A report of the run up to, the protest at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland back on 6th June 1966, the court case and imprisonment that followed and the blessed aftermath of it all.
A feature article commemorating the 50th anniversary of the events that led up to and which followed after the 1966 imprisonment of Rev Ian Paisley, Rev John Wylie and Rev Ivan Foster for a term of 3 months in Crumlin Road Jail, Belfast.This account is compiled from reports in the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster’s magazine, “The Revivalist” and some reports from the “Belfast Newsletter” and the “Belfast Telegraph”.
I have put together this collection of articles which appeared in the Revivalist in 1966 and 1967, and one from 1968, as well as some newspaper accounts of the June 6th protest, led by the late Dr. Paisley. The parade consisted of some 200 Free Presbyterian men, woman and children. It processed from Ravenhill Church to the building where the annual General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church was taking place. The aim of the event was to honour God, contend for the faith and highlight the ecumenical apostasy of that denomination.
Such were the consequences of that night’s protest that the small Free Presbyterian church, hardly known outside of the six counties of Northern Ireland, became the subject of discussion, mostly derogatory, throughout Christendom! But much more important was the moving of the Spirit of God that became evident within the ranks of the Free Presbyterian church from that time.
God was pleased to work mightily amongst us, adding to our numbers many new congregations and hundreds of new converts.
A recent news report about the shooting of an IRA man, Joe McCann, brought back to my mind an article I wrote some five years ago about being imprisoned with Mr. McCann.
Read the full article here: Joe McCann, IRA gunman, and his three months under the gospel