Diocese of Down and Dromore

Great ‘evangelical’ Bishop Harold Miller praised for being ‘unswerving ecumenist’ by his Archbishop

Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

There is a bizarre perception which appears to have built up that Bishop Harold Miller, the recently retired Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Dromore, is a true ‘evangelical’.

His opposition to same-sex marriage and attendance at the supposedly conservative Anglican movement, GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference), seems to have been enough to see him carve out an ill-deserved reputation as an ‘evangelical’.

It would appear that by simply saying sodomites should not marry and babies ought not to be massacred in the womb you obtain such a reputation.

Certainly, it is good that anyone should hold to these views (though any Anglican cleric opposed to sodomite marriage would probably be in need of some smelling salts to revive them were anyone to use the Biblical word, ‘sodomite’ in their presence) but all it proves is they aren’t a complete reprobate.

This is a general observation we made back in January when highlighting Bishop Harold Miller’s disgraceful addressing of a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service in Bangor.

And further evidence, were it needed, of his utterly unscriptural and dreadfully misjudged compromise with Rome has been offered in the hearty tributes paid to him by his Archbishop, the Most Ecumenical (though he, presumably, prefers Most Reverend) Richard Clarke.

Paying tribute in a statement, which is on the Church of Ireland website, Most Ecumenical Richard Clarke (pictured, above) said: “I would thank him for his wonderful contribution to the life of the Church of Ireland, both in his priestly ministry, and as Bishop of Down and Dromore over the past 22 and a half years.

“Bishop Harold has never “held back”, whether in terms of commitment, energy, enthusiasm or creativity.

“A fine liturgist and an unswerving ecumenist, he has given great service to the Church of Ireland, and for this we must indeed thank God.”

So there you go, the great ‘evangelical’ Bishop Harold Miller is in fact, as vouched for by his senior colleague, an “unswerving ecumenist”.

Certainly, given he himself is an experienced and determined compromiser with the pagan corruption of true Christianity that is Rome, Most Ecumenical Richard Clarke would know what an ecumenist looks like when he sees one.

Further evidence of this “unswerving” ecumenism can actually be seen by the second most recent post on Bishop Harold Miller’s Twitter page from 13 August, in which he has retweeted a post by the Benedictine Monks based in Rostrevor, County Down.

A brief scroll further down his Twitter page shows that on 26 March this year he congratulated a Papist monk, Mark Ephrem-Nolan, on becoming the leader of that same order of monks in Rostrevor, describing him as a “great friend and Christian brother”. The tweet is pictured, below.

How can a Romanist monk be described by any true evangelical as their “Christian brother”?

Rome and its adherents deny the Christian gospel message of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone which the Bible teaches.

It denies that the blood of Christ is all-sufficient for salvation. This is a totally unChristian religion.

So if Bishop Harold Miller considers a Romanist monk his spiritual “brother”, one must wonder what he truly believes.

He is certainly not being faithful to God’s Word in so doing and, given evangelicals are supposed to emphasise the crucial role of Scripture, he is very clearly showing himself to be anything but an evangelical.

A true evangelical would act the evangelist when confronted with someone like Mark Ephrem-Nolan.

Agents of Rome who teach its false doctrines of salvation by works, Purgatory, Mary worship, prayers to saints, idolatry and prayers for the dead, among many others, need to be saved, they need to be evangelised.

By calling Mark Ephrem-Nolan a “Christian brother”, Bishop Harold Miller is saying that such people do not need to be evangelised.

And that, dear reader, is a Christ- dishonouring disgrace.

Bishop Harold Miller has chosen to flatter the likes of Mark Ephrem-Nolan and many other Romanists into hell rather than implore them to turn from the hellish deceits of Rome and place their faith and trust in Christ alone for salvation.

We are clearly shown in the Scriptures that salvation is not of our own works or efforts.

The verses at the top of this article are ones which Bishop Harold Miller should be quoting to the likes of Mark Ephrem-Nolan.

Here are some more from God’s inerrant and inspired Word.

Titus 3:5-7 says: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Romans 4:16, 20-25 says: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”

The righteousness of Christ is imputed, or assigned, to us by grace through faith in Him.

It doesn’t come by being raised in the church or through baptism or through paying your way or attending Mass every day or saying ‘Hail Marys’, it is by placing your faith alone in Christ.

Rome teaches that our original sin, the sinful nature we are all born with through Adam, is washed away at baptism.

This is a filthy lie.

Rome’s catechism says this: “Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ’s grace, erases original sin”.

They claim sins are cleansed by the sprinkling of water, however, sin cannot be cleansed except through the blood of Christ.

Hebrews 9:22 says that “without shedding of blood is no remission”.

Let’s repeat that – there is “no remission” to be had for sin “without shedding of blood”.

It doesn’t say that some remission can be had through other means, it doesn’t say that water can be used to clear away some sins, it says that “without shedding of blood is no remission”.

That chapter continues and puts the lie to the blasphemous continual sacrificing of Christ through the Mass.

Hebrews 9:24-26, 28: “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

We are told Christ does not “offer himself often”, but rather “once… hath he appeared to put away sin by sacrifice of himself” and “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many”.

This is repeated again and again for our clarity, yet Rome refuses to accept this crystal clear exposition of how we can be saved.

Mark Ephrem-Nolan is a promoter of this devilish doctrine, but Bishop Harold Miller, the “unswerving ecumenist”, considers him a “Christian brother”.

If this is the conservative wing of the Church of Ireland, then that truly shows the utterly apostate nature of that church.

We quite purposely omitted a verse from the close of Hebrews 9 above, and we will finish this post by highlighting it.

Hebrews 9:27 says: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”.

We will all die unless Christ returns first, whether we attend a Protestant church, a Roman Catholic church or follow another faith or none.

More than that, we will all be judged.

Revelation 20:11-15: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Are you ready to meet God and be judged by Him?

Will your name be found in the book of life? Or will your name be absent and you will instead be “cast into the lake of fire”?

Hell is a real place, hell is a dreadful place, hell is forever – will you spend all eternity there or will you come to Christ for salvation?

Acts 16:31 states clearly: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.

If you are saved, will you warn others who are unsaved, whether they be Roman Catholic, so-called Protestant or whatever, that they face an eternity in hell if they are not saved?

Or will you follow the example of Bishop Harold Miller and flatter those believing in a false hope of salvation into that awful place called hell?

We pray that you will be a true evangelical and seek to see poor deluded Roman Catholics saved from their false religion.

Mark 16:15: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel”.

So-called ‘evangelical’ Bishop Harold Miller promotes unity with Rome

Isaiah 29:13: “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men”.

Every year in the latter part of January, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes centre stage in many of the ecumenical churches, and 2019 was no different.

Indeed, it was the subject of one of the first posts mounted on this page last year and, sadly, once again this year we have the sad duty of documenting the wretched compromise carried out in the name of ‘unity’ in many of the churches up and down our land.

We are aware of at least eight ecumenical events which took place in Northern Ireland throughout the week, though it is more than likely there were more.

We would certainly encourage any readers who were aware of other events to get in contact with us to allow this compromise to be brought to a larger audience.

The towns (and cities) throughout our land of which we are aware holding such services are Coleraine (County Londonderry), Ballycastle, Belfast (County Antrim), Dungannon (County Tyrone), Lurgan, Armagh (County Armagh), Enniskillen (County Fermanagh) and Bangor (County Down).

That means in every county of our country there was so-called Protestant clerics either speaking at or promoting religious mingling with the errors and deceits of Rome.

This demonstrates how widespread the religious deception and delusion is in our country.

And part of that deception is caused by those who give some sort of an impression to others that they hold to a more traditional and orthodox view and theology.

This is where a great deal of spiritual discernment is needed and must be sought by Christians.

There is an old saying that ‘if you get a name for rising early you can lie all day’ and that appears to be the case with many church leaders in our country.

Too many today seem to think the acid test of orthodoxy is simply saying you are opposed to abortion and same sex marriage, but holding to those views simply means you are not a complete reprobate on moral matters.

Religious purity ought to be a precious commodity sought diligently by all who claim the name of Christ.

However, this is not valued by a significant percentage of today’s church.

And one such man who has somehow managed to carve out a reputation of being an ‘evangelical’ is the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Dromore, Harold Miller (pictured, top), who was the preacher at one such Week of Prayer for Christian Unity event last week.

In days of yore the term evangelical may have meant more but in recent decades that term has been hijacked by many clerical compromisers seeking a greater level of orthodoxy being attributed to them.

The late Rev Ian Paisley talked about evangelicals ‘with the emphasis on the jelly’ and certainly we can see the term evangelical being distorted and corrupted by many who adopt that banner.

Indeed, Bishop Harold Miller was one of two Anglican bishops from Ireland who attended the much vaunted GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference), a supposedly conservative Anglican gathering concerned with the worst excesses of the foul departure from God practiced by much of the global Anglican movement.

Were someone such a conservative, they would be much better separating from the Anglican church, which is the Biblical approach.

One must only look at the example of Paul when he was in Corinth to see how separation is a proper response to those who refuse to follow God’s Word.

Acts 19:8-9: “And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.”

When there were those who spake evil of the gospel and denied and rejected it, and indeed slandered its proponents and adherents, Paul separated and brought the faithful followers of Jesus with him.

He didn’t tell them to stay in the synagogue and try to win round those who refused to obey God, he brought them out and they formed their own church in Corinth.

And indeed it was to the church in Corinth that Paul, under the inspiration of God, penned those famous words in 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Come out from among them, and be ye separate…”

Yet this ‘conservative’, ‘evangelical’ Bishop Harold Miller remains in the Church of Ireland in his very prominent, and no doubt rather generously remunerated role.

And last Sunday, 20 January, Bishop Harold Miller was the preacher at a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity service in First Presbyterian Church in Bangor.

The event was advertised in the Bangor Roman Catholic parish bulletin and clearly demonstrates the ecumenical nature of the meeting.

How does Bishop Harold Miller square his supposed evangelical credentials with ecumenical compromise with Rome?

Why does Bishop Harold Miller choose to align himself with an event with a stated aim of unity with Rome?

What does Bishop Harold Miller think of the 39 Articles he is supposed to stand for as a minister of the Church of Ireland? Does he believe them? Or has he rejected them?

It would certainly appear he has indeed rejected them.

Article 11, relating to the justification of man, says this: “We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings.”

Rome outright denies this, proclaiming its anathema, or curse, on any who holds to the Biblical doctrine of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone.

So why is Bishop Harold Miller promoting unity with Rome? Does he believe man can be justified by works? The Bible makes clear that is resolutely not the case.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Bishop Harold Miller would also do well to reread Article 31, which states: “The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin, but that alone.

“Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses, in the which it was commonly said, that the Priest did offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits.”

So Bishop Harold Miller, who is supposed to adhere to the 39 Articles of his faith, is rejecting that very church’s teachings in relation to the central act of worship in the Roman Catholic Church.

Why does Bishop Harold Miller want to promote unity with those who teach “blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits”? And if Bishop Harold Miller doesn’t believe the 39 Articles, then why is he holding such high episcopal office, or indeed any episcopal office?

Dear reader, don’t just take what spiritual leaders say for granted, but rather follow the Biblical model and test out these characters before deciding whether they are worthy of taking heed of.

1 John 4:1 says: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”