Honouring God in all things - A Differing Contrast in conduct between Jacob Stockdale and members of The Kilkeel Hockey Club.

Two recent articles in the Belfast Telegraph highlighted contrasting views towards the issue of honouring the Lord in every area of life.

The first is contained in an interview with Ulster and Ireland rugby player Jacob Stockdale. The interview first appeared in the February 2019 edition of the Presbyterian Herald magazine and was subsequently reported in the Belfast Telegraph. See here. 

Jacob Stockdale professes to be a Christian and has stated that being a Christian in the rugby world can be tricky, adding that he feels the biggest challenge to his faith is the perceived culture.

Further quotes from the interview are: There is a very small percentage of people who have any sort of Christian faith within the rugby world and that can be a tough challenge.

It's a challenge that I don't always get right; sometimes I can get into fights on the pitch and do things that probably don't point towards me being a Christian, so the challenge is trying to get it right more times than I get it wrong.

The Consequences of Sabbath Desecration

A sermon preached in Newtownabbey Free Presbyterian Church upon the Consequences of Sabbath Desecration. It is based upon Jeremiah 17:27: But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

This sermon was preached in the light of Mrs Arlene Foster MLA and Mr Christopher Stalford MLA attending a GAA football match on the Lord's day and also Belfast City Council announcing this past week that from 2019 onwards the city marathon will take place on the Lord's day.

Letter sent to Belfast Newsletter & Belfast Telegraph on Sabbath Desecration by Clerk of Presbytery

These commenced with the attendance of high level politicians at a GAA final on Sunday and ended with the announcement that plans were being followed to switch the hugely successful Belfast Marathon from the usual public holiday to God’s holy day

Both developments cause incredible angst and offence to Christians who treasure the special nature of God’s Day. The second will certainly exclude a considerable number of Christians from participation in a race through which finances have been raised for many charitable causes and will radically inconvenience others in their attempts to proceed to their places of worship. Of course in an age when the flagships of respect, tolerance and equality are supposed to be sailing the seas, it must again be noted that such vessels are characteristically lop-sided and capable of travelling in only one direction.

When framing the famous Westminster Confession of Faith, our spiritual forebears felt it necessary to include a chapter on ‘Religious Worship, And The Sabbath Day’ – one that contained guidelines and outlined benefits not merely for professing Christians but for all of society:

“As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto Him (Exodus 20:8,10,11; Isaiah 56:2,4,6,7).”

If it is the genuine desire of politicians in our country to secure the brightest of futures for the citizens of our beautiful country, then showing appropriate respect for God’s Day instead of targeting it for relentless selfish assault would be a good place to begin.

Rev. Ian Brown
Clerk, Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster


Belfast Newsletter - Angst is caused to Christians who treasure the special nature of God’s Day

Special Sermon Subject

Feeding the Crocodile & Offending God

This week DUP leader Arlene Foster has notched up an unwanted double achievement. In the same week she has managed to feed the crocodile she vowed never to do, prior to the most recent Assembly election; but much more seriously, she has offended God.

Following on from attending requiem mass for Martin McGuiness when he died, Arlene Foster attended the Ulster GAA final in Clones on the Lord's day.

She has trampled once more over more of our Protestant, Reformed, gospel heritage and treated it as if it were a worthless blessing. If media reports are correct, before this week is out, she will act contrary to the truths of the Gospel, and offend God even more, by attending a sodomite function at Stormont.

Her conduct is objectionable on a number of fronts:

Firstly, Desecration of the Lord's day. The fourth commandment requires us to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. The Lord's day is not a day for unnecessary employment or for recreation. It is a day to be set aside for worship. We have six other days to engage in these other activities. To desecrate the sabbath day is to steal this day from God and use it for ourselves.

There is a blessing upon sabbath observance, Isaiah 58:13,14: If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

The opposite of this Scriptural principle is also true. It was sabbath desecration that finally took the nation of Israel into captivity. You don't need to be a prophet or the son of a prophet to know that it will not go well with any individual, society or nation when they desecrate the Lord's day.

Secondly, Attendance at a GAA football match. This the same GAA which has a notorious history of naming its stadia and competitions after dead terrorists.

Silence gives consent

Letter from Mr Jim Allister, Q.C. MLA in Belfast Newsletter:

Jim Allister: DUP silence is to condone SF-placating tactics

When Arlene Foster spent her Lord’s Day afternoon on a Sinn Fein-placating mission to embrace the GAA, she was representing every single DUP MP, MLA, councillor and, indeed, member. Likewise when she gathers with LGBT activists to celebrate their achievements. Any DUP representative dissenting from the fair inference that it was done in their name needs to be heard. So far I hear no dissent! Silence gives consent.

