On the wrong road, going in the wrong direction and led by deceivers!
The following is a report taken from ‘The Belfast Newsletter’, 21st August, 2025.
There are concerns expressed, and rightly so, regarding this ‘March’ because of both its ecumenical connections and its associations with those denominations which embrace liberal ‘Christianity’ with its adherence to every form of unscriptural doctrine and practice. Roman Catholicism is also one of those which has indicated that it both endorses the march and plans to participate in it.
The Bible’s revelation of Who Jesus Christ is, is rejected by modernistic ‘Protestantism’ and blasphemous Romanism.
Any ‘assurances’ given by the March organisers regarding the ecumenical character of this march should be rejected for evidence of the true nature of this affair is all too plain.
The true person of the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth for us in the Westminster Confession of Faith.
“The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come take upon him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin: being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ the only Mediator between God and man,” (Chapter VIII, paragraph 2).
That will not be the universal view of those in the ‘March’!
It is therefore not a place where a true believer in Christ and one who seeks to obey the Bible will want to be seen. It would be wrong to give any form of endorsement to this amalgam of modern day ‘Babylonianism’!
The Bible clearly teaches the position of separation from all that is out of step with the Word of God that is to be observed by the Christian. Any true believers who do participate are deceived and acting contrary to the warnings of Holy Scripture!
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. . . . For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before,” Matthew 24:11, 24-25.
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world,” 1 John 4:1.
The loud, garish and totally ‘worldly’, mixed multitude that takes part in such gatherings and gives it the demeanour and atmosphere that such marches have manifested in the past, is not the place the child of God will want to be!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
21st August, 2025
Here is the article which appears in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ today.
March for Jesus Belfast 2025: Reformed Christians express concern that event is ecumenical in nature – organisers give assurances
By Philip Bradfield
Published 21st Aug 2025, 13:49 BST
Some conservative Christian leaders have urged people not to take part in the March of Jesus in Belfast this Saturday, which is expected to attract around 10,000 people.
According to the March for Jesus website, the global movement is “an extravagant worship celebration for Jesus in full public view”.
Beginning in 1987 in London, organisers say it later attracted some 12 million participants in 170 countries.
However concerns are being expressed from some Christians who hold strongly to Reformation values that the event is working in partnership with the Roman Catholic Church.
Rev Roger Higginson from Lisburn Free Presbyterian Church expressed his concerns on Facebook, qualifying them by saying there is ‘no doubt in my mind that many good people will attend’.
But he added that he was “appealing to those who know and love the Lord to be very, very careful” adding that “the Reformation happened for a reason”.
He said that the reformers held that Christ is the only mediator between God and man; that His sacrifice eliminates the need to earn salvation, and that scripture alone is the authority for Christian teaching.
Catholic teaching, he argued, holds that other mediators are available; the mass is an ongoing sacrifice and that tradition is placed on an equal authority with scripture.
Pastor John Ahern, who is organising the March for Jesus in Belfast says it is evangelical and not ecumenical in nature.
Christian speaker Cecil Andrews took a similar stance, urging that “true and faithful Christians should take no part in this planned march”.
A March for Jesus in 1990 had a Catholic Priest on the council of reference and in 1992 a group from Clonard Monastery took part in a march, he said.
The “false premise” for the marches, he said, was the commission given to Joshua in the Bible to go and claim the promised land.
Mr Andrews also said that several satellite churches of an “heretical” US church organsation – which he said believes in modern apostles and prophets – had been promoting it on their Facebook sites.
Finally, he noted that a sister march in Dublin was promoted by a Roman Catholic Archbishop, “confirming its ecumental nature” and that a priest from Maynooth College was promoting the Belfast event.
But organiser Pastor John Ahern from All Nations Church, which has branches in Dublin and Belfast, said he could only conclude that critics are “sincere but misinformed”.
He added: “The March does not have any formal or informal connection with the Catholic Church. It is an evangelical initiative, not an ecumenical one,” he told the News Letter.
“The March For Jesus however is open to all Christians, irrespective of denomination – and non Christians for that matter.
He said a video of a priest promoting the event was shared on his official Facebook page while he was on holiday, but that the individual concerned didn’t understand the issues and that the pastor later deleted it – but that he holds “no ill will to the priest in question”.
He also defended his wife having the title of “pastor” in his church “as a gesture of respect for the work she does in helping me as I lead”.
The pastor said that leading clerics from a range of denominations have confirmed they will be attending the event.
The Methodist Church in Ireland confirmed that it will be represented at the march.