, before sin can ever be forgiven. May many of our Muslim friends come to realise that mercy is only to one found upon heartfelt repentance and faith in Christ, not in regular religious duties such as repeated prayers.

Pastor Simpson challenged some teenagers walking by, Are you a good person? One shouted out that she was, and so the pastor replied that she was being deceived, if she thought that, because there is no one who is good by nature. He was then able to catch the eye of another in the group and asked her the same question, Are you a good person? She replied that she had done nothing wrong. Pastor Simpson then asked her, Have you ever harboured hatred in your heart, or have you ever watched immoral films? In any case, you have a sinful nature, because all people do.

He then encouraged the girl to take a leaflet from Mrs Pilkington, who entered into further discussion with her about the gospel. She was thankfully open to the discussion, and announced to the witnessing sister, This is the fifth time this week that someone has spoken to me about God! In other words, by God’s grace, seeds may already have been sown in her heart, and the preacher and Mrs Pilkington were having the privilege of helping to water that seed. This is a situation which could never have been planned. The girl encouragingly took a free copy of John’s Gospel, promising to read it. May the Lord open her heart to see the glorious truth of God’s Word, and may she realise that she indeed does not possess an essential goodness, but must rather flee to the Saviour for mercy.

A Christian lady went by as Pastor Sherwood was preaching, and said in a deeply ironic manner to Pastor Simpson, Whatever you do, do not tell them about God’s love!, the implication being that they only spoke about God’s judgement. She sadly also accused the preachers of giving Christians a bad name precisely because they were not focusing on God’s love.

It was felt that these were extremely unfair, though not uncommon, comments, because the ministers constantly proclaim the free love and mercy of Christ towards sinners. All people, however, are not automatically in receipt of this love, and this love can only be appreciated in the context of a prior awareness of the consequences of sin. There is no point in telling non-believers who never give God a moment‘s thought that He loves them, because they will just think, Fine, I will carry on living exactly as I have been doing, completely ignoring Him. The love and mercy of God can only be appreciated in the context of warnings about the serious consequences of breaking God’s commandments and about the reality of God’s judgement.

Pastor Simpson tried to explain to the lady what the Lord Jesus Christ said in Luke 13:3, a comment which He repeated shortly afterwards in verse 5 for emphasis, namely, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish“. Was the Lord focusing only on God’s love, when He said those words? Was He giving Christians a bad name ,when He announced the coming destruction of Jerusalem, saying, “Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us” (Luke 23:28–30)?

Did Peter on the Day of Pentecost, when 3,000 souls were converted, focus only on the love of God, when he told the Jerusalem crowd about their sin in Acts 2:23, “Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain“ ?

When Mark at the beginning of his gospel summarises the Lord Jesus‘s ministry in Galilee, he describes it in Mark ch 1:14-15 in the following way : “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel”. Yes, the gospel is good news - the kingdom of God is at hand - but only for those who repent, and who appreciate the urgency of repenting.

So the preachers can only courteously reply to the charge that they are bringing the name of all Christians into disrepute through their preaching by pointing out that they did not need to be in Uxbridge at all on a desperately cold winter’s day. What on earth was their motivation? Was it to needlessly harangue people? Or was their desire that many might come to know the great salvation which is in Christ?

Christian preaching is not an exercise in marketing. Its purpose is not to make non-believers feel good about themselves. Christian theology is far more profound than the simplistic message of the Beatles song, ‘All you need is love’. It is the preachers’ duty of love to make known the seriousness of sin. Only then will the unbeliever realise necessity of fleeing to Christ for mercy. The doctor must first identify the patients’s disease, before he can prescribe the remedy. To give people the remedy and to tell them that they are already better, before they have realised what their sickness is or know what the necessary course of treatment is, would be foolish indeed.

It is the prayer of the witnessing Christians that all who were warned of the seriousness of sin In Uxbridge upon this day will consider the state of their hearts and then flee to Christ for salvation. Only then will they come to understand the true significance of God’s grace and deep love towards them.

04/12/2021

HIGH WYCOME WITNESS : RAGE AT PREACHER FOR TAKING BIBLICAL STANCE ON ABORTION

Christian Watch committee member, Pastor Peter Simpson, was preaching the gospel in High Wycombe on December 2nd helped by two ladies from the congregation at Penn Free Methodist Church.

