The clerk of our Kirk Session is going to now make a statement. It gives me great pleasure to make this statement on behalf of the Kirk Session. The Kirk Session wish to put on record where they stand on the matter of the integrity and faithfulness of the ministry of their minister, Dr. Paisley. Having worked with him closer than anyone, save his own family, We cannot be silent when his character is abused, his Christianity called into question, and the enemies of the gospel are used on certain websites to tarnish his life and witness. We have been taught and helped through his ministry over the years, and let us all remember that that ministry has lasted over sixty-two years to date. We want to affirm what he has been able to do because he has fully surrendered himself to Christ. Across the whole world his ministry has been honoured and is still being honoured by the Lord. Apostates, able speakers, breakers of the moral law, those living in breach of the commandments have all been recruited into the campaign to destroy our minister. Yet he has not repaid them in kind. We have learnt the reason. It is because the Lord taught him to take his example from the Saviour. At the September Presbytery, when the matter of his occupancy of the moderatorship was discussed, Dr Paisley again gave leadership, and the power of the Blessed Spirit manifested its power, and a breakthrough seemed to have been achieved. Dr Paisley agreed that at the January Presbytery an election would take place and stated that he would not be standing. A promise was made from those present that the ongoing opposition would cease, the accusation ended and the broadcast of vilification would finish. Dr Paisley was given an ovation and the vast majority of members of Presbytery went home rejoicing. Members broke their word and more and more salvage accusations were hurled against Dr Paisley, particularly the colossal lie that he had apologised to David Armstrong for the FPC protest against him in Limavalley, and the greatest lie of all, that Dr Paisley had called Martin McGuinness as a witness. Lies emanate from the father of lies himself, the devil, and we are deeply grieved that this lie has been broadcast worldwide by website. The Bible teaches that no lie is of the truth, and we know the devil has inspired these attacks because of the fact that more and more people are being reached with the gospel message, and the liberating power and freedom is being demonstrated of the gospel. Dr. Paisley has told us that while at prayer and studying the Word of God, some words from 1 Peter gripped his soul. What were they? Words spoken of Christ, 1 Peter 1.23. who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judged righteously. And 1 Corinthians 4.12, being reviled, we bless. Dr. Paisley felt he must not take and use precious time protecting himself. If others want to malign him, he will continue his work with love and dedication to the souls for whom Christ died. The great judgment day, he said, will write the final word, and then every man's work will be declared eternally. " This morning on Sunday's sequence, Dr. Paisley answered the lies about him taking part in an ecumenical service in Ballymena. Such was not so, and Dr. Paisley himself cleared the matter and put truth on record. No weapon, we are told, can prosper against the people of God, and we believe that God will vindicate his servant and his people. We thank God for our minister and we are glad for this opportunity to let everyone know where we as a congregation stand. for those words and also the Kirk session. And I thank you for your continued prayers for me at this time. Now I had a sermon to preach But time is of the essence, and the Lord has burned a little word into my heart from the fifth chapter of Matthew, Matthew chapter 5. And it is verse 11 and verse 12. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they, the prophets which were before you. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect example for the people of God in the days of their temptations, in the days of their vilifications, and in the days of their testing. So we should keep our eye upon our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And in these wonderful words in the fifth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, Christ tells us what we have to do when we are satanically reviled, when we are satanically persecuted. and when all manner of evil against us falsely is spoken because of our allegiance to Christ. We are not to be sad. We are rather to be glad. We are not to allow remorse into our hearts. We are to be exceedingly glad because our eye is to the reward in heaven. There will be a day when we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Then there will be a final settlement of all things. Before I proceed, I want to say that in the coming days there will be severe happenings, there will be evil speakers, there will be false accusations made. Last night a group of men attacked our Arma church where our new moderator preaches. They erected a great sign almost 15 feet from the ground in front of the church, saying, Judgment must begin in the house of Ron. And then a stroke over the word Ron, referring of course to the Christian name of our new moderator, and then it was changed then to God. And then another large sign was put at the other side of the church, look unto Jesus, not to Ronald the new Protestant Pope. These sort of statements made by those who tell us they're contending for the faith prove that there is the work of Satan let loose to vilify the people of God. And we need to remember our brother and his wife and family at this time, for evidently they intend to take it out on him because he was unanimously and without opposition appointed to the moderatorship of this church. And it is our duty as a church to support him. It is our duty to pray for him. It is our duty to defend him. And it is our duty to pray that God will deal with those who vilify him and defame him. Strange things have happened The voices raised against me especially are not the voices of familiar enemies, but they are the voices of our so-called friends. People who claim to be the friends of this preacher have caused him to be wounded in the house of his friend. Now, I have not got a very easy height. My height is like an ostrich. I have been through many a battle. And I'm glad I have a thick height. But what grieves me, and grieves me sorely, is not one of these people have had the decency to lift a phone, to say, Ian, I'd like to speak to you. I'd like to talk to you. Not one of them. And I see that one of them especially says that he has written letters in the past that were not answered, and therefore he feels he has freedom to do what he likes. Funny that this accusation about letters sent in the past has only arisen now. And this is a very lame excuse. You can't keep the scriptures partly. You have to keep the scriptures fully. And I regret that. I'm sorry for that. And some of these people owe their souls to me. I think of one man, poor, alcoholic, soaked, drunkard, who brought dishonor to his family and to the family name. I think it was through my praying and my preaching that I dealt with him and he closed with Christ freely offered in the gospel. And I said one thing to that man when I was talking to him. I said, if people repent and believe in the gospel, would you speak with them? He said, never. I would never speak to them nor acknowledge them. Well, I said, wasn't it a good thing that the Lord Jesus was prepared to speak to you, and the Lord Jesus was prepared to pour out His blood for you, that you might be saved, and one day He's going to receive you into the mansions of the sky? How hard people become when they forsake the ways of God and turn into the byways prepared for them by the devil himself. Yes, we are in for a period of persecution. We have no friends in the press and we have no friends in the BBC. Or in the UTV, they are mostly our enemies. But the Lord can cause the wrath to be turned away. And the wrath of men can be transformed into a blessing. So instead of wasting our time, worrying about things that will come if the Lord desires them to come, or things that will never come if the Lord doesn't desire and decrees that they should not come. And we should go on doing the work of God. I am reminded of a man called Nehemiah. He said, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. So where am I? I am stuck up the tree and I have work to do and I have no intention of coming down. My witness is unchanged. We have the great story that the zombie sequins thought they would make into an even greater story. And so we have that on our radios this morning. But what are the facts? It's a good thing, I have found, to keep all your letters that are sent to you because they come in as good proofs. when the time of testing comes. I had a letter from the scouts of Ballymena intimating that they were going to have a centenary celebration and requesting would I come and speak to them. And of course we got in touch with them and said yes that would be Possible. Then we had another communication. And that communication said that they would like me to offer a prayer at the meeting. And I said that would be all right as well. And then they said we would like you to read the scriptures at the meeting. And I said that would be alright as well. And speak at the meeting. It was all arranged. And I heard no more. I turned up at the meeting and lo and behold the priest was there. And lo and behold there was a new order of service there. And lo and behold I wasn't to pray. or read the scriptures, but just to speak. Now only those young scouts were taking their vow of allegiance to the Queen. I would have felt that I would be better walking out, but I was not going to walk out and discourage young people from not making their pledge to Her Majesty. So I did nothing I just sat there, as even the priest has confirmed. And I then spoke, and I took the great words that General Field Marshal, who called the Scouