New Wine to continue same old compromise with Romanists and ecumenicals running the show

The annual New Wine Ireland conference, staged each year in Sligo on the west coast of the island, is always a great opportunity for learning – learning from those who serve to harm the cause of Christ in our land, that is.

And, sadly, 2021 looks like it will be no different.

There is a quite staggering line-up of individuals due to speak at the conference this year (Covid depending,  presumably) who are far from suitable individuals from whom to be receiving spiritual teaching.

Not only are there a number of very clear compromisers on the speakers list, but there is also a Roman Catholic monk due to teach those in attendance.

This is very clearly an outrageous situation.

Previous years have seen Romanists including a Paddy Monaghan of the Evangelical Catholic Initiative and a Roman Catholic Bishop speak at the conference, and this year they have a Romanist abbot coming to spread Romanist deceit.

The Papist invited to New Wine is Benedictine monk, Mark Ephrem-Nolan (pictured, below), the leader of the Benedictine Abbey (recently upgraded from a monastery) in Rostrevor in County Down.

That monastery is essentially a monument to ecumenism, indeed ecumenical fellowship is a key selling point for that ungodly facility and one of the main speakers at its official opening in 2004 was former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey.

Indeed Abbot (as his official title is now) Mark-Ephrem Nolan has came to our attention previously, having been invited to preach at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland cathedral in Armagh in an outrageous exhibition of religious compromise.

Whether Rome puts on a friendly ecumenical face or not, and no doubt Mark Ephrem-Nolan is a perfectly amiable chap, their doctrines remain the same.

Rome still teaches the lie of Mary worship, of praying to saints, of purgatory, of papal infallibility, of confession to a priest and of the mass to this very day.

And all these wickednesses are taught and practiced at Mark-Ephrem Nolan’s abbey in County Down.

Indeed, this maintaining of Popish deceit while trying to embrace foolish Protestants is explicitly admitted in work published online by prominent local ecumenical academic Gladys Ganiel.

This can be seen in her essay entitled ‘Christianity as a Vocation: The Rostrevor Benedictines and the Renewal of Faith in Ireland’, which forms part of a wider work called ‘Mining Truths: Festschrift (or collection of writings, in ordinary people’s terms) in Honour of Geraldine Smyth OP – Ecumenical Theologian and Peacebuilder’.

OP, by the way, is a title given to members of the Romanist Dominican order, Geraldine Smyth having been a prominent nun.

In Gladys Ganiel’s essay relating to the Benedictines at Rostrevor, she says: “The specifically ‘Catholic’ aspects of the chapel, such as an icon of Mary and a small tabernacle for storing the Eucharistic elements, are located unobtrusively in a corner at the back of the chapel and to the side of the front platform, respectively.”

So they, and Mark-Ephrem Nolan, aren’t ‘in your face’ about their Popery, but it is still there, they still believe it and they still practice it.

All this makes it more mystifying as to why supposedly God honouring organisers would invite such a character to their conference. Doing so is most certainly not God honouring.

Former minister at the terribly modern Willowfield Parish Church in East Belfast and now Bishop of Down and Dromore, David McClay (pictured, top) leads the way on New Wine.

His former church is part of a link-up of five churches in the east and south Belfast areas, along with Newtownbreda Comedy Club, sorry, Newtownbreda Baptist Church, Corrymeela supporting CFC Belfast, Orangefield Presbyterian Church and Crown Jesus Ministries, led by Keith Mitchell (though he likes to be called ‘Mitch’), who actively promotes fellowship with Rome and teaches salvation can be obtained by taking a booklet.

With those sorts of links having been established, it is scarcely surprising Bishop David McClay is equally undiscerning when it comes to whom he invites to his conference.

Among them is ‘Papist’ Peter Lynas (pictured, above), leading figure in the charismatic, heretic promoting Causeway Coast Vineyard and a man who is utterly wedded to ecumenical compromise.

Rather neatly, he has previously expressed his great admiration for Mark-Ephrem Nolan, saying he was “incredible company” with which to be associated when they appeared on the same bill of speakers for a Church of Ireland clergy conference.

Also taking part in the conference is former Presbyterian Moderator Rev Charles McMullen, a man who has previously refused to condemn sodomy as a sin and who gleefully raced down to Dublin to do obeisance before “that Antichrist”, the Pope during his term as Moderator.

Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, Rev Andrew Forster, is another luminary in the apostate denominations who will be part of this year’s New Wine vintage.

