Apostasy In Portadown !

Lord Palmerston once said,' The presence of the Jesuits in any country, Romanist or Protestant, is likely to breed social disturbance.”

Recently, in our town of Portadown,
an Irish Presbyterian minister and a Church of Ireland rector went to a local Roman Catholic Church for an event to celebrate 25 years of the Jesuit presence in Portadown.

Rev Elliott reads from Jude 1:3 and notices the following points about contending for the faith:

1. The SPECIFYING Of The Faith

What IS the faith ? God's revealed truth - the whole body of Scripture.

2. The SUBMITTING Of The Faith

'once delivered' - it is complete - nothing to be added to or taken away from.

3. The SAFEGUARDING Of The Faith

The faith is assaulted by modernist/liberal Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church.

An element of this Church is a society called the Jesuits.

i) Their Origin

Founded by Ignatius Loyola - the plan was to raise a band of holy knights to overthrow all enemies of the Church of Rome - was recognised by the papacy in 1540

ii) Their Objective

In the Jesuit Church in Rome there is a plaster cast on the wall of their founder with his foot on the neck of Protestants.

Rev Elliott then takes a look at the vows which the Jesuits take, and then examines what the Presbyterian and Church of Ireland articles of faith teach about the Roman Catholic Church.

How do we contend for the faith ? Lift up God's Word - expose error - disassociate ourselves from it.