Fitzroy Presbyterian Church
Below is an article from the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ of Thursday June 23rd.
I might also give the link to another article in that newspaper which is headlined:
It is worth a read.
But to return to the article upon which I wish to make a few comments.
The article in question highlights the very evident presence of ‘jackasses’ in the pulpits of churches that profess to be Protestant.
There is no greater evidence of the utter folly, upon which the Protestant people attending such churches as those of the ilk of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church, are being fed!
The minister of that church advertises his cretinous character in the picture published in the article! He looks like a refugee from some pagan festival, in complete contrast to the exhortation of Holy Scripture. “Let us watch and be sober (circumspect),” 1 Thessalonians 5:6.
He further demonstrates his blindness and empty-headedness with what he has to say on the subject of the Bible’s teaching on Mary, the Saviour’s mother.
I. Had he any regard for Mary and the teaching of the Bible, he would not have been found at the Roman Catholic Novena in Clonard Monastery.
That event was one centred on the unscriptural worship, not of the Mary of the Bible, but a Mary invented by Popery and around whom there has developed a pagan cult.
Steven Stockman’s presence at that affair was in direct defiance of the Law of God which tells us:— “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments,” Exodus 20:4-6.
To make Mary a mediatrix, as Rome has for centuries blasphemously done, amounts to a ‘dethroning’ of the Lord Jesus Christ, for He alone is the divinely appointed Mediator between God and sinful man. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” 1 Timothy 2:5.
Note the word ONE, ‘One God’ and ‘One Mediator’, the man Christ Jesus.
Instead of being ashamed of His wicked folly, Stockman boldly says that he is ‘privileged’ to be invited to engage in this pursuit of antichristianity. Clearly, he has no sense whatever of the wickedness of Mariolatry and his flying in the face of all that the Bible teaches.
II. He stupidly thinks that by substituting the name of ‘Jesus’ for that of ‘Mary’ as he joins in the prayers of the Roman Catholic worshippers of Mary, he is absolving himself of sin and is pleasing the Lord.
It reminds me of the event in the wilderness when the foolish, rebellious people of Israel worshipped the ‘golden calf’ which Aaron the high Priest had endorsed. The Bible records that:
“And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD,” Exodus 32:4-5.
This is the same spirit as that manifested by Steve Stockman. Calling error by the name of the Lord makes sin acceptable in his eyes, just as the people sought to justify their idolatry by calling the golden calf, Jehovah!
The judgment that came upon Israel should be a lesson to all who think as does this ‘spiritual buffoon’. Not only were many of the people slain in judgment, as is recorded in Exodus 32:26-28:— “Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.”
But Aaron was barred from entering the Promised Land for His folly on this and at least one other occasion.
“Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah,” Numbers 20:24.
How differently Heaven views that which man believes must be pleasing to God! It was so with Cain, the prophets of Baal in Elijah’s day and in this day of Ecumenical Apostasy. Isaiah was commanded to tell those who considered themselves to be true worshippers of God, that their worship was an abomination in God’s sight! :— “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil,” Isaiah 1:11-16.
The antics at Clonard were even more abominable to the Lord than those in the days of Isaiah.
III. The man displays his utter ignorance both of credal Protestantism and more importantly, the BIBLE!
He is reported as saying, “I don’t think it is in the Bible that we pray to Mary”. This is an open admission of his crass ignorance of God’s Word. If he only had a glimmering of understanding of the second commandment, which I have already quoted, he would be left in no doubt about who we should pray to and who we should NOT pray to!
The total absence of a record of any believer praying to Mary in the New Testament inspired gospels and epistles, is proof enough that Rome is utterly wrong?
The Westminster Standards, the foundational theological standards of Presbyterianism, state clearly what historic Protestantism believes regarding prayers to Mary.
It states in the Westminster Confession of Faith what the Bible teaches about prayer through the Mediator appointed by God.
Chapter 8 – Of Christ the Mediator
1. It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man; the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Head and Saviour of His Church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom He did from all eternity give a people, to be His seed, and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.
VII. Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet, by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.
VIII. To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption, He does certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same;[39] making intercession for them, and revealing unto them, in and by the word, the mysteries of salvation; effectually persuading them by His Spirit to believe and obey, and governing their hearts by His word and Spirit; overcoming all their enemies by His almighty power and wisdom, in such manner, and ways, as are most consonant to His wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.