One of the ladies had a difficult conversation with a young man who seemed very antagonistic towards all things Christian. He appeared to want to oppose every argument offered to him. When confronted with the truth of Scripture, he opposed with the question, Who wrote the Bible?, the impliction being that the Bible is just the words of men, and not the divinely inspired and directly-given word of God.

The church helper was then asked by the young man what she thought about homos*xuality. She replied that she believed what the Bible teaches on that subject. The man responded that to call homos*xuality sinful was contrary to the command to love one’s neighbour. This sophistry is often used by the secular world, trying to accuse those of upholding biblical morality of being unloving and even of being full of hatred. However, to say that a certain act or mode of practice is sinful is in no way to hate the sinner. Christians, for example, assert that drunkenness is sinful, but that does not mean that they hate all who ever get drunk. Rather, it is an act of love to expose and explain to people the seriousness of sin in order that they might then seek mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The young man also suggested that the witnessing Christians in the town centre were guilty of trying to “force their views down peoples throats”. Again, this common charge is of course completely unjustified. One of the primary characteristics of public preaching, as opposed, for example, to knocking on people’s doors, is that everyone is perfectly free to walk by and ignore all that is being said. Furthermore, how can the mere human voice, even if projected, and especially if unamplified, be interpreted as an unreasonable imposition of one’s views upon others? It is interesting that no one ever accuses those participating in a public Pride parade which celebrates immoral lifestyles of trying to impose their views upon others.

As Pastor Simpson was preaching on the spiritual state of modern Britain, a lady came up to him furious at his reference to the sinfulness of abortion, and she angrily asked, How would you like to be r***d?

Pastor Simpson replied that 99.5% of abortions have nothing to do with r**e, but even in the case of r**e it is not right to punish an innocent child for the sins of the father. Whilst the angere of the lady was somewhat distressing, this must not be viewed as a totally negative occurrence, because at least she was seriously thinking about what the preacher had said, and we trust that, by God’s grace, she might be moved to further serious reflection upon this great moral issue of our time.

Indeed, may many others who heard in high Wycombe reflect upon the seriousness of sin and upon the urgency to deal with it by fleeing to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance and faith.

15/10/2021

HIGH WYCOMBE WITNESS : DEBATES WITH SCEPTICS AFFORD VALUABLE GOSPEL OPPORTUNITIES

Christian Watch committee member, Pastor Peter Simpson was preaching the gospel in High Wycombe on October 7th.

A long conversation with a Muslim man took place about how Christianity and Islam were fundamentally different, most notably in respect of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Simpson preached on Romans 3:23, “All have sinned aand come short of the glory of God”. All need to realise that they are sinners by nature. The call of the Christian gospel is to receive a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 18:31). Only the Lord Jesus Christ can confer a new nature. Sin is a serious matter, because all must appear before the judgement seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10).

The Penn preacher also emphasised that nations are judged by the Lord, as well as individuals. Modern Britain is in deep rebellion against God. A young man approached the preacher to ask a question. The ensuing short conversation was along the following lines :

Passer-by : “Why should we believe what you think?’

Pastor : I am telling you what the Bible teaches. Are you a good person, Sir?

Passer-by : Everyone is both good and bad.

Pastor : What are you going to do about the bad part - you have an immortal spirit which lives on after the body dies, and God judges each one of us. This is an urgent matter.

Passer-by : I do not believe that there is life after death. I try not to dwell on what happens when I die. I have to go now.

Pastor : Thank you for talking with us.

An atheist came by and spoke most dismissively of the preaching, claiming that he knew much better people in the world than those who attend churches. The minister said that he was not asking him to believe in churches, but in the Lord Jesus Christ and His great salvation.

The atheist again walked past later on, once more expressing displeasure with the proceeedings. Pastor Simpson challenged him to consider the truth of the gospel. The conversation took roughly the following format :

Atheist : The Bible was writtten long after the events it reports. The first part was not written until 130 years after Jesus died.

Pastor : The New Testament was completed within a generation of the Lord Jesus Christ’s ascension.

Atheist : The authors of the Bible coud not even write.

Pastor : Paul was a Hebrew scholar; of course he could write.

Atheist : The Bible is full of contradictions.

