When Rev. Willie Philip's congregation, the Tron Church in Glasgow, decided to leave the Church of Scotland after the nationally established denomination had decided to cast off what the Bible says about homosexual relations, he had a writ served on him to quit the manse, with police attending. This was just one of the experiences of soft persecution that gave Rev. Philip, a former cardiologist, the resolve that he demonstrated during the Covidian era, when he was one of 29 Scots, many of them church ministers, who decided—successfully, as it turned out—to challenge the Scottish Government in a judicial review over the no-worship order that it had issued. (Other signatories to the case included UK Column interviewees Pastor John-William Noble of the Grace Baptist Church in Aberdeen and Pastor Arthur O'Malley of East Gate Church in Elderslie, Renfrewshire.)
In this interview, David Scott discusses with Rev. Philip the nature of corruption in Scotland, regression to heathen morality in the whole English-speaking world, whether the mainstream churches in Britain are failing, where courage is to be drawn from, the danger of being well spoken of, the struggle with evil, the wise response to assailants, unnecessary and necessary battles, the end of the centuries-long peaceful coexistence of church and state, whether the Gospel invites people to come as they are, who the Head of the Church in Scotland is, the necessity of worldly authority and its limits, the church's role in promoting good government by pointing out egregious errors, why Christians must be unafraid to follow the Apostles' example and stand up for their brethren in court, the difference between the rule of law and the rule of official opinion, the nature of conversion, how to face intimidation and the threat of prison, and how, having done all, to stand.
Read the very instructive and precedent-setting judicial review opinion of Lord Braid in Reverend Dr William J U Philip and others here.