These words. which Stockman would have signed at his ordination as a statement of his faith, make clear the truth that Christ alone is the MEDIATOR between God and man.
What depths Protestantism has sunk to as a result of the embracing of liberalism and ecumenism by the major denominations!
IV. If this man had any regard for Mary, then like the servants at the wedding of Cana, he would heed her wise words.
“His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it,” John 2:5.
She laid an emphasis upon obeying her Son and could offer no help whatsoever to them regarding the problem they faced, the running out of wine. “And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine,” John 2:3.
She did not offer any solution for in truth she could do nothing other than direct them to obey the Saviour.
Let us honour Mary as highly as the Bible does. The angel of the Lord greeted her with words of honour. “And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women,” Luke 1:28. Yes, Mary is highly favoured but she was a sinner who needed salvation, even as she herself acknowledged. “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,” Luke 1:46-47. She would not have called the Lord ‘her Saviour’ if she was sinless as Rome teaches.
If Mary was who the Roman Catholic Church would have us believe she is and have us worship her, then she would have ‘miraculously’ provided an answer to the lack of wine, but instead she instructed the servants, with the simple, yet profound words: “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”
Mariolatry is a wicked and evil cult that is opposed to all that the Bible teaches. Steve Stockman, in a most mindless and moronic manner, has by participating in the Clonard gathering where prayers to Mary were offered, endorsed what God denounces and and Who will judge all those who in their ignorance, engaged in.
Many years ago I first preached on John 2:5 under the title, ‘The gospel according to the Virgin Mary’. You may listen to a recording of that message here:
The Lord bless you all richly,
Ivan Foster
Presbyterian Rev Steve Stockman ‘privileged’ to teach views on Mary at Catholic Novena at Clonard Monastery in west Belfast
A Presbyterian minister says it is an “incredible privilege” to have been asked to teach Protestant theology on Mary at a major Catholic festival in west Belfast.
By Philip Bradfield, ‘Belfast Newsletter’
Thursday, 23rd June 2022, 10:12 pm
Rev Steve Stockman from Fitzroy Presbyterian Church in Belfast had been asked to speak on the opening and closing day of the nine-day festival at Clonard Monastery, which ended today. His church has worked closely with Clonard for over 20 years.
The Novena – from the Latin for nine – is a mainly Catholic tradition of devotional praying for nine successive days or weeks.
The venue for the annual event is Clonard Monastery just off the Falls Road, with the event running from Wednesday last week until today.
Rev Steve Stockman taught about Mary from a Protestant perspective at the west Belfast Novena
“Interestingly the Novena in Clonard is very much based on Mary which I find very tricky because I have a very different view of Mary,” Rev Stockman said.
He spoke on the opening day and was also “wonderfully” asked to speak on the last day – about Mary.
“I think Novenas have a tendency to concentrate on Mary in their liturgy which obviously I as a Protestant find a little bit difficult – I change her name to Jesus when I am following the prayers.”
Rev Stockman said prayers would be offered at the Novena “for Mary our mother of perpetual help”.
Depending on the Catholic, some would pray to her and some would pray for her, he added.
“As a Protestant I don’t pray to Mary, however I think Protestants have missed the discipleship of Mary. So I will be preaching about Mary from a Protestant perspective and bringing out from the scriptures her courage, commitment and sacrifice and how we need to follow her following of Jesus.
“They know I have a different view to them and they have asked me to speak about it so that is intriguing, I think. I don’t think it is in the Bible that we pray to Mary,” he added.
Rev Stockman said the monastery interior – which he likened to a cathedral – is “crammed” throughout the Novena, from 7am to 8pm.
“There is no room. There are a couple of hundred people sitting out in the garden and 50-100 outside the back door. Before lockdown the old Novenas would have attracted 100,000 for the nine days.”
Although he faces some stiff criticism for crossing the barriers – he met Pope Francis in April – he is unapologetic.
“If somebody asks me to preach and teach the scriptures I will do that anywhere and it is an incredible privilege to do it at the Novena.
“We know our differences – we don’t hide them. But we have so much in common that we feel we can help each other.”