While an Archdeacon in the Diocese of Armagh, he shamefully refused to make any comment or statement in condemnation of one of his colleagues in the diocese, Rev Andrew Rawding, as he so brazenly promoted sodomy by parading in sodomite ‘Pride’ marches and co-founding a sodomite ‘Pride’ group operating in the area where Rev Andrew Forster was ministering.

He is a classic example of a “dumb dog” (Isaiah 56:10) failing to bark to warn the flock of the danger before them.

And another example of someone who is a questionable choice as a spiritual guide, and who the Bible says ought not to have a flock under their charge, is another Anglican ‘minister’, ‘Rev’ Alison Calvin.

Having emphatically put 1 Timothy 2:12 in the bin as she set out on her career path, ‘Rev’ Alison Calvin is the ‘minister’ of Christ Church in Kilkeel, County Down.

Indeed, the speaker list for this year’s conference states that ‘Rev’ Alison Calvin “builds, trains and leads a Prophetic Prayer Team at our Summer Conference”.

Alarm bells ought to be ringing when phrases like “prophetic prayer” are bandied about.

For those wondering what exactly prophetic prayer is, this is how it is described by an Australian practitioner of this unbiblical pursuit called Helen Calder, who runs a website called ‘Enliven Blog’.

“The prophetic aspect of prophetic prayer, is that you can pray with revelation (prophetic insight) given to you by the Holy Spirit.

“The Holy Spirit has revealed something that you would not know by natural means – the Father’s purpose and intent – and that knowledge is assisting your prayer.”

Extra-Biblical revelation, then.

We are reminded of the fact there is no new revelation at the end of the book which goes by that name.

Revelation 22:18-19: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”

Yet here is ‘Rev’ Alison Calvin deciding she knows better than God’s Word. After all, she clearly knows better by pursuing the career she has, so why not again?

This is but a flavour of the individuals who will be put forward as appropriate guides for the people who would hope to be in attendance at this event.

Dear reader, New Wine continues to get up to its same old tricks of putting forward a combination of Romanists, charismaniacs and compromisers and claiming they are messengers of God.

Please warn those you know of the dangers of this conference and indeed the dangers of the speakers being promoted at it.

We must ever be vigilant and alert to those who would do harm to the cause of Christ while claiming to be promoting Him.

Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”

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”.

Romanists and ecumenists are ‘incredible company’ – Evangelical Alliance leader Peter Lynas

Psalm 26:4-5: “I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.”

The leader of the Evangelical Alliance (or perhaps that should be the Evan-jelly-cal Alliance, given its general wobbliness), Peter Lynas, has called a Papist monk and noted ecumenists ‘incredible company’ after speaking at a conference featuring such Bible rejecting characters.

Peter Lynas, who is also a key backer of the ecumenical, charismatic, easy-believist Causeway Coast Vineyard church in Coleraine in County Londonderry, was an invited guest at the annual Clergy Conference of the Church of Ireland’s Down and Dromore Diocese.

Taking to Twitter to highlight how “excited” he was at taking part, Peter Lynas displayed the list of speakers at the conference and it is quite the collection of characters.

There are female ‘ministers’, Canon Christina Baxter, a leading Anglican, and whose most notable printed work is the unequivocally ecumenical ‘Stepping Stones: Joint Essays on Anglican Catholic and Evangelical Unity’, and Dr Heather Morris, the first ever female President of the Methodist Church in Ireland.

Therefore this conference brazenly rejects the Biblical prohibition on female ministers as outlined in 1 Timothy 2:12: “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

It is a topic we previously dealt with in reference to the recent appointment to the position of Bishop of London of a ‘Rev’ Sarah Mullally.

Moving through the list, we next come to the ecumenists.

These include Rev Charles McMullen, the current Moderator of the Presbyterian Church and the man who eagerly sped down the road to Dublin to meet “that man of sin, and son of perdition”, the Pope, during his recent visit to Ireland. Despite his eagerness to do obeisance face to face with “that Antichrist”, the Pope didn’t even see fit to speak to him, thus making Rev Charles McMullen fully aware of how highly he thinks of him.

Then we have Bishop Ken Good (Derry and Raphoe Diocese), a man who delivered what amounted to a love letter to his ecumenical partner in the Londonderry area, Roman Catholic Bishop of the city, Donal McKeown, at a Church of Ireland event back in the summer, during which he highlighted the various ecumenical walks the pair have embarked on together. Indeed, Bishop Donal McKeown pointed out that Bishop Ken Good was the driving force behind this ecumenical conduct.

