Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
Bookmark and Share

Covenant Protestant Reformed Church

83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 24 December, 2017

“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 - Rev. M. McGeown

Jonathan: David’s Covenant Friend (7)
Jonathan Helps David Flee from Saul  [download]  [youtube]

Scripture Reading: I Samuel 20:1-42
Text: I Samuel 20:24-42

I. A Courageous Intervention
II. A Painful Confrontation
III. An Emotional Parting
Psalms: 103:1-7; 62:1-6; 119:57-64; 27:9-14

Evening Service - 6:00 PM - Rev. M. McGeown

Preparatory
Keeping Our Heart  [download]  [youtube]

Scripture Reading: Proverbs 4
Text: Proverbs 4:23

I. What?
II. Why?
III. How?
Psalms: 15:1-5; 62:7-12; 141:1-5; 101:1-8

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: www.cprf.co.uk/live.html
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC

Quotes to Consider

Charles Bridges: “Watch unto prayer. Cherish a humble dependent spirit. Live in the atmosphere of the Word of God. Resist the admittance of an evil world, even in its most plausible forms … Here Satan keeps—here, therefore, must we keep—special watch. If the citadel be taken, the whole town must surrender. If the heart be seized, the whole man—the affections, desires, motives, pursuits—all will be yielded up. The heart is the vital part of the body. A wound here is instant death. Thus—spiritually as well as naturally—out of the heart are the issues of life. It is the great vital spring of the soul, the fountain of actions, the centre and the seat of principle, both of sin and holiness” (Proverbs, p. 53).

Announcements (subject to God’s will)

We welcome Rev. McGeown who will be preaching for us today. Rev. Stewart is in the Limerick Reformed Fellowship.

This evening is preparatory for the Lord’s Supper next Sunday morning.

On the back table are letters to the PRC from Rev. McGeown and Rev. Stewart, plus Bible reading programmes for 2018. The programme is the same as last year’s with a few minor changes. There are 1-page versions or large print 3-page versions.

Monday catechism classes: There will be no catechism on 25 December and 1 January.

Tuesday Bible Study does not meet this week but resumes on 2 January at 11 AM to study the Feast of Tabernacles in the land of Canaan.

Belgic Confession Class will not meet this Wednesday but it will be held on 3 January at 7:45 PM as we continue our study of baptism.

Men’s Bible Study meets this Saturday, 30 December, at 8 PM at the Kennedys to discuss chapter 13, “Choosing Your Words,” from the book War of Words.

The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Bruinsma is “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22).

Rev. Martyn McGeown (via phone link) is to discuss his book, Called to Watch for Christ’s Return, on “Iron Sharpens Iron” Radio in Pennsylvania on Friday, 5 January from 4-6 PM Eastern Time (US), which is 9-11 PM in the British Isles.

The church visitors, Rev. Decker and Sid Miedema, will be in N. Ireland from Thursday 18 January to the morning of Thursday 25 January. They will be with the LRF from 25-29 January.

The congregational dinner will be held on Friday, 19 January, at Ross Park Hotel. Sign-up sheets are on the back table.

CPRC Lecture: Rev. Decker is planning to give a lecture on “Living Wisely in a Digital Age” on Wednesday, 24 January, at 7:45 PM.

Offerings: General Fund: £785.90.

PRC News: Southwest PRC called Candidate Noorman.


The Voice of the Enemy (1)

Brian D. Dykstra

 

“Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually” (Psalm 74:23).

The wars, possibilities of future conflicts, hurricanes and earthquakes of which we have read in the news bear testimony that Christ is returning. It is not as often, however, that we can read of the growth of man’s arrogance in his way of sin and his disdain for anything having to do with God and His Word. Yet, the voice of God’s enemies is increasing continually.

The Journal of Religion and Society recently published a study done by Gregory S. Paul. Mr. Paul is known as a leading international expert on dinosaur paleontology, but he turned his research abilities to the area of social science for a recent study. Mr. Paul investigated the belief that religion is of benefit to society. He writes,

As he helped initiate the American experiment Benjamin Franklin stated that “religion will be a powerful regulator of our actions, give us peace and tranquility within our minds, and render us benevolent, useful and beneficial to others.” When the theory of biological evolution removed the need for a supernatural creator concerns immediately arose over the societal implications of widespread abandonment of faith. In 1880 the religious moralist Dostoyevsky penned the famous warning that “if God does not exist, then everything is permissible.”

Mr. Paul’s study intends to investigate the relationship between society’s overall level of belief in a supernatural power and problems in society. By employing scientific research methods Mr. Paul comes to the conclusion that higher rates of belief correspond with higher levels of social problems while nations in which levels of belief are the lowest, are the nations which demonstrate the highest levels of societal health. Mr. Paul claims that this would not be true if believing in God were beneficial to society. He concludes,

If the data showed that the U.S. enjoyed higher rates of societal health than the more secular, pro-evolution democracies, then the opinion that popular belief in a creator is strongly beneficial to national cultures would be supported. Although they are by no means utopias, the populations of secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data examined in this study demonstrates that only the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical “cultures of life” that feature low rates of lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developed democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards.

That is Mr. Paul’s conclusion. Belief in God is bad. Society is better off when there are fewer people who believe in God.

Mr. Paul’s study caught the attention of Andy Clark, host of “Amsterdam Forum,” an hour long shortwave radio program broadcasted by Radio Netherlands Worldwide. The printable on-line version of this broadcast begins:

Is having God on your side always advantageous? Well, a new study from the US says not necessarily so. The broad ranging study compares data from 18 developed democracies and it shows societies with higher levels of belief also have higher levels of societal dysfunction. The US was the most religious country in the study, with around 90 percent of people believing in a higher power, and it also showed the highest murder rates, highest levels of child mortality and highest levels of sexually transmitted disease and teenage pregnancy. An expert panel joined Amsterdam Forum this week to tackle the question: “Is religion bad for society?”

The panelists included Gregory Paul, and Peter Derkx, professor of Humanism and Worldview at the University for Humanistics in Utrecht. The paper includes a few key quotations from the discussion:

Peter Derkx: “I don’t think religion in itself is the problem. I think a particular type of religion is the problem and I would say an absolute belief in God is closer to what I think is a problem. I think that God as an authority figure causes people not to think for themselves critically and rationally and intelligently, and I think it’s very important when people meet problems in life that they think about what they want and what the best thing to do is, etcetera, instead of looking to some authority figure who tells the[m] what to do.”
Gregory Paul: “The Bible is whatever you want to make it, there are passages where God orders his followers to kill children, to mass murder children—this happens repeatedly. We need to start looking at whether the Bible is really a good moral guide. It’s a very dark book, in many ways, written by ancient tribal peoples, who in many regards didn’t know any better. This may be one of the reasons why the United States, which is more Bible-based than any other developed democracy, is suffering from some [sic] many societal problems.”

... to be continued