Covenant Protestant Reformed Fellowship
Ballymena
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 28 May, 2006
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light
(I Peter 2:9)
Morning Service - 11:00 AM
Christ's Melchizedekian Priesthood (2)
The Greatness of Melchizedek
Hebrews 7:4-10
I. He Received Tithes From Abraham
II. He Blessed Abraham
Psalms: 118:1-9; 45:13-17; 33:12-20; 75:1-8
Evening
Service - 6:00 PM
Bringing Our Little Children to Jesus
Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 26; Mark 10:13-16
I. What it Means
II. What is its Ground
III. What it Illustrates
Psalms: 71:1-8; 46:1-6; 103:13-19; 105:5-10
For audio
cassettes of the worship services, contact the bookstore.
CPRF website: www.cprf.co.uk
Quotes to Consider:
John Owen: And these things, whatsoever sense we now have of them, were those on which the salvation or damnation of these Hebrews did absolutely depend. For unless they were prevailed on to forego that priesthood which was now abolished, and to betake themselves alone unto that more excellent one which was then introduced, they must unavoidably perish; as, accordingly, on this very account it fell out with the generality of that people, their posterity persisting in the same unbelief unto this day. And that which God made the crisis of the life or death of that church and people, ought to be diligently weighed and considered by us ... And God in like manner doth oftentimes single out especial truths for the trial of the faith and obedience of the church in especial seasons. And when he doth so, there is ever after an especial veneration due unto them" (Hebrews, vol. 5, p. 363).
F. S. Sampson: "Abraham was truly the covenant-head of his posterity in the line of Isaac and Jacob, in whose descendants the promises made to him were fulfilled. It was in virtue of this covenant with Abraham, that the Jews inherited their distinguished privileges as a nation ... which brought them into the relation of a ‘peculiar people’ to Jehovah; and hence, in his patriarchal character and acts, he stood forth as the representative or federal head of the nation, so far as all the promises, privileges, and institutions of the Judaical were concerned. He was both their natural progenitor and their covenant-head, by the appointment of God ... Therefore, when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek as a priest of the most High God, and received a blessing from him, it was a historical fact intentionally introduced by God’s providence, with a view to its becoming a feature of the type (so to speak) which Melchizedek, in his history and functions, was foreordained to present, of the supreme and eternal High Priest."
Announcements (subject to God’s will):
The May issue of the Covenant Reformed News is on the back table today.
Bob Wendrich was hospitalised briefly this past week due to dehydration as the result of a virus. Please keep Bob in your prayers.
Thank you to all who helped with and visited the stall at the Ballymena Agricultural Show yesterday.
Membership Class meets this Tuesday at 6:30 PM at the Murrays.
This week Friday, Rev. Stewart will give a lecture, "Miracles & the End of the World," at 7:30 PM in Mountjoy Orange Hall near Omagh.
The Reformed Witness Hour next Lord’s Day, 4 June (8:30-9:00 AM, on Gospel 846MW) is entitled "So I Prayed and Said ..." (Nehemiah 2:1-10).
A second offering next Sunday AM will be taken for our building fund.
Upcoming Lectures: "The 2 Witnesses of Revelation 11," S. Wales, Fri., 23 June.
Last Week’s Offerings: General Fund - £798.50. Donations: £40 (C. R. News).
Ballymena Times - Wednesday, 24 May 2006
DA VINCI CODE IS NONSENSE - STEWART
In the DVC, Jesus married Mary Magdalene (a descendant of
King Saul!) and fathered a daughter, Sarah, from whom sprang
the Merovingians, a medieval French royal dynasty, and
ultimately Sophie Neveu, the book’s heroine. Christ intended
Mary Magdalene to be the head of His church after His
crucifixion. The sacred feminine, Mary Magdalene—her bones
and secret documents—is the Holy Grail!
In support of this world of virtual reality, the DVC
contains numerous, gross historical blunders concerning the
Dead Sea Scrolls (p. 317), Nag Hammadi (p. 317), the New
Testament canon, the early church, Constantine, the Council
of Nicea, the Lord’s Day (pp. 314-315), the origin of the
word "heretic" (p. 317), etc.
Instead of the four biblical gospel accounts, the DVC would
substitute the Gnostic gospels which are fragmentary, much
later, largely disinterested in events in Christ’s life and
often bizarre (e.g., "every woman who will make herself male
will enter the kingdom of heaven;" Gospel of Thomas 114).
The Gnostics were dualists, believing the spirit to be good
and matter to be evil. The world was created by the
demiurge, a derivative and evil god. For most Gnostics,
Jesus only seemed to be human (docetism). The heavenly
Christ did not suffer on the cross; His earthly substitute
was crucified. Salvation lies in secret knowledge (gnosis)
providing the elite with passwords enabling them to ascend
past the planets.
No
wonder, Sir Ian McKellen, who acts Sir Leigh Teabing, the
"expert historian," in the DVC movie, admitted Dan Brown’s
book was "codswallop."
Tom Hanks (Harvard professor, Robert
Langdon, in the film) agrees:
"… the story we tell is loaded with all sorts of hooey and …
nonsense."
Similarly,
Tim Robey,
after watching two and a half hours of
The Da Vinci Code movie, stated in his article "What's
the Latin for Balderdash?" in
The Daily Telegraph, "the plot's sheer volume of mulish
nonsense does generate the odd giggle."
Don’t be deceived into thinking that the DVC is "fiction
based on fact." Scripture warns against departing from the
truth and being "turned unto fables" (II Tim.
4:4). Anti-Christian conspiracy theories, and the religious
controversies they spawn, sell books and fill cinemas but
The Da Vinci Code ought not prejudice one against the
truth of the incarnate, crucified, risen and reigning Christ
of the Bible.
Rev. Angus Stewart
Covenant Protestant Reformed Fellowship
Ballymena
www.cprf.co.uk