Adding their name to this august list is a Dr Jasper Rutherford, with a penchant for retweeting Papist priests on his Twitter page, while a Bishop Bill Love from Canada was also on the list, of whom we know very little.

Peter Lynas himself would be added to the list of ecumenists, having firmly established his credentials in that ignoble field.

Not only did he issue a gushing statement praising Billy Graham, the evangelist who steered Roman Catholics concerned about their souls back into the clutches of the Papacy, but he gave enthusiastic backing to the ecumenical ‘Healing The Land’ prayer initiative and he wholeheartedly supported so-called Christians heading down to Rome to meet the Pope.

And his compromise with Popery was cemented further still when he described as ‘incredible company’ those characters mentioned above, but also ‘Father’ Mark-Ephrem Nolan, a Papist Benedictine monk based in Holy Cross monastery in Rostrevor, County Down.

‘Father’ Mark-Ephrem Nolan is an individual we featured last month on this page, looking at his preaching at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland cathedral in Armagh, where he holds the role of an ecumenical canon.

So these are the individuals with whom Peter Lynas has not only chosen to fellowship, but gleefully boast of keeping company with them, extolling them as ‘incredible company’.

We actually agree that it is incredible company to keep, but rather suspect it is not in the same way as he does.

Peter Lynas and many of his acolytes seemed to take great exception to him being given the moniker of ‘Papist Peter’ following his continued exploits with the Roman Catholic Church.

However, he is continuing to link arms with the Papacy and makes no apology for it, instead he is bragging about it online, so it is difficult to see the grounds for such objections – perhaps he and his acolytes just don’t like it being pointed out.

The motivation for Peter Lynas’ constant ecumenism is truly a mystery, but it must be highlighted and condemned.

We are duty bound by God’s Word to do just that.

Ephesians 5:11 says: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”

Jude v 3 says “… ye should earnestly contend for the faith.”

Rome is beyond any shadow of a doubt part of the unfruitful works of darkness.

We have ran through the many errors of Romanism on so many occasions on this blog, yet so many seem to have a tin ear to such warnings, not least, clearly, Peter Lynas.

Here we go again:

Rome teaches of a fictional holding cell between heaven and hell called Purgatory, which has absolutely no basis in Scripture.

Rome teaches of the lies of prayer being offered to saints and to Mary, despite the Bible clearly saying that prayer is to be offered to God and Him alone.

1 Timothy 2:5 says: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Rome teaches of the blasphemy of the Mass, where, according to their abominable rite, Jesus is sacrificed again and again in every Papist chapel in the world, despite the Bible teaching that Jesus’ sacrifice was once and for all.

Hebrews 10:11-12 says: “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.”

Rome teaches the disgraceful doctrine of salvation by sacramental merit, teaching that salvation can be earned, despite the fact the Bible clearly states that we can never earn our salvation.

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.”

These are the scandals of the Roman Catholic Church, which has damned untold millions to hell over the centuries, but Peter Lynas repeatedly chooses to fellowship with that anti-Christian system’s proponents and endorse other professing Christians fellowshipping with Rome.

Such unholy mingling of the seed is doing significant damage to the cause of Christ.

Revival has never came when professing Christians have so wilfully consorted with error.

While Peter Lynas issues very worthy, and indeed, pleasing to the ear of the undiscerning, statements on abortion or the Asher’s Bakery, he is doing no more than agreeing with a multitude of Roman Catholics who hold the same moral viewpoints.

It is when his consistent ecumenism, no more blatant than when he numbers a Romanist priest among his “incredible company”, is considered that we see the dangerous game he is playing.

Peter Lynas has been confronted with the reality of his ecumenical conduct and persisted in it.

Dear reader, don’t follow that example, if you are not separated from the apostasy, the ecumenical movement or the easy-believist movement in our land or wherever you are in the world, please do make the step today and withdraw yourselves from spiritual compromise and error.

Ecclesiastes 8:11-13: “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.”

2 Corinthians 6:17: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you”.

Leading Romanist monk preaches in Armagh Church of Ireland cathedral

St Patrick’s Church of Ireland cathedral in Armagh is one of the main venues for ecumenism in Northern Ireland, and it lived up (or down, perhaps) to its inglorious reputation on Sunday past.

The guest speaker at their service at the weekend was a senior Benedictine monk, who is based at the monastery in Rostrevor, County Down.

‘Father’ Mark-Ephrem Nolan, originally from Belfast, is a leading figure in that monastery, of which one of its key purposes is to promote “reconciliation”, an ecumenical watchword.