Sad.

Jim Allister, MLA, North Antrim

DUP councillor berates Arlene Foster for ‘publicly flouting Lord’s Day’

DUP councillor Alderman John Finlay has spoken of his “deep sorrow and indignation” at his party leader’s decision to attend a GAA match on a Sunday. In a strongly worded letter to Arlene Foster, Alderman John Finlay accused her of “publicly flouting the Lord’s Day”.

Read full article here

Open Air / Protest at Sunday Rugby Match

On the Lord's day afternoon 20th May an Open Air / Protest was held at the Ulster Rugby match held at the Kingspan Stadium. The stadium entry is only a matter of a few hundred metres from Mount Merrion Free Presbyterian Church. 

The Open Air / Protest was led by Rev Paul Hanna, minister of the Mount Merrion congregation. Other Free Presbyterian ministers taking part were Rev David McLaughlin [Carryduff], Rev Paul Foster [Tyndale] & Rev Brian McClung [Newtownabbey].

The Open Air / Protest took place on a area just opposite the main gates of the Kingspan Stadium.

Windsor Park Stand to be demolished - A costly defiance of God

It has been reported that the Irish Football Association has been advised that they will have to demolish the damaged West Stand at Windsor Park stadium in Belfast. Serious cracks appeared in the structure of the West Stand shortly after the recent Euro 2016 qualifier which was played on the Lord's day.

The report is supposed to have said that the ground has moved around the base of the columns, causing the wall and the beams to also move. As the nature of the structure is top heavy, the stand is leaning on one side over the pitch. 

It has also been acknowledged that it was surprising that nothing more serious had happened when the structure moved. Around 5,000 football supporters were in the stand for the Euro qualifier. It could easily have collapsed with them in it.

The cost of constructing a new replacement stand has been estimated that between £8million and £10million. No doubt a dispute will ensure as to who is going to pay for it.

God has ways of teaching men to respect His Law

The local media in Northern Ireland are reporting that the West Stand at Windsor Park has been sealed off today due to subsidence issues at the Stadium. Cracks have appeared in the structure of the Stand resulting in the area being sealed off. Work on redeveloping the West Stand, with a new structure being constructed behind the existing Stand, has been ongoing for weeks. It has not been confirmed whether the two issues are directly linked. The I.F.A. have called in structural engineers and are awaiting their report. See BBC news report here and the Belfast Telegraph report with pictures here.

It is being reported that local club matches and also further international matches could be in doubt. It may yet cost the I.F.A. a great deal more to repair, than they made from playing a football match on the Lord's day!

Protest Service against Sunday Football

The crowd as it gathered outside Tyndale Free Presbyterian Church for the protest meeting. While the protest service was taking place others gave out Gospel tracks and a leaflet explaining the importance of upholding the sanctity of the Sabbath day.

Sunday Football - Sabbath Desecration

Sadly, tomorrow [Lord's day 29th March 2015] will witness a further decline in the acknowledgement and upholding of the law of God respecting the Sabbath day. A new low in departure from God will take place in Northern Ireland. This is the first time that a home international football match will be played on the Lord's day. It is part of the Euro 2016 qualifying competition.

Representatives from The Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, Government & Morals Committee, met with the Irish Football Association some weeks ago to express our opposition to this football match going ahead, and also to make known the inconvenience it will cause to one of our local Free Presbyterian congregations. Tyndale Memorial congregation, on Donegall Avenue in Belfast, is situated a few hundred yards away from one of the main entrances to Windsor Park, where the football match will be played. 

Sunday Football

It was back in September 2013 that the possibly of international Sunday football was first mentioned. See here. UEFA, the European football governing body, indicated that they were taking control of arranging the fixtures of their qualifying competition rather than the countries themselves. This was part of UEFA's plans to maximise television revenue and exposure for the tournament. That change would inevitably bring about the situation where Northern Ireland would end up playing a home international fixture on the Lord's day.

For decades Sunday football was not allowed to be played in Northern Ireland at all. It was six years ago that the Irish Football Association decided to change that rule allowing teams to play on the Sabbath day. A few Irish League sides have done so, but not the international team.

Sabbath observance has been sacrificed once again on the altar of commercial advantage. This is the new god that is worshipped today!

