Ecumenical downgrade in Downpatrick – ‘Protestant’ ministers lead prayer event with Rome

An ecumenical prayer event in Downpatrick consumed the efforts of many of the churches in the County Down town last weekend.

Taking in Downpatrick Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church, Downpatrick Presbyterian Church, Downpatrick Methodist Church, Down Cathedral (Church of Ireland) and St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, there was a fairly comprehensive list of clerical compromisers involved.

The so-called Protestant ministers taking part in this compromise are Rev David Steers (although bum steer might be a better description of his ministry, Downpatrick Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church), Rev Owen Patterson (pictured, below, Downpatrick Presbyterian Church), ‘Rev’ Louise Monroe (Downpatrick Methodist Church) and Very Rev Henry Hull (pictured, top, Down Cathedral), together with an emissary of Papal deceit. There are three priests linked with St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in the town, and we are unsure as to which, or how many of them, took part.

The event was orchestrated by Divine Healing Ministries, an ecumenical initiative encompassing the Church of Ireland, Methodist Church and Roman Catholic Church.

Divine Healing Ministries meets weekly in three different Anglican churches in Belfast, including the hub of ecumenism that is St Anne’s Cathedral along with St Finnian’s Church, Cregagh and St George’s Church on High Street, as well as in Shankill Road Methodist and St Peter’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on the hardline Irish republican Falls Road.

It correctly describes itself as interdenominational and the day it organised last week in Downpatrick was billed as being “for people of all Christian traditions”.

It consisted of walking between each of the churches in Downpatrick behind a large wooden cross with “silent prayer and reflection” sessions in each of the five churches.

In each church there was also a short epilogue from a member of the clergy before the “silent prayer and reflection”.

For messages to have been provided in each of the churches throughout the town, there must be nothing in those messages that would contradict the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church or they wouldn’t be taking part.

And when the groups were gathered in each church for the periods of silent prayer, to whom were the prayers being offered? Romanists believe in prayers to Mary and to dead so-called ‘Saints’, yet the Bible knows no such blasphemy. Was one person praying to God beside another praying to Mary or some other long-dead individual, who must not be prayed to? What a dreadful mess.

The Romanist false belief of prayer to Mary has no merit.

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

Indeed, Mary is the same as all other saved sinners, as she herself stated in Luke 1:46-47.

Those verses state: “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

Mary was relying on the same route to heaven as everyone else, placing her faith and trust in God, who she acknowledged as her Saviour.

Therefore the Romish teaching of prayer to Mary is repugnant to the Word of God.

Not that this matters to those ecumenical clerics allowing error to be at best tolerated by allowing such mingling with the deceits of Rome.

These ministers should be sounding the alarm to their congregations to warn them of the spiritual corruption of Rome, not encouraging them to keep company with those who believe that which is outright rejected by God’s Word.

This is a passage we have referred to on several occasions, but it remains most pertinent in the face of continued shameful ecumenical conduct and rejection of God’s Word.

Ezekiel 33:7-9 says: “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

The watchman, or minister, is tasked with warning the people of the danger that lies ahead and to implore them to stay away from that which would be harmful to them.

When a minister is not faithful to do so, they are rightly condemned by God and He says the blood of those they have led astray and failed to protect is on their hands.

A lot of polluted worship was offered up in Downpatrick last Saturday, and God’s words to Jeremiah should give cause for concern to those who lead that worship and those who follow.

Jeremiah the prophet tried to defend the people who were being led improperly by the religious leaders. However, God pointed out that both were guilty of great wickedness for abandoning Him and He pointed out that judgment would come to them both.

Jeremiah 14:12-16: “When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.”

There will be no defence for those who have rejected God. You won’t be able to blame your minister; regardless of how much blood is on their hands, you will have to pay the price for forsaking the Almighty.

Romans 1:18-20: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse”.

Hebrews 2:3: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?”

The blasphemy of female ministers such as ‘Rev’ Sarah Mullally

1 Timothy 2:9-12: “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

It is quite clear that the Bible prohibits the elevation of women into the role of pastors, teachers or other positions of authority in the church.

While this does not preclude women from fulfilling certain roles within the church, such as children’s work, it does mean women ought not to hold office in the church as they are in a position of authority over male adult members of the church.

One must only look at the appointment of the deacons in the Apostolic Church, as detailed in Acts 6:1-5: “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch”.

Note that, not only were seven men chosen, it was strictly stated in advance that only men were to be considered – “look ye out among you seven men of honest report”.

This is quite clearly a God ordained precept and one which ought to be adhered to.

However, over the past number of decades, so-called Protestant churches have opted to ignore the various sections of Scripture pertaining to the role of the woman in the supposed interests of modernity and inclusivity, two dogmas pursued today, even by professing Christians, with far greater zeal than the precepts taught within the Bible.

In fact, so far down the road has this gone, that last year it was reported that more women than men had applied for the ministry in the Church of England.

And it is in that shameful context that we recently saw the appointment of the first ever female Bishop of London, a ‘Rev’ Sarah Mullally (pictured, top).

She is not the first female bishop appointed by the Church of England, indeed this is her second bishopric, but she is by far the most senior woman in the church, and is currently the third most senior figure in the Church of England, behind only the Arch-apostate of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu.

It has been a heady rise for ‘Rev’ Sarah Mullally, she having only quit secular employment in 2004, and it is an indication of the pace with which the apostate Church of England is descending to the gutter that within four and a half years of permitting female bishops, they have one sitting as third in command in the entire church.

In Proverbs 6 we are told of a number of things which the Lord hates and considers an abomination. Verse 18 gives us two of them. They are: “An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief”.

The overthrowing of God’s ordained order is undoubtedly a “wicked imagination” and the Church of England has certainly been “swift in running to mischief” by appointing so many female bishops in such a short space of time.

Women who hold ministerial positions are flagrantly disregarding God’s Word, and it is telling that often they are among the most notorious ecumenists and compromisers in the ordained ministry.

We need only look at the truly disgraceful situation whereby ‘Rev’ Lesley Carroll, an ordained Presbyterian ‘minister’, holds the position of Deputy Chief Commissioner of the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland.

This is the organisation which has brought its repressive, anti-Christian legal action against Asher’s Bakery, simply because the bakery’s Christian owners refused to compromise their own beliefs by icing a cake with a message in support of gay marriage, a practice repugnant to the Word of God and illegal in Northern Ireland.

She has remained silent on the matter throughout the three years or since that matter first came to public attention.

‘Rev’ Lesley Carroll has, however, not remained silent in her ecumenical fervour, it is only when good is being attacked that she holds her tongue.

Another example is ‘Rev’ Christine Bradley, the ‘minister’ of Armagh Road Presbyterian Church in Portadown. She stressed her support in 2015 for gay marriage in the light of the referendum in the Republic of Ireland which favoured legalising that most anti-Christian of acts.

There are many more besides who are to the forefront of ecumenical compromise.

In fact, while researching a couple of months ago an article on the various ecumenical Good Friday walks of witness being held up and down the country, we were struck by the sheer number of women engaging enthusiastically in the apostasy and thus leading their congregations down the same broad road to destruction.

They included ‘Rev’ Anne Tolland of Newtownbreda Presbyterian Church, ‘Rev’ Maureen Hassard of Ballynafeigh Methodist Church, ‘Rev’ Elaine O’Brien of St John’s and St Ninian’s Church of Ireland, Whitehouse, Belfast, ‘Rev’ Liz Hughes of Whitehouse Presbyterian Church, ‘Rev’ Pauline Whan of Greencastle Methodist Church, ‘Rev’ Louise Monroe of Downpatrick Methodist Church and a ‘Sister’ Myrtle Morrison of St Saviour’s Church of Ireland, Craigavon.

Given that men do still significantly outnumber women in the ministry in Northern Ireland, this was a most noteworthy fact.

Also, when you see female ministers, you always notice they have their heads uncovered, unless, of course, they, like ‘Rev’ Sarah Mullally, are bedecked in their elaborate ceremonial garb.

This is despite this once again being part of God’s inspired and inerrant Word.

1 Corinthians 11:3-9: “But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.”

That is pretty clear, isn’t it?

Every woman who attends church without her head suitably covered is acting in open and determined defiance of God and are dishonouring their husband, if they have one, and, most importantly, God, whom they are supposed to be there to worship.

Characters like ‘Rev’ Sarah Mullally are counted among the false prophets warned of in God’s Word. They are those who are described in 2 Timothy 3:5 as “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away”.

And dear reader, if you are in a church which tolerates the presence of women in the pulpit or in positions of authority, we hope and pray that you will “turn away” from such and separate yourselves unto God.

And if there happens to be any women reading this who hold positions of authority or indeed act in a ministerial capacity, we would implore you to consider your ways and examine the Word of God.

While this closing verse may use the male pronoun, it is equally applicable to women.

James 4:17: “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”