Pastor : Show me one of them, and I will try to deal with it for you.

Atheist : There are simply too many. I would not know where to start.

Pastor : Well, if there are so many, it would surely not be difficult to name just one of them.

Atheist : I do not want to even touch that book (referring to the Bible). What about all the child abuse in the churches?

Pastor : That was carried out by false Christians, who were nowhere near the real thing. The Bible is the foundation of everything that is good about this nation. The schools, hospitals, universities and charitable organisations were all initially founded by Christians. Are you a good person?

Atheist : Yes, I am.

Pastor : But you have broken God’s commandments.

Atheist : God just exists in your mind. I have studied history.

Pastor : I have a degree in history. Let’s have a chat about history. Jesus Christ is an historical figure.

Atheist : No, He is not.

Pastor : Do you believe that Julius Caesar existed?

Atheist : Of course he did.

Pastor : Well, there is more historical documentary evidence for the existence of Christ than there is for that of Caesar.

The conversation continued for a short while and the man eventually walked off without any satisfactory resolution of the debate.

But, by God’s grace, it will not be wasted time. May the Lord speak powerfuly to this atheist and to all others with whom conversations took place. Indeed, may all in High ycombe who heard the preaching and who were witnessed to by the faithful helpers upon this day be drawn to serious reflection upon their eternal destiny.

10/07/2021

WHY THE EURO FINAL SHOULD NOT TAKE PLACE ON THE LORD'S DAY

Liverpool Football Club owes its origins to a Methodist chapel back in 1878. The first president of Tottenham Hotspur, in the 1880s, was John Ripsher, a Bible teacher at the local All Hallows’ Church. Manchester City began life as the St Mark’s Church football team. Aston Villa came into being in 1874 via the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel. The list of today’s top clubs having distinctly Christian origins could go on.

These facts add a poignancy to the grave error of the Euro 2021 final being held on the Lord’s Day, the day of Christ’s resurrection, the day of which the hymn writer John Newton wrote, ‘Day of all the week the best, Emblem of eternal rest’. We have here a very telling symbol of Britain’s dire spiritual condition, an aspect of which is the absolute idolising of sport. Holding this football match on a Sunday represents a completely unnecessary desecration of the Christian sabbath; and of course it is not just football which is guilty of such desecration.

Many will argue that Christianity is not about a Victorian-style religious hypocrisy, as seen in an outward conforming to the observance of a special day; it is rather about communities coming together, rejoicing together and helping one another. What is at stake here, however, is the soul of a nation. In considering the Lord’s Day, we are dealing with nothing less than the fourth of the Ten Commandments.

The new covenant in Christ did not set aside the sabbath principle, this being a pre-Mosaic creation ordinance, which the Saviour, who is the Lord of the sabbath and the Creator of the universe, moved from the seventh to the first day of the week. This was to mark the new creation which is salvation from sin. Christ rose from the dead on the first day, and His resurrection demonstrates the Father’s pleasure with His Son’s work of redemption on the Cross. For this reason, along with a memorial of God’s initial work of creation, mankind must ‘remember the sabbath day to keep it holy’ (Exodus 20:8).

I hear the cry, ‘You keep the sabbath if you want to, but do not expect non-believers to do so’.
This plea ignores the Biblical principle that God judges whole nations according to their attitude to Him. ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’ (Proverbs 14:34). Rejection of God’s laws does not exclude both individuals and nations from His governance and jurisdiction. Our country’s attitude to the sabbath is a key barometer of its attitude generally to the God who manifests Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ.

A major sports event held quite unnecessarily on the Lord’s Day, in a nation whose monarch promised at her coronation to uphold the teachings of the Christian Scriptures, shows that England is now utterly contemptuous of its glorious Christian heritage.

Instead of the privilege of observing this special day of rest, given to mankind by the Lord for the benefit of both body and soul, we shall instead be subjected on Sunday to Britain’s two substitute religions : the idol of sport and the obsequious veneration of the BLM movement. As the England team takes the knee, it will be honouring a Marxist organisation which wants to abolish prisons and the Police, the UK to have open borders, and which denounces Churchill as a racist.

How sad it is that so few realise that a nation which keeps the sabbath day holy in order to worship the risen Christ will be a happy and prosperous nation, enjoying a far more enduring elation than that which could ever pertain to winning a football match.

