On history’s side? I aim to be on eternity’s side

Some elements rose to the fore in our nation’s Parliament this week.

One element was hypocrisy. The Scottish National Party further dishonoured itself in these votes. This party has made great noises in the past about abstaining on all votes that affect other devolved jurisdictions in order to ringfence their own issues. But here there was no such reticence.

Another feature of the debates in Parliament was perversity.

Since the measures passed by Parliament specifically target Ulster, I will respond in true Ulster fashion – by ‘calling a spade a spade’.

Same-sex marriage is perverse. It is a perversion of God’s order, that marriage should only and always be between one man and one woman in a loyal and lifelong union (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:24; Mark 10:6-9).

Abortion is perverse. An allegation recently surfaced that, on the lead up to the recent Irish referendum on abortion, YouTube (owned by Google) “blacklisted” a large number of videos on its platform: ‘abortion is barbaric’, ‘abortion is wrong’, ‘abortion is murdering’.

If this is correct, my phrase (for the purpose of this piece) would also have been blocked: abortion is perverse.

It is not health care, or a woman’s right: it is murder; the unjustifiable, unconscionable, sinful slaughter of the innocent (cf. Psalm 139:13-16; Psalm 127; Job 31:15; Psalm 22:10).

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 dictates that all birds, their nests and eggs are protected by law and it is thus an offence, with certain exceptions, to intentionally kill, injure or take any wild bird, or intentionally take or destroy the egg of any wild bird.

Yet the legislation proposed for Northern Ireland will permit babies to be killed in their mother’s womb, with not the slightest risk of penalty by any authority.

History was made in Parliament this week. I thank God for those who registered their opposition to these assaults on decency and democracy.

Liberals are fond of pulling in the meaningless statement, ‘On the right side of history.’ As history goes in cycles it is pretty impossible to get on the right side of it!

This, of course, is yet another crude cudgel used by the opponents of true righteousness to force silence on anyone who speaks from a conscience educated by God’s Holy Word, the Bible.

Personally, I don’t care about “being on the right side of history.”

Not. At. All.

What I do care about – intensely – is being on the right side in eternity.

It is recorded of our Lord in Matthew 25:32-33 & 46: “Before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”

No doubt the so-called ‘emissaries of equality’ would feel an objection rise within them right here: “How dare God be so partial? How dare He discriminate!”

Whether they like it or not, God will do as He pleases – He is God – and what He does will always be right.

Man may celebrate today as if, in breaking God’s laws, he has shaken off all obligations to his Creator – and does not need to worry about Him being the eventual and eternal Judge of his actions.

Of course man imagined this thousands of years ago, as is detailed in Psalm 2:2-5: “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 3. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5. Then shall He speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.”

Despite the wicked decisions of men, God is on the throne, still. For time – and eternity. Some of the men and women in Parliament today may not live to see these abominations imposed on Northern Ireland – but all will be obliged to give an account to God for desecrating His laws today and heaping further misery and judgment on our nation.

Meantime, let us continue to pray that God’s promise in Isaiah 59:19 will be fulfilled before our eyes: “So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”

~ Rev Ian Brown took over as minister of Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church in east Belfast in 2013 from the Rev Ian Paisley. He was also clerk of presbytery between 2007-2018.