Free Presbyterian Church must be in a low state to wait meekly for permission from Stormont to resume public worship

Churches themselves took the decision to close down public worship.

The question that must be asked of the FPC (and all other denominations that have refused to hold public worship for three months) is did you do so on the basis of an express Biblical warrant?

Was the decision to cease public worship based on a command, principle or precedent in Scripture? If not then this cessation was not justified.

Some may argue that the cessation of public worship was on the basis of health advice and government regulations, that closure was in the interests of public safety.

To argue so is firstly, to place more importance on public safety than public worship.

It reveals how little value is placed on public worship; secondly, it demonstrates a lack of faith in God. Is He not in control of every situation?

The fearful, panicked response of many professing Christians — closing churches, depending on hand sanitisers and face masks — exposes their supposed faith in God as shallow and open to the ridicule of unbelievers.

This reaction arises from shallow and unbiblical theology. The Biblical doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God, that He has ordained whatsoever comes to pass and orders all things for His own glory has been rejected by the modern church in favour of the unbiblical Arminian/dispensational teaching of the free will of man and his own natural ability.

One of the core pillars of this teaching is the rejection of the absolute sovereignty of God in all things.

It teaches man to rely upon himself and his ability, hence in the present situation professing Christians look to face masks etc rather than the God Who is in complete control of their lives and the affairs of the whole world; thirdly, to acknowledge the ability or authority of the state to direct or govern the affairs of the church is to deny the Kingship of Christ over the church.

What a low and miserable state must the church presently be in to be reduced to meekly waiting on the permission of an executive, including a party that is so close to the IRA, in order to resume public worship.

Richard Ferguson, Dollingstown

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