02/07/2021

BRITAIN IS IN DESPERATE SPIRITUAL DARKNESS, BECAUSE SO MANY CHURCHES HAVE ABANDONED THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

The esteemed 18th century poet William Cowper said concerning a society which had cast off the fear of God,

“When nations perish in their sins,
’Tis in the church the leprosy begins”.

Cowper rightly observed that national decline is a direct consequence of the churches failing in their task. The latter part of June afforded us with some sombre illustrations of this tragic reality.

On June 27th on GB News the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, stated concerning the resignation of Matt Hancock that he was more worried about the breaking of man-made social distancing regulations than “a middle-aged bloke having a bit of a fling”. Such words give the impression that the Covid-19 regulations outweigh in importance the God-given seventh commandment.

But surely it is the primary task of a bishop to be concerned about the state of men’s immortal souls and to warn those who are in danger? Adultery is gross moral wickedness, keeping the unrepentant outside of the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). The Bible refers to the adulterer as “destroying his own soul” (Proverbs 6:32).

Yes, the Bishop subsequently spoke of adultery as being a serious act of betrayal, but it was not his primary point. His words come over unmistakably as a sidelining of the seventh commandment in favour of a greater emphasis upon the Covid restrictions.

This shows us how much the Church of England is grounded in the philosophies of this world, and in the prevailing fashions of the moment, rather than in the perfect revelation of God in Scripture (see Colossians 2:8). The Rev. Daniel French commented in the Spectator concerning the Bishop’s remarks that conformity to the Government’s pandemic regulations appears to have become a fundamental Anglican doctrine of the faith.

On June 30th the Methodist Church at its annual conference voted to accept the conducting of same-s*x marriages on its premises. Just as seriously, the same conference also passed a resolution affirming the legitimacy in God’s sight of cohabitation outside of marriage. The Bible, however, refers to such practice as the sin of fornication.

The Methodist conference delegates voted to introduce same-s*x marriage by a large margin of 254 to 46. The decision was much influenced by a study document produced in the summer of 2019 entitled, ‘God in Love Unites us’.

In this report we have the statement that “the Methodist Church must engage with the reality of how people are living today”. Here we observe the root of the problem within so many churches : a burning desire to go with the flow of a God-rejecting society. All adherence to the Biblical concept of separation from the world has been completely lost. The true church’s calling is NOT to conform to the crowd, but to “come out from among them, and be separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17).

‘God in Love Unites us’ further refers to “the range of identities to be found among human beings, especially with regard to gender and s*xuality”. This statement represents an appalling capitulation to the LGBT lobby. When God created mankind, we are told, “Male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27). There is nothing in the Bible about a range of gender and s*xual identities.

On June 26th, Paul Bayes, the Bishop of Liverpool, called for the national Church’s recognition of same s*x marriage, using the term ‘gender-neutral marriage’. He argued that those in the world and outside of the Church find it offensive to confine marriage to one man and one woman; therefore the Church must adapt. So it appears that Christian doctrine is now to be determined on the basis of the opinions of a God-rejecting society.

So many people in the mainstream denominations now follow the social justice creed of the cultural Marxists. The teachings of the Black Lives Matter movement and the climate change activists now carry far more weight than the precious life-giving gospel of a Saviour crucified for sinners.

As one who is a minister in the historic Methodist tradition (thankfully independent of the main denomination), how I lament the Methodist Church’s departure from the faith of the Scriptures. To vote for same s*x marriage, rejecting the Bible’s plain classification of homos*xuality as sinful, is to ignore what John Wesley once said about the authority of Scripture :

“My ground is the Bible … I follow it in all things great and small … The Christian rule of right and wrong is the word of God, the writings of the Old and New Testament … This is a lantern unto a Christian’s feet, and a light in all his paths”.

Britain is in a desperate mess, because it has abandoned the Christian faith. The nation lies in gross spiritual darkness, which is why society has succumbed to so much disproportionate fear and anxiety in respect of Covid. A primary problem is that so many churches have embraced the spirit of the age, instead of confronting it.

May the Lord be pleased to raise up spiritual leaders and mighty preachers, whose priority is to declare Biblical truth, whatever the cost to their reputations might be, because the gospel of the crucified and risen Saviour is our nation’s only hope.