Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 22 November, 2015
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind …” (Rom. 12:2)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
The Interlude and the Seventh Trumpet (4)
The Forty-Two Months of the Temple and the City [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Revelation 10:8-11:13
Text: Revelation 11:1-2
I. The Forty-Two Months
II. The Measured Temple
III. The Trampled City
Psalms: 139:1-10; 119:33-40; 37:7-23; 125:1-5
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Seeing God Through an Image [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 40:12-31
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 35
I. No
II. Yes
Psalms: 8:1-9; 119:41-48; 73:16-23; 115:1-11
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: https://cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quotes to Consider
Herman Hoeksema on Revelation 11:1-2: “The text tells us that there are in the bosom of Christianity the false church, the show-church, and the true church. Hence, we must never expect that all Christianity is Israel in the true sense of the word. In the end many shall fall away openly and shall identify themselves with the false church, from which Antichrist shall come. But at the same time, the true children of God must not be afraid, neither be amazed. If they should find that in the end many should fall away from the church, from the holy city, nay, from the temple proper, and add themselves to Antichrist, they must not fear. For all these things must needs come to pass. Christ rules!” (Behold He Cometh, p. 373).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
The November issue of the Covenant Reformed News is on the back table.
Monday evening’s Catechism classes:
5:45 PM – Taylor, Josh, Corey, Bradley & Samuel (Beginners OT, book 2)
6:30 PM – Alex & Nathan (Seniors OT)
7:15 PM – Jacob, Joseph & Chris (Heidelberg Catechism, book1)
The Tuesday Bible study meets at 11 AM to study kingship in Hosea.
The Belgic Confession Class will meet this week Wednesday at 7:45 PM to study the visible church’s unity in connection with Article 27.
Men’s Bible Study meets this Saturday at 8 PM at the Kennedys to study Respectable Sins, chapters 14-16 on “Irritability and Anger.”
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is entitled “Remembering the Spoken Word” (Jude 17-19).
Our church visitors, Rev. Nathan Decker and Elder Pete VanderSchaaf, will be here the second week in January. Rev. Decker will give a lecture on Wednesday, 13 January, on “God’s Beautiful Covenant of Grace” at the CPRC at 7:30 PM.
The congregational dinner is planned for Friday, 15 January, at the Ramble Inn.
S. Wales Lecture: Rev. Stewart will give a lecture on “Our Identity in Christ” in Port Talbot, S. Wales, at 7:15 PM on Thursday, 28 January.
Offerings: General Fund: £1024.40.
Website Additions: 1 Indonesian, 1 Nepali (Heidelberg Catechism) and 3 Hungarian translations.
PRC News: Rev. Jon Mahtani (Cornerstone, IN) is in the Philippines until 30 November helping Rev. Daniel Kleyn.
Redefining Humanity (2)
Rev. Angus Stewart
(The letter as sent to the Belfast Telegraph;
the words in italics they omitted)
Whereas on-line detractors of my letter (9 Nov.) vehemently denied that relatively recently in the West there has been a redefinition of humanity (as higher animals), persons (with unborn babies being non-persons), marriage (as including two men or two women), love (toleration, then approval and now celebration of sin, especially sexual sin) and “bigot” (one who challenges liberal redefinitions), Brian McClinton boasts of these things as “progress” (11 Nov.)!
What else constitutes “progress” and where is it headed next? Currently, the fashionable cause is transgenderism, so male and female, he and she, brother and sister, nephew and niece, uncle and aunt, father and mother, family, etc., are being redefined.
What about the “rights” of a bisexual man or woman to marry two people: someone of the same gender and someone of a different gender? Is “marriage equality” to be denied them? How about bisexual marriage for transgenders? What does adultery or incest mean in a world of gender and marital redefinition?
Moreover, what is wrong with bestiality, if we are defined as animals too? After all, is not “tolerance” continually being proclaimed to us as the chief virtue? The refrain of the day is: Who are we to judge?
Brian reckons that “in many respects ‘love’ has increased.” But the issue is not mathematical, about “more” love, but about its unlawful objects, which reveal the nature of such “love” as “inordinate” affections. Sexual “love” for someone else’s spouse or fetishes or someone of the same gender or minors or animals, etc., is sinful lust.
We are dealing here not with the moral progress, but with the degradation of mankind, which fits with Brian’s statement that “we were ‘humans’”—note the past tense!
Brian also proves my point regarding the parallel redefinitions of both God and man: “Surely a loving God would be pleased by these redefinitions [of humanity]?” This is the new politically correct god dreamt up by evolving animals who used to be humans to try to make themselves feel better about their redefined selves.
Rev. Angus Stewart
Covenant Protestant Reformed Church, Ballymena
