Our recent articles exposing the Emmanuel leader Alain Emerson leading an ecumenical meeting in St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Belfast and his endorsement of the utterly unbiblical Taizé worship at that same meeting have received a lot of attention.This has been manifested through incredible numbers of views of those specific articles and numerous messages communicated to us.
We have been very heartened by the level of support we have received for our stance, however, there have been several negative comments too and this is something we feel led to address in a specific post.
All of the complaints are full of the typical response of someone who knows they can’t actually back up their argument with scripture, nor can they say what exactly is incorrect in what we have written.
There is a very good reason for this – it is simply that they cannot. They either know deep down that what is being said is correct or they are so blinded by their own ecumenical desire that they cannot see God hates this mingling of the seed.
A favoured argument is that Jesus would not have been so strong in what He would have said. In our response to a comment from an Anglican called ‘Jono’, we pointed out how Jesus took physical action to rid the temple of its polluters, the money changers. He cast out the money changers, turned over their tables and, we are told in John 2 that he made a “scourge (whip) of small cords”.
Another individual got in contact to say: “I’ve literally never read anything so inaccurate, twisting scripture to their own end and generally missing the point of what Jesus, his message and the cross was all about.”
What we have said that was inaccurate? Did Alain Emerson take a meeting in a Roman Catholic Church? Did he take part in the Taizé worship? He is photographed on the Four Corners Festival Twitter page leading the meeting, the picture of which we have attached just below. So it is demonstrably true, meaning this spurious comment is demonstrably untrue.
As for the scripture, there was no twisting. We looked at the facts of the situation and looked at what the Bible had to say on this matter. Does Simon have any scripture demonstrating how idolatry is good? Or how worshipping with idolaters is good? Jesus dined with sinners, but He didn’t water down his message to please them. Nor did He take part in idolatrous worship practices.
Then there was also a ‘Paul Kissick’, who messaged us within a few minutes of ‘Simon’ (organisation?).
He had this to say: “This is nothing but an attack on a man. Alain Emerson is one of the most humblest (sic) Godly men that is on the planet and this is nothing more than an attack on his character. This whole article is steeped in traditionalism and religion and shows very little of the grace and love and relationships of Jesus Christ our saviour.”
We have no personal issue with Alain Emerson. Nobody involved with Protestant Revival has ever knowingly met him. Had we not been aware of the Four Corners Festival and its events, we would have not even been aware of his particular activities. It didn’t matter which so-called evangelical Christian leader would have taken that meeting, the message would have been exactly the same.
The fact remains that Alain Emerson is guilty of a serious misjudgement at best; one which is highly dangerous as it helps to give credence to the Church of Rome, an anti-Christian, pagan organisation. It also could give the Emmanuel’s adherents reason, wrongly, to think that religious association with Rome is acceptable. This is wrong, the Bible says to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ephesians 5:11).
As for the traditionalism and religion comments, we’re not overly sure what he means. Does Paul Kissick disapprove of traditional Biblical Christianity? It was traditional Biblical Christianity which God rewarded in the Reformation, the 1859 Revival in Ulster, in the days of WP Nicholson and in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in Ulster through Ian Paisley.
The name of this blog neatly fits in with our desire – to see a Protestant Revival, for Protestantism is true Biblical Christianity. Revival won’t come through mean compromise with Rome, with its corrupt gospel of works. Revival can only come through faithfulness to all of God’s Word, not just the pleasant on the ears bits like “love thy neighbour” or “God is love”, that our commenters seem to favour.
While those parts are important, one needs to remember that God is a God of justice and is far from the Santa Claus in the clouds idea many so-called Christians seem to envisage. We are told in Nahum 1:3 that the Lord “will not at all acquit the wicked”.
Perhaps the modernist would shriek with great discomfort if they read Revelation 6:10-11. These verses speak of those martyred for Christ who want to see the culprits brought to justice. They say: “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”
God did not rebuke them for wanting their blood to be avenged, he just let them know gently the time would come, but just not yet.
It would appear that these commenters would have liked us to have said nothing and let Alain Emerson get on with his ecumenical activities. However, this is not an option.
Isaiah was told that in Isaiah 58:1 and it is an example for us to follow. It says: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”
Not one verse of scripture was offered up in support of the position of our detractors, and we would advise them to consult the Bible to see if God’s approval would be on the meeting Alain Emerson led in St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church. We would also advise them to ask Alain Emerson if he believes the venue and worship style employed at that meeting was pleasing to God.
There would be those who say this was an outreach to Roman Catholics. Did Alain Emerson clearly present the gospel of Christ? Did he say that Rome leads sinners straight to hell, whilst extracting as much money from them as possible en route? Did he say that salvation was by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone? Had he done so, he would have been out on his ear so fast it would have made his head spin. He wouldn’t have been receiving favourable tweets from the Jesuit priest who co-organised the event, a ‘Father’ Magill.
The Bible offers the route to revival. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we read: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Our land will not be healed by ecumenical talking shops and non-aggression pacts between supposedly Bible believing Protestant churches and the deceit of the Roman Catholic Church.
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