The Belfast Telegraph reported yesterday about the controversy regarding Free Presbyterian and First Minister Paul Givan’s attendance of an ecumenical celebration in Armagh. The article may be viewed here: Givan slammed by reverend for taking part in ‘unbiblical’ service
To read our comments about this disgraceful meeting, see:
Statement by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
Statement regarding Mr. Paul Givan’s attendance at Armagh service
Statement from Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd), former minister of Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church, on the attendance of Mr Paul Givan, a Free Presbyterian, at the centenary service in Armagh, held under the auspices of the combined apostate denominations here in Ulster.
Poor, foolish Paul Givan had little to smile about as he enters the apostate Armagh service and thus betrays the gospel and turns his back upon the truth of God that has been the foundation of the separatist stand of the Free Presbyterian Church since it beginnings in 1951!
By attending this service Mr Givan has put personal and political considerations before his professed allegiance to the Lord. (more…)
I wish to make a comment on the fact that our Presbytery Officers have decided that there will be no protest at the above ungodly ecumenical gathering, which has ostentatiously expropriated the centenary of the stand taken by our Protestant forefathers against the political sell-out of our heritage attempted by the British government, and that into the hands of a Roman Catholic dominated ‘United “Ireland’.
All that this ecumenical ‘celebration’ entails would have been anathema to our forbears of 1912 and 1921.
In 1951, the Free Presbyterian Church was brought into existence by the Lord in order to PROTEST against the wickedness of the ecumenical movement. Most certainly for the first 50+ years it was faithful and fervent in that calling. However, its opposition to the modernism and the liberalism and the pro-popish direction taken by the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist churches in Ireland since the late 1940s, has most decidedly waned over the last couple of decades. (see Questions for the Free Presbyterian Church)
Much has been made of the security measures that undoubtedly will be in place for this ecumenical service and the difficulties they would present to any who wish to get into Armagh and anywhere near the cathedral to protest. (more…)