Sunday, September 14, 2014

In Memory of Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley

Earth's loss is heaven's gain, as one of the giants of the faith went to to be with his Lord. See Ian Paisley, the Dr. Noof Ulter Politics, Dies Age 88 - the Guardian.com. I  think the following quote from Pastor Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) is appropriate:

"We admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago...but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down.  Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one.  Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their compeers had said, "The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace.  Let us go to our chambers, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better."  Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error.  Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous gobs of error would have swallowed all.  These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on...
It is today as it was in the Reformer's days.  Decision is needed.  Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day?  We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitor, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it...Look you, sirs, there are ages yet to come.  If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to His truth today.  We have come to a turning-point in the road.  If we turn to the right, mayhap our children and our children's children will go that way; but if we turn to the left, generations yet unborn will curse our names for having been unfaithful to God and to His Word." (Source)

Recommended audio broadcasts on the life of Dr. Paisley:

The Life and Ministry of Dr. Ian K. Paisley, by Dr. Mark Allison
The Passing of Ian Paisley - A Personal Reflection, by Rev. Stephen Hamilton

Here are some great sermons by Dr. Paisley:

The Burning Hell Which Jesus Preached

How I Found Christ?

 How I Found Christ? by Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)