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.”