From the September-December 2011 Issue
NOTES FROM NORTHERN IRELAND
Tom McKendry
Ireland – one island, two countries. Once described as “the land of saints and scholars”, it is also known as the home of Saint Patrick, of whom a great deal has been said and written, yet of whom so little is really known – the only source document being his evangelical confession. The beauty of the natural landscape and the friendliness of the people have also contributed to the credit we receive. The last hundred or so years of Irish history are somewhat better known, sadly for all the wrong reasons.
What is less well known, however, is that per head of population Northern Ireland has the largest evangelical constituency in Europe. Northern Ireland has been greatly favoured by God with saving mercy extended to so many, yet the influence of Christian witness has not been as one might expect. Growth in church membership is generally falling. The zeal of former days is very little in evidence. The fear and love of God that once generally pervaded our society has been replaced by a general apathy, and even hostility on the part of an increasing number.
Opinions as to why this is the case are many, varied, and at times even weird. One clear reason for this is the obsession that so many have with nostalgia – a nostalgia that looks at the past through rose-tinted glasses to see it as a golden age that has been lost to the advance of an aggressive secularism. The idea that many have imbibed is that secularism is a new phenomenon, at least new in the last thirty or so years. Where such an alien notion ever came from is really anyone’s guess. It certainly is not found in Scripture, for Scripture pictures man as a secular being, and that by his fall from his original innocence. The language of Scripture is unambiguous concerning the fallen state of every human being. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23); “There is none righteous, no not one…” (Romans 3:10).
But what was it that sin created in man himself? We know that it created the principle of death, both spiritual and physical. We know that man is cut off from God with no rightful claim to mercy or favour of any kind. But what is it that sin has made us? The answer is that man is a vacuum with an insatiable desire for fulfilment. A passing glance at the text of Genesis chapter three gives abundant evidence that Satan’s great objective in the original temptation was to create man after his own image. Satan’s own downfall was his desire for the very throne of God. In other words, he desired to be more than the anointed cherub, the wisest of God’s creation. He wanted Godhood. The original temptation of man bore all the marks of Satan’s own original desire for sovereignty. Adam and Eve had everything that God desired for them in the Garden of Eden, but the temptation offered them more. The result of acceptance of the devil’s lie was the loss of the divine presence and everything else that attends in a perfect world. In the world as it is now, fallen man is driven to live in pursuit of that which he can never achieve – contentment, fulfilment and peace. MORE is the great universal mantra of man. He pursues the wind, impervious of the whirlwind of judgement that is coming, indeed has even begun.
Our prosperous society now qualifies as incurably secular, so we are being told, but has this not always been the case? Thus having been desensitised and made numb to all except personal self gratification, godlessness advances unchecked, but what has changed? Has God become so weakened by time and the increase of human pressure upon Him that he can no longer cope with the twenty-first century influences of a world He can no longer control? What must be done for the people of God to influence the world as once they did? What was the strength of former generations who witnessed God’s power demonstrated in ways that we can only now dream of? There must be a renewed vision of God and what He has revealed Himself to be, the God who never changes, whose immensity the universe cannot contain.
There is a need as never before to see God as He has revealed Himself; and a conscious effort made to cease trying to repackage Him to accommodate the mind of the natural man who has no native relish for Him. The people of God need so desperately to worship the revelation that God has given. What is the role of the people of God in a fallen world if not to glorify God and enjoy Him forever? We have none. We are the supreme irrelevancy. But if we take this great confessional definition as being the end for which we exist, then we become supremely relevant.
What of Christians in Northern Ireland living with godlessness all around us? The true people of God must take heart that while there is a very significant falling away in terms of honest Bible believing and honourable Bible living, God has not lost His almighty hold upon that which He has purchased by the blood of His dear Son. In Israel of old there was a time when the great Elijah thought all was lost, but there were seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal. There are more than seven thousand true saints in Northern Ireland who worship the God of Elijah. Neither Europe nor the world look to Northern Ireland for what they so desperately need, and who but knows that we have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this. Let it be remembered that with such privilege as has been ours comes responsibility, which if neglected will mean the loss of our Gospel liberty that has been so dearly purchased. Freefall and meltdown are terms which are becoming all too common in the context of the Christian Church in Northern Ireland. Maybe the day when such terms will represent our situation is not far off, but they do not rightly describe our situation yet. My present work with EMF allows me the privilege to visit so many true churches of Christ and to experience first-hand groups of true saints who are seeking to uphold the Saviour’s cause. This work for the most part is being undertaken by the older generation, but there are some young men and women who are taking their Christianity seriously to carry the Gospel testimony to their own generation and beyond. It would be so easy to allow the knowledge that God is working in other places to justify a spirit of ease. We just cannot allow this to happen, for if the work at home diminishes, the work in other places where missionaries look to us for support will suffer in turn. So let the people of God do what God requires of us. Let the Word of God be preached. Let Gospel living bear its own testimony of its heavenly origin, and let us desist from trying to create anything false concerning God in order to make Him appealing to a godless world. He does not need human help of any kind in order to fulfil His objective. He is all-sufficient. He is self-sufficient. He is God.