THE DISTINCTIVE DOCTRINES/PRACTICES OF 
THE FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
  A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF A SERIES OF MESSAGES PREACHED IN CORK FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH:

FIRST MESSAGE: WHY ARE WE PRESBYTERIAN?
 (READING: ACTS 15:1-29)
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 SECOND MESSAGE: WHY ARE WE FREE PRESBYTERIAN?
(READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 6)
Because we uphold the doctrines and practices of Presbyterianism, we looked briefly at the origins of our denomination. 
Being convinced of the apostasy of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (click here for more details) a group of men decided against the relatively useless tactic of "staying in to fight" (Click here for further thoughts on this) and obeyed God and separated from the apostate body (2 Corinthians 6:14-18/Ephesians 5:11 etc.,) 
We are Free Presbyterian because:

A/ WE ARE FREE FROM MODERNISM: 
We uphold the fundamentals of the Christian faith - which we listed - and actively and aggressively oppose modernism especially that represented by Professor J.E. Davey who was acquitted in the famous 1926 Heresy Trial in the Presbyterian Church.
Professor Davey denied the Virgin Birth, attacked the Westminster Confession of Faith (although he swore before God and men at his ordination to uphold it ) and some of the major Christian doctrines e.g. the blood atonement of Jesus Christ and admitted to Unitarianism. 
A modernist would not be tolerated in the FPC (Titus 3:10) never mind elevated to the Moderator's chair as Davey later was in his denomination. 

B/ WE ARE FREE FROM ECUMENISM:
I gave the proper interpretation of the prayer of the Lord Jesus in John 17 which has been hi jacked by the ecumenists. 
The Presbyterian Church of Ireland were heavily involved in the World Council of Churches - although they left direct membership, yet they are still in membership of associate bodies (i.e. nothing has substantially changed) - and leading church men are ardent Romanisers. 
The FPC actively opposes the co-operative ecumenical evangelism of the likes of Billy Graham who sends his converts back into the Church of Rome (Matthew 23:15)

C/ WE ARE FREE FROM WORLDLINESS: 
Admittedly, this is the hardest thing to be free from! 
Every FPC minister at his ordination vows to oppose "the social vices of: drinking, gambling and dancing" 
The Church does not approve of smoking and worldly attire which, among other things, breaks down the God given distinctions between modesty and immodesty. 

 THIRD MESSAGE: MODERN VERSIONS OF THE BIBLE:
(OVER TWO WEEKS: READ PSALM 119:89-105/JEREMIAH 36:11-30)
The Free Presbyterian Church uses only the Authorised (King James) Version of the Bible. 
The central place of the Bible in the Christian Faith necessitates our defending of it against Satan's attacks. 
Satan attacks either directly (denial) or indirectly - use of the counterfeit (2 Corinthians 11:4) 
Many modern versions are a Satanic attack on the word of God.
 We looked at the manuscript issue.
Basically there are two camps.
In one, you have the Received /Majority Text folk (us) and in the other, you have the Westcott and Hort folk (Most of the modern versions including the NIV; NAS etc.,) 
We believe the latter use texts which were edited by a 2nd Century heretic called Origen (cp. Paul's warnings: Acts 20:29-30/2 Corinthians 2:17) who removed many phrases, verses or entire passages.
The Majority Text escaped Origen's pernicious "corrections" and were preserved. 
We looked at the unprincipled actions of Westcott and Hort who fathered the Revised Version (They were pro Rome and modernist) 
We looked briefly (and I judge on hindsight a little heavily) at how we may discern the genuineness of a text.

We spent the second message simply looking at key verses and observing how Satan sought to pervert them. 
These were Genesis 3:15/Isaiah 7:14/Micah 5:2/Matthew 16:16-18 (with John 1:42)/2 Corinthians 5:21
In the latter verse, for example, (2 Corinthians 5:21) instead of rendering the words that Christ was made to be sin for us (i.e. that Christ has taken all the sin of the believer) the Good News Bible a.k.a. Today's English Version renders the words that Christ has shared our sins. 
This intrinsically means that Christ has some of our sins and we have some of our sins - and therefore we are damned for it takes only one unremoved sin to damn us in hell.
We gloried in the fact that the AV translators were stoutly Protestant.
Whilst the Free Presbyterian Church has a policy of using only the AV, we should not be confused with some of the "KJV only" folk. 
We accept that the word of God is preserved and we believe that we have an unsurpassed and faithfully translated version. 
This does not mean that there are not places in the AV, that could be better translated. We take the line propagated by the Trinitarian Bible Society:
"While perfection is not claimed for the Authorised Version (known in some countries as the King James Version), or any other version, it is known that the translators of the Authorised Version acknowledged the Divine inspiration, authority and inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures; the fruitful use of their translation for nearly 400 years is evidence of the Lord's blessing upon their work." 

 FOURTH MESSAGE: WHY WE REJECT THE TONGUES SPEAKING OF THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT:
(OVER TWO WEEKS. READ: ACTS 2:1-21/1 CORINTHIANS 14)
We observed that what sounds like the mumbo jumbo language of the Charismatic movement is not the tongues of the New Testament. "Tongues" in the Bible means simply languages which could be learnt and understood. 
On the three occasions in Acts where folk spoke in tongues, we noticed that it was Spirit given.
By the process of elimination, we observed that those in 1 Corinthians who spoke in tongues did so by naturally acquiring their knowledge. 
Paul put great emphasis on the need for understanding (contrast with the confusion of modern day Charismatics) and also for order. 
Therefore he put down some hard and fast rules for tongues speaking - rules which Charismatics often break. 
We reject tongues because we seek something better i.e. to prophesy or to preach the word of God. 
We believe that tongues have ceased (1 Corinthians 13:8) since that which is perfect has come i.e. the completed canon of scripture. 
We do not need any more revelations. 
If any member of the Free Presbyterian Church speaks in tongues, whether in private or in public, they are automatically asked to resign membership of the Church. 
The  sign of being spirit filled is power in evangelism. 

FIFTH MESSAGE: KEEPING HOLY THE SABBATH DAY:
(READ: EXODUS 20:1-17)
We looked at Why we keep the Sabbath Day holy Simply because we follow God's example (Genesis 2:2) and obey His precept (Exodus 20:8) This precept precedes the Jewish angle and so rules out that Sabbath keeping is for Jews only. 
The Sabbath was made for mankind in general - not the Jew in particular. 
We set aside Sundays as the Lord's Day as did the Apostles.
The thoughts on How to keep the Sabbath Day holy, we saw the need to lay aside those duties/pleasures which could be pursued some other time. The exception are those works of necessity or mercy. We should spend the time resting and being engaged in spiritual activities. 

MESSAGES SIX TO NINE DEALT WITH OUR ADHERANCE TO THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINSM
We expounded our belief in these doctrines.
See CALVINISM ISSUES page

TENTH MESSAGE: THE HORRIBLE CURSE OF HYPER CALVINISM:
READING: ACTS 20:29-30
A hyper Calvinist is not merely someone who takes his Calvinism seriously, but someone who actually perverts the gospel of grace. 
He denies "duty faith" and "duty repentance" which is obligatory on the human race. 
A hyper Calvinist denies that the gospel is to be offered (the word offer is offensive to him) 
He is  seldom evangelistic, often preaching on Christian experience rather than "look and live" 
The hyper Calvinist spends much of his time worrying whether or not he is among the elect. 
We know that we are elect when we " look unto Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2) but the hyper Calvinist will not look until He knows that he is elect - resulting in a very vicious circle. 
The logical outcome is damnation, although many hyper Calvinists are better than the wretched system they profess. 

ELEVENTH MESSAGE: THE COVERING OF THE WOMAN'S HEAD IN WORSHIP:
READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 11:1-16
A study of 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 revealed to us that the woman should cover her hair (which is her glory) when in church under the sound of God's word. 
The Apostle furnishes us with several reasons. 
It is wrong to say that this NT practice was only a local custom  (or in relation to a local custom) for why should Paul deal with it at such length, go back to Adam and Eve and then mention the great interest of the angels? 
The practice now of women going to God's house with their heads uncovered is a relatively recent development.

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