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The spirit of the Egyptian bondage re-emerges!

I have just obtained a copy from a friend of a news briefing sent out by one ‘Niamh Burns’ of the ‘Communications Team’ which is a statement issued on behalf of the The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Right Honourable Chris Heaton-Harris today, June 6th..

Israel in Egypt (1867), by Edward Poynter

The statement is headed:

New — requirements for Relationship and Sexuality Education curriculum in Northern Ireland

I quote some of the words of the statement with my emphasis added.

“The UK Government is updating the requirements for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) curriculum in Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris has announced today (Tuesday 6 June).

The Regulations will amend the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, and the Education (Curriculum Minimum Content) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007 in relation to Key Stage 3 and 4.

They will make age-appropriate, comprehensive and scientifically accurate education on sexual and reproductive health and rights, covering prevention of early pregnancy and access to abortion, a compulsory component of curriculum for adolescents.

They will also place a duty on the Department of Education to issue guidance on the content and delivery of the education to be provided by 1 January 2024. 

The Department will also be under a statutory duty to make Regulations about the circumstances in which at the request of a parent, a pupil may be excused from receiving that education, or specified elements of that education. 

Consultation with parents on Relationship and Sexuality Education is already common practice in Northern Ireland and we expect the Department of Education to ensure schools afford parents the opportunity to review relevant materials.

The Regulations, in practice, will result in educating adolescents on issues such as how to prevent a pregnancy, the legal right to an abortion in Northern Ireland, and how relevant services may be accessed. (more…)

An old acquaintance visited after 58 years!

“For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us,” Isaiah 33:22.

I first read this verse on 5th January 1965. It was my first day as a student for the gospel ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church. Dr Paisley was conducting class. He had however an appointment elsewhere and so he flicked through a Bible and chose this verse and said: “Give me an introduction, three points and a conclusion. I will be back shortly and I will see what you produced.”

There were three other students there that day. James McClelland was in his third and final year. James Beggs and William Beattie had been attending evening classes. All were therefore somewhat acquainted with the requirements of sermon preparation and immediately got down to examining the verse.

I looked at the verse in utter consternation for in truth, being only nine months a Christian, I had no idea what the verse was referring to. I had little or no understanding of the ministry of Isaiah or the character of the days he preached in or the message he was charged with delivering to Judah.

I really cannot recall what I put down on paper by way of ‘an introduction, three points and a conclusion’. I do know that it was not worth remembering. Dr Paisley returned in about an hour and as ‘fate’ would have it, he first asked me for my ‘production’. I will not tell you what his response was but I will say that I felt as never before my ignorance of God’s Word.

James McClelland, being James, jumped in to my defence and none too gently reminded Dr Paisley that it was my first day etc, and that he was being too hard on me. I will not give you a ‘word for word’ account of James’ intervention, though it is engraved in my memory, but it did have an impact on Dr Paisley. There was revealed to me for the first time that his bark was worse than his bite. He took up my scribbles again and said: ‘That’s not too bad at all. You could develop that alright!’

I am not ashamed to say that my lip was trembling most ominously but Dr Paisley’s latter response cheered me up somewhat!

So began a lifetime of learning God’s Word. Today, I am returning to this verse for the first time since that day long ago. I never did feel inclined to preach this verse, but today (Thursday, 1st June) in my daily I read it yet again, accompanied by the memories of that ‘dramatic’ start to my studies. I immediately felt that I would like to set down something of what I now understand the verse to mean. As I do so, I am very aware of the journey the Lord has led me on and the ‘tutors’ who helped on that journey and under God’s merciful blessing, were to me as Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:24-26), not least of which was my wife, Ann, in my early days, aye, and still so today.

Let me examine now that old verse which sits like a milestone in my memory. (more…)

A timely testimony from 130 years ago

Mary Ann Chaplin (1844-1922) a Strict Baptist lady, a member of ‘Ebenezer Chapel’, in Chelmsford, where I have preached in the past, was a strong Protestant. She was of Huguenot descent, one of eleven children.

The Lord began His work of grace in her heart early in life, and she was baptized at the age of fourteen. She wrote her first published piece of poetry when only eleven. She continued to write all her life, and herein is a sample of her gracious, wise and timely words, copied from one of her publications: “CHIMES FOR THE TIMES”, published in 1891.

M J Tryon, a Strict Baptist pastor in Stamford, in his preface to the second edition of “CHIMES FOR THE TIMES”, sent forth in 1907, said this: “Mrs Chaplin writes out of the abundance of her heart; believing deeply ‘Chimes’ ring forth no uncertain sound; thus they delight and cheer the heart of her fellow-pilgrims, who, though not possessing her gift of expression, can and do appreciate her grace and her gifts.”

Her reference, in the third verse, to the  ‘Throne’ and its ‘kowtowing’ to popery in Queen Victoria’s day, is even more relevant today!

Surely, “the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.”

THE POPE’S BLESSING

A Protestant Sigh

It came upon the Spanish fleet
Three hundred years ago,
As tangible a blessing as
A despot could bestow;
It took the form of cannonade,
Of thumbscrew, whip, and priest,
By which the Bible reading ones
Identified the Beast;
But this was England’s safety then,
And this was England’s hope, —
God’s curse has ever rested on
The blessing of the Pope.

Thumbscrew, and cannonade, and whip,
With all the flower of Spain,
Came cursing on to England, and
Went cursing back again;
They “raised the wind” by fraud or force,
Her liberties to smother,
But God — in answer to her cries—
In justice raised another.
Billow and fire and sturdy aim,
And English tact had scope,
When Heaven’s thunder laughed to scorn
The blessing of the Pope.

To-day the curse is in his heart,
The while with lips he blesses;
Infidel, Godless England, sees
No harm in his caresses;
The maudlin men of' “modern thought”
Can grip no standard truth;
And Jesuits in the English Church
Have Romanised our youth;
The very Throne has bent itself
To Leo’s trampling feet;
Can God do otherwise than let
Such sin with sorrow meet ?

We beckon on this blessing Pope!!
Who holds Victoria vile;
And fain would give her “moonlight” fare
As in the Sister Isle;
“No faith with Heretics” is still
The Papal undertone,
And Englishmen are fools who think
That Rome is kinder grown ;
“Kill, kill,” she says; let Manning’s words
Our sad attention win,
For life and liberty go out
When Leo’s power comes in.

He has learned wisdom (of a sort)
From signalised defeat;
So those who shrived the “moonlight” hordes
Are ordered to repeat —
How the “good Father” has a wish,
For English law to reign,
Lest boycotting and murder spoil
The plan of their campaign!
And though all history pours its light
On the deceptive wile,
Our fascinated Senators
Bow gratefully and smile.

Ah, here is England's danger now,
In spite of every hope, —
God’s curse has ever rested on
The blessing of the Pope;
The old Armada fought with Him,
But crumbled at His touch;
And England, if she bends to Rome,
Deserves His wrath as much.
Oh, for a prayer of th’ olden time,
One strong, low, gushing cry;
For error's crescent sweeps our sea,
And who can pass it by?

The battle is the Lord’s, my friends,
The battle is the Lord’s;
We are with Him whatever meed
The earthly state accords;
His grace, His truth, His promise, stand
As in the olden days,
He can afford to wait, though we
With indignation blaze;
But for our children, for ourselves,
For England’s common sense,
God drive conviction’s fire-ships through
This squadron of pretence!