Donald Mackenzie was born in 1931 in Leverburgh, in the Isle of Harris, to Simon and Catherine Mackenzie. His father grew up in the hamlet of Achmore, on the shores of Loch Broom in Wester Ross, and his mother in the village of Leacklee in Harris. Donald used to recall the ministers of the Church who were entertained in the family home in his youth, when they came to hold services when the congregation had no minister of its own, or to take part in communion seasons. Donald and his brothers continued the family business which included retail sales and rearing livestock.
He began to think seriously about eternity as he watched by his mother’s deathbed in hospital. He was brought to seek salvation in Christ Jesus, in whom alone it is to be found; he sought and he found. He often expressed appreciation when these words from Exodus 12:13 were quoted: “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” – words which pointed forward from the Passover and the blood sprinkled, on the lintel and on the door posts of the Israelite home, to the sacrifice of Christ, and the application of its benefits to the individual soul. And it made one assume that the truth there expressed was particularly blessed to him on some occasion, possibly when he was first granted the liberty of the gospel. He expressed appreciation of the help he obtained from conversation with John MacLean, from Northton, Harris, who was for many years a missionary in the Church.
Donald first publicly professed faith in Christ at the South Harris communion in March 1971. He received encouragement to do so from the sermon preached that Saturday by Rev John MacLeod on Jeremiah 51:50: “Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind”. Meanwhile, he had married Catherine Morrison, from Northton. They were to spend most of their almost 60 years of married life in Leverburgh and were given a family of one son and two daughters.
That Donald’s profession was sincere was clear to all who knew him. He valued the means of grace and enjoyed fellowship with the Lord’s people, not least at communion seasons, when he and his wife were glad to welcome people from elsewhere to their home.
In September 1975, Donald Mackenzie was ordained an elder of the South Harris congregation. He was often called on to conduct public worship; it was a time when there were several preaching stations in the congregation. He was an able speaker, and the people appreciated his addresses. It was striking, on one occasion when his strength was failing and he felt unable to continue with the service in Sheilebost, how sympathetic the people were to him, conscious as they were that they might never hear him again. It was a clear indication that his labours were indeed appreciated. He was sometimes asked to conduct public worship in other congregations, particularly in North Harris. He often travelled to the mainland to transport livestock, in one direction or another, and to bring home feeding stuffs; one result of this was that he was sometimes asked to conduct the Gaelic prayer meeting in Inverness.
The Lord blessed Donald with an excellent singing voice and he often led the praise in the congregation. As a Gaelic precentor he was outstanding.
His frequent reference to the words of Rebekah: “If it be so, why am I thus?” indicated that he was not without spiritual struggles. But we can be sure that, as Rebekah in her trouble “went to enquire of the Lord”, so Donald brought his troubles to the throne of grace. He was sincerely committed to the witness of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland and was saddened by the spiritual declension that he saw taking place in his generation.
A heart attack he suffered when in his fifties necessitated heart bypass surgery, which was successful but had to be repeated about 20 years later. This preserved his life and usefulness for some further years, but latterly he suffered from a number of health problems until, after his health deteriorated further, he spent his final weeks in Leverburgh Home. There he was well cared for until he passed away to his eternal rest on 24 October 2012 at the age of 81.
We express our sympathy to his widow, his family and his surviving brother and would wish that they would all follow in his footsteps as one whose great aim in life, after he was called by grace, was to “be found in [Christ], not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil 3:9).
(Rev) K D Macleod
Protestant View The Pope and the Curia
It appears that the Pope is running up against determined opposition to his attempts to change the image and reform the workings of the Roman hierarchy. The principal source of resistance seems to be the Curia, the 3000-strong bureaucracy which administers the Roman empire. In a recent speech, the Pope referred to the Curia as suffering from 15 “ailments”, including “spiritual Alzheimer’s”, “feeling immortal or immune”, “committing terrorism of gossip” and “becoming spiritually and mentally hardened”. He even went so far as to say that some clerics were guilty of “cold-bloodedly killing the reputation of their own colleagues and brothers”.
However revealing these strong words may be about the highest echelons of the Roman system, the reform that Roman Catholics need is far more radical and spiritual than the current schemes of the Pope. Nothing less than a new heart and a new spirit (Ezk 36:25-26) is needed. Since the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, the apostate Roman Church has been fixed in irreconcilable opposition to the truths of Christ’s gospel and can never spiritually reform itself, nor can its erroneous teachings be owned by the Spirit of God to effect the renewal of sinners in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Any sinners who are saved by grace while still in communion with Rome are the subjects of this great work of God’s Spirit in spite of, and not because of, the distinctive tenets of Romanism. The duty of such people is to leave Rome: “Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev 18:4).
AWM