The Pope and Northern Ireland
At the end of April the Pope sent his secretary, Rev. John Magee, as his personal representative to visit the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands in the Maze prison in Belfast. Every help was given by the Government to the Pope’s envoy. He was met at London Airport, where he changed planes for Belfast, by two Government Ministers who had talks with him for fifty minutes. In Belfast the envoy had talks with the Northern Ireland Secretary. That such courtesies should be extended to the Pope’s representative is altogether wrong as it concedes to the Pope a political status in Northern Ireland. It belies the envoy’s claim that it was the Pope’s pastoral concern which had brought him to Northern Ireland.
The IRA, in the instance of the hunger strikers, have called the tune and the Media, and even the Government have danced to it. If the aim of the campaign has been to obtain maximum publicity for their aims and to attempt to stir up sectarian strife and bloodshed in Northern Ireland, then the IRA have been very successful. The atrocious murders perpetrated over the last number of years have almost sunk out of view and a wave of sympathy with those engaged in self-murder has overspread the whole scene.
It is good to remember at such a time that there is a God in heaven who views these things in a very different light and will by no means clear the guilty. It ought to be a reminder to us also, if we need any reminder, of our duty to pray for the maintenance of the Protestant Cause in Northern Ireland against all the machinations of its enemies.
The Pope’s Proposed Visit to Britain
It has now been intimated that the Pope hopes to visit Britain from 28th May to 2nd June 1981. In England the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury are likely to lead a joint act of worship when the Pope visits Canterbury Cathedral. He is also to visit other parts of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury expressed himself as delighted to know that the dates for the historic visit were now fixed and expressed the hope that Church leaders will be able to discuss with the Pope crucial issues which face all Christians.
In Scotland the Pope is expected to visit Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Inter-Church Relations Committee of the Church of Scotland say that the intended visit of the Pope carries inter-church potential. They state that if an exchange of courtesies between the Moderator and the Pope should prove possible it would express Christian charity and promote understanding. It is their view that the Moderator should be encouraged to initiate such an exchange should it prove appropriate.
How low has the Church of Scotland fallen in Protestant outlook when this is the attitude of one of its main Committees! It is also clear that elsewhere a very equivocal attitude is being adopted towards the Pope’s visit, as though he were just any private individual and not the head of the most diabolical system that the world has ever witnessed. A blind eye is being turned too in many quarters to the blasphemous claims made by the Pope of Rome which are derogatory of Christ’s claims as head over his church. Let us be unequivocal in our opposition to the Pope’s visit and pray earnestly that the Lord may be pleased to intervene so that the visit may never take place and our nation also be spared from the judgment that would inevitably follow such a visit. (The attempted assassination of the Pope since this was written may put in jeopardy the proposed visit.)
Inadequacy of the Westminster Confession
In a letter to Life and Work, the editor of the Free Church Record makes the following statement: “Our Confession is far from final and any new alignment of denominations in Scotland will require the formulation of a new doctrinal symbol.” Accordingly we must assume that in the Free Church Editor’s view the Westminster Confession is inadequate in its present form to set forth clearly the fundamental doctrines of historic Christianity. This seems to us a strange position to take up in view of the fact that the Westminster Confession is famed for its clarity and precision and its Scripturalness. As the Westminster Confession has been found adequate as a doctrinal symbol over so many centuries, what new light has the Church received in our day to render it obsolete? For our part, we have no reason to doubt that when the Lord revives His Cause in Scotland, Churches will find the Westminster Confession of Faith a suitable basis for union. May that time speedily come in the Lord’s good providence!
A Warning to the Churches
Dr D. Lloyd Jones while visiting Scotland a short time before his death warned the Churches of a new development appearing in evangelical circles. There are people, he said, who seem to have come to the conclusion that what the modern man needs is entertainment and not preaching. What they are doing, he went on to say, is teaching the people to sing. There is a mania for singing. They have their troupes. They are teaching them how to act in dramas, how to mime the Scriptures. They are teaching them how to dance. Dr Lloyd Jones condemned this in the strongest terms declaring that this was doing violence to the Scriptures. We are not here, he said, to entertain or to be popular but to tell the people the naked truth and call on them to kiss the Son lest they perish from the way when His anger is kindled but a little.
We feel that this was a most timely warning from one whose work in this world was almost at an end. It would be well if the Churches of the land gave dire heed to his warning.