Protest or Pretext

Rev Ian Paisley and Rev Ron Johnstone are heading up a Free Presbyterian protest against the Pope’s visit to Edinburgh; presently,the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster has printed a pamphlet examining Roman Catholicism in the light of scripture. This is what many in the Reformed faith expect of evangelical Protestants; taking every opportunity to expose error, while at the same time preaching the glorious gospel of Christ.

The problem is that there appears to be a pretext here; how can these church leaders go to protest against a Papal state visit, without firstly and unequivocally condemning the unscriptural and immoral circumstance of terrorist inclusive government at home. Before condemning and upbraiding the errors of Roman Catholicism, what about addressing the betrayal and sell-out of Ulster evangelical Protestants; people that prayed for the preservation of their civil and religious liberty; people that signed a covenant to love the things that Christ loves and to hate the things that Christ hates. This is where the urgent need is; these are the people that have been abandoned and betrayed.

A protest against a political sell-out, and against the compromising of a separatist evangelical protestant testimony at home, would be better served, than a pretext against the errors of Roman Catholicism. What is the point of protestant church leaders taking a bash at Popery when the foundations of the Reformed Faith are left exposed to the worsening storm of apostasy?

Rev Mervyn Cotton