Call to Protestant Politicians to uphold Biblical values

The Evangelical Protestant Society yesterday released a statement calling upon Protestant Politicians to uphold Biblical values. It reads:
The Evangelical Protestant Society, as an evangelical umbrella organisation which seeks to defend and promote evangelical Protestantism in our changing society, has been concerned for some time about the gradual but steady erosion of Ulster’s Protestant foundations. We have therefore written to all Protestant and Unionist elected representatives at Stormont and Westminster to urge them to take a firm stand in two specific areas where we feel there has been slippage in recent times.

To read the rest of the statement click here.

The Evil of Sabbath Desecration

This is the outline of a sermon preached in March 2010 on the subject of the sabbath and its desecration, as a result of the first Irish League football match to be played on a Lord's day. It is worth posting here in the light of the recent changes to the law regarding Sunday racing.

Text: Nehemiah ch 13:15-22 & Jeremiah 17:19-27

As most of you are aware from the events of last weekend [March 2010] we witnessed the first Irish League football match on a Lord’s day. For 60 years a rule has existed, within the Irish Football Association, that prohibited such a thing taking place. It was sadly overturned last year as part of wider constitutional changes within the Irish Football Association.

It would not have been surprising if it was mainly Roman Catholic teams which chose to play on a Sunday, as the model of religion in a Sunday morning and sport the rest of the day is a long established practice among them. But it was two teams that have associations with Protestantism. It is a sad reflection on the decline in true religion in this land that these things are taking place. 

Sadder still to learn that some who profess to be believers see no wrong in such desecration of the Lord’s Day. Some have even defended this latest development and described it as moving forward with the times and not something to be concerned about.

Failing to protect Sunday as non North West race day erodes Christian principles

A recent post on this Blog highlighted the fact that the Northern Ireland Assembly was going to vote on opening the door to Sunday Racing. See here.

A letter from Rev Roger Higginson, minister of Coleraine Free Presbyterian Church, has been published in the Belfast Newsletter about this matter. It begins:

Recently there has been much consultation in Stormont regarding the extension of racing times during the North West 200.

This event is of great benefit to our community on many levels and is supported by people from not just the Province but also much further afield. It is the largest event to take place each year on the North Coast.

To read the rest of the letter click here

Stormont Assembly to vote on opening the door to Sunday Racing

Today in the Northern Ireland Assembly a Bill will be debated that will change the legislation governing motorcycle road racing in Northern Ireland.

The North West 200, one of the premier motorcycle road races held in Northern Ireland, was cancelled in 2013 due to torrential rain. This was the second occasion in three years that the North West 200 had to be cancelled due to bad weather. In addition, the Dundrod 150 motorcycle race in August 2013 and the Ulster Grand Prix in 2008 were also cancelled in similar circumstances.

It is not presently possible to re-schedule these races because the existing legislation does not permit that flexibility. Consequently alternative dates or times from those quoted in the road closing order made to facilitate the event can not be used.

The Department for Regional Development is proposing to insert one new clause into the existing legislation. This new clause will amend Article 3 of the Road Races (NI) Order to: provide that not more than two contingency days may be specified in a road closing order and that a contingency day must be one of the two days falling immediately before or immediately after a day specified in a road closing order.

Northern Ireland may be forced to play football on a Sunday

Thankfully there has been a reluctance to play football on a Sunday in Northern Ireland over the years. The rules were changed some time ago to permit Sunday football but few Football Clubs have taken up the option.

There is, however, a possibility that Northern Ireland may be forced in future to play Sunday football by UEFA, during the the 2016 European Championship group stages.

To read further details see Belfast Telegraph.

To read other articles on this Blog about Sabbath Observance, see here.

National decline tied to Sabbath desecration

It has been reported here and here that Chancellor George Osborne is proposing to suspend the Sunday Trading laws for eight weeks over the duration of the Olympics. As quite a number of Olympic events are taking place on a Sunday he does not want to give the impression that Britain is closed for business.

It is also suggested here and here that this is more than just a temporary measure during the time of the Olympics but an attempt to use the situation to argue for a repeal of the Sunday Trading laws altogether.

Sabbath desecration is closely tied to national decline. The mistaken idea that more opening hours means more money spent and more prosperity for business, which means more jobs for citizens and more money to spent in shops etc is a deeply flawed argument. This reasoning is based solely on economics.

However, this flawed argument forgets to take on board that there is another law, a moral law, that also operates in this world, whether governments or citizens acknowledge it or not. That moral law states that instead of advancing the prosperity of a nation Sunday Trading brings national decline.

Nehemiah forthrightly told the 'Sunday Traders' this in Nehemiah13:18:
Did not your fathers thus, [buy and sell, see vv15-21] and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.

These 'Sunday Traders' in Nehemiah's day had not learned the lesson from previous times. Both in Jeremiah's and in Ezekiel's days this same truth was pressed upon the people of Israel.

Sunday Trading laws consultation

Here is the submission I made with respect to the consultation regarding Sunday Trading laws which closed on Friday.

Dear Sir/Madam
I wish to take part in the consultation regarding Sunday Trading hours. I do so on behalf of the congregation of Newtownabbey Free Presbyterian Church and also I believe I reflect the views of many evangelical Christians within the Newtownabbey area who are not members or attenders of the Free Presbyterian Church but attend other evangelical churches. 

We do not want to see any extension or relaxation made to the Sunday Trading hours. We hold to this position because of a number of spiritual and practical convictions. 


1. The Holy Scriptures teach that we are all to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy, Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Six days are given by God for labour, work, recreation and shopping. One day of the week is to be a sabbath which is given over to the worship of God. Civil authorities have a duty before God to uphold His moral law. We would therefore call upon you to refuse any call to relax the present trading laws.

2. Society loses out by not observing a Sabbath day. Not only spiritually where there is a failure to attend to spiritual matters, but socially as well. Due to our nature we need a day of rest from these secular employments and activities. There is a human cost in failing to observe the Sabbath.

One writer put it like this:  Our bodies are seven-day clocks and they need to be wound up, and if they are not wound up they run down into the grave. No man can continuously break the Sabbath and keep his physical and mental health.

William Wilberforce had this to say: Oh what a blessed day is the Sabbath, which allows us a precious interval wherein to pause, to come out from the thickets of worldly concerns and give ourselves up to heavenly and spiritual concerns. Observation and my own experience have convinced me that there is a special blessing on a right employment of these intervals. Oh what a blessing is Sunday, interposed between the waves of worldly business like the divine path of the Israelites through Jordan. There is nothing in which I would recommend you to be more strictly conscientious than in keeping the Sabbath holy. By this I mean not only abstaining from all becoming sports and common business, but from consuming time in frivolous conversations, paying or receiving visits, which among relations often leads to a sad waste of this precious day. I can truly declare that to me the Sabbath has been invaluable.

Mr Gladstone, the well known British Prime Minister, said on one occasion: Tell me what the young men of England are doing on Sunday and I will tell you what the future of England will be. The religious observance of the Sabbath is a main prop of the religious character of the country. From a moral, social and physical point of view, the observance of the Sabbath is a duty of absolute consequence.

Sir Robert Peel, another Prime Minister, said: I never knew a man escape failure, in either body or mind, who worked seven days a week.

3. Any relaxation of the Sunday trading laws is a false economy. Much is made in this consultation paper about boost[ing] the local economy, benefit[ing] the tourism industry and support[ing] the regeneration of town and city centres.

How can this be? There is not extra money to be spent just because it is Sunday. Not unless we are encouraging people to spend money they don't have and go into debt. The same money will have to be spread over a wider period of time. If people spend more money shopping on Sunday they will spend less Monday to Saturday. Surely this is obvious. With extended opening hours there will follow all the resultant extra staff costs and other running costs for any business. This is not going to help the economy. It is going to harm it by creating extra costs for the same level of return. It is plainly a false economy.

4. The religious liberty of employees will be greatly infringed. Pressure will be brought to bear on those who because of religious convictions do not want to work on the Lord's day. With any relaxation of the law then Sunday will be treated more and more as an ordinary day. Employees whose religious convictions about working on a Sunday will find it harder to obtain and retain employment. Today's Sunday shoppers will be tomorrow's Sunday workers.

5. We do not want to see any relaxation of Bookmakers opening hours. This society has enough problems with gambling addiction without giving even greater opportunities for people to waste their money. Many a family will be dismayed to think that the one day of respite they have with a loved one visiting the bookies has been taken away.

6. We wish to highlight the inbuilt bias of the consultation. There is not sufficient width to the choices in the online response for evangelical Christians to indicate a desire for the present Sunday trading hours to be tightened and not relaxed. This we believe to be wrong.

Precedence has been set for this when in December 2009 the German Constitutional court ruled that shops in Berlin were to fall into line with the law institutionalising Sunday as a day of rest and religious contemplation as contained in Germany’s Basic Law. If this can be done in modern day Germany why can it not be a choice in Northern Ireland. It is one which many would chose.