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

Pope definitely not coming to Northern Ireland

After a considerable effort by Politicians, Romanists & Ecumenists, and much to their annoyance and disappointment, it has been confirmed that the Pope will not be coming to Northern Ireland in August.

The Catholic Communications Office has today released the itinerary for the upcoming papal visit to the Republic of Ireland. Northern Ireland, thankfully, is not on that itinerary.

See reports in:
Belfast Newsletter -  Pope Francis will not be coming to Northern Ireland.
Belfast Telegraph - Archbishop Martin disappointed Pope will not visit N Ireland on visit to Republic

The Pope will fly into Dublin on 25th August and will return back to Rome on 26th August.

During his visit he will meet homeless families before arriving at Croke Park Stadium for the 'Feast of Families'. On Sunday he will travel to the Marian shrine at Knock. 

This is an answer to prayer.

See below for reasons why a papal visit is to be opposed by all right thinking Protestants:

#1 The Pope's Blasphemous Claims
#2 The Act of Settlement
#3 The Memory of the Martyrs
#4 The Cost to Taxpayers

A Slap Down for the Pro-Abortionist Lobby

The Pro-Abortionist Lobby have a received a set back in their quest for abortion on demand in Northern Ireland. Aided and abetted by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) they took a case to the Supreme Court over the legality of Northern Ireland's abortion law.

The Pro-Abortionist Lobby lost their Supreme Court appeal. The court dismissed the appeal.

BBC News - Supreme Court rejects NI abortion law case

Abortion is a Holocaust - What else would you call the Slaughter of over 9 million unborn children?

Jim Wells MLA has been criticised for comparing the number of abortions since laws were relaxed in England, Scotland and Wales to the number of people murdered by the Nazis in concentration camps during World War Two. He made the remarks on the BBC's Radio Ulster's Nolan Show on Wednesday.

The Stormont Assembly member stated that Nine-point-two million people have had their lives terminated through abortion in Britain since 1967 … That is actually more than the number of lives murdered in the gas and concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

Mr Wells went on to describe it as a ghastly situation and clarified that he was only made the comparison due to the numbers involved.

Mr Wells has been criticised in response to these comments. That criticism has come from, among others, his party leader, Arlene Foster, who told UTV: I think it's the wrong use of language and again it brings us back to the fact that this is a very emotive issue and people need to be aware of that when they are discussing it.

What else would you call the killing of over 9 million unborn children but a Holocaust? 

Christian baker, in the US, who refused to bake a wedding cake for sodomites, wins his case 7-2 at the Supreme Court

The Christian baker from Colorado who refused to bake a wedding cake to celebrate a sodomite marriage has won his case at the United States Supreme Court. 

The chief justices voted 7-2 in support of Jack Phillips. This overturns the previous ruling by Colorado Civil Rights Commission which had ruled that Phillips had violated the state's anti-discrimination law, which bars businesses from discriminating against customers based on their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

It was decided by the chief justices that the Commission had violated Phillips' First Amendment right to exercise his religion. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, saying Phillips' Free Exercise rights were violated because the Commission showed hostility to his religious beliefs when they were making the decision. 

Read more:
Christian Institute - Victory for US Christian baker at Supreme Court

BBC News - US Supreme Court backs Colorado baker's gay wedding cake snub

CNN - Supreme Court rules for Colorado baker in same-sex wedding cake case

Reuters -  U.S. Supreme Court backs Christian baker who rebuffed gay couple

Stats for May