This is outlined very clearly by ‘Father’ Mark Ephrem-Nolan, the ‘Superior’ of the Holy Cross Monastery, as it is called, in an article on the ‘Contemporary Christianity’ website.

He highlights in that article how, from its very establishment, the monastery has been a vehicle for ecumenism.

It says: “We celebrated the opening and consecration of our new monastery on the first day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, 18 January, 2004. The liturgical celebrations marking this event gathered together and invited the active participation of Christians from all denominations.”

Speaking at that event was the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, itself a demonstration of despicable ecumenism.

George Carey said: “We want this community to be a vocal witness to the power of God’s love expressed so tangibly in the gospel of peace brought to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What George Carey so brazenly ignores there is that, regardless of whether the intentions of that monastery are good, the root is not in Christ.

The Roman Catholic Church is a pagan corruption of true Christianity.

Furthermore, the gospel of peace in the Bible is not the ignoring of critical theological differences, but rather it is the peace which comes through true salvation, which Rome seeks to rob of all which comes under its influence.

There can be no peace with Rome until Rome makes peace with God, and Rome, despite its honeyed words, has no intention of doing that.

Dear reader, do not be deceived by the soft, friendly approach of ecumenists of all shades. Do not be lured into thinking that all who claim to be Christian are that in reality.

Psalm 55:21: “The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.”

Ecumenists will strive to be all things to all men, but their end destination is the dilution and degradation of the true gospel message of peace with God through the atoning blood of the once for all sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sadly, this ‘Father’ Mark-Ephrem Nolan proudly attests that many so-called Protestants have been sucked in by the deceit of ecumenism, as “50% of those who come for a time of quiet reflection come from the Protestant churches.”

Worse still, he says that “around 90% of the young people who frequent our monastic guesthouse are drawn from the Protestant churches”.

The problem, by his own claims, gets worse as the age drops, and this should be even more concerning as it demonstrates the next generation of so-called Protestants are totally given over to mean compromise with Rome.

They’ll never be able to contend for the true faith when they are linked, arm in arm, with Popery.

‘Father’ Mark-Ephrem Nolan also confirms his entire mission is an ecumenical one.

He says: “Ecumenism is not an activity for our community, but rather underpins our whole way of life.”

And that was surely demonstrated on Sunday past when he sermonised at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland cathedral in Armagh.

‘Father’ Mark-Ephrem Nolan is, in fact, an ecumenical canon at the cathedral, first appointed to the role in 2012, one year after the church changed its rules so as they could let him in.

A Diocesan Ecumenical report from 2012 says: “Provision for two ecumenical canons was included in a new statute governing St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, enacted by the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in 2011.”

This is rather telling; St Patrick’s Church of Ireland cathedral, Armagh, sought to change the rules to fit with their current notions and fancies, but God doesn’t change to suit modern tastes.

Malachi 3:6: “For I am the Lord, I change not”.

Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

The current Dean of Armagh, the Very Rev Gregory Dunstan (pictured, top), is quoted in that same report welcoming his appointment, saying: “In Mark-Ephrem Nolan and Dr Donald Watts (the other appointee), the Archbishop has chosen two distinguished Christians each of whom, through their own particular ministry, have exercised great influence for good in the life of the whole Church in Ireland. I am delighted at their appointment.”

These are very ecumenical words, and shows that Very Rev Gregory Dunstan considers Rome to be part of God’s church, which is a very sad position to take, as Rome denies the key gospel message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone.

Given ‘Father’ Mark-Ephrem Nolan is an ecumenical canon in St Patrick’s, it is unsurprising that this was not his first time preaching there, having preached at the installation of Armagh Presbyterian minister Rev Tony Davidson as an ecumenical canon last year, and no doubt having spoken there on numerous occasions over the five years preceding that.

However, this doesn’t mean we should ignore it, or shrug our shoulders and move on, we ought to continually be in opposition to that which serves to bring dishonour to God, and that is certainly what ecumenism does.

We ought to be separated to Christ if we profess his name, not joining forces with a church which denies his message of salvation by faith alone.

Paul’s determination to please God is a great example for us to follow.

He was able to say in 2 Timothy 4:7: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

Paul kept fighting to the end, he didn’t give up or decide he’d done enough for God, he kept waging the spiritual warfare for as long as God gave him power, and it is the same for us.

We ought not to be weary of well doing.

Look at the reward that awaited Paul in the following verse.

2 Timothy 4:8: “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

Let us too be determined to finish the course and never shrink away from defending and contending for the faith.