WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH "THEOLOGICAL ABUSE" - REV KEN NEWELL

Speaking during a debate on BBC Radio Ulster on 8 October 2006 on Dr Ian Paisley's meeting with Roman Catholic Archbishop Sean Brady, the minister of Fitzroy Presbyterian Church and former Presbyterian Moderator, Rev Ken Newell, described the Westminster Confession of Faith, to which all ministers and elders are required to subscribe, as using the language of "theological abuse" in its description of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. When challenged during the debate by EPS Council member, Mr George Dawson MLA, Mr Newell repeated his assertion and said that when ministers and elders subscribe to it, they are "not signing up to abuse". The words to which Mr Newell takes exception are, "There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God". Mr Newell's position on this matter is outrageous but entirely predictable. For many years, he and his fellow ecumenists have been trying to draw the Presbyterian church ever closer to Rome, and the words of the Confession of Faith are an acute embarrassment. However, we in EPS believe that the Confession of Faith's words, far from being theological abuse, are theological truth, and we will continue to sound them forth clearly and unapologetically. So too, we know, will Dr Paisley, whose stand against the late Pope John Paul II in Europe some years ago was surely one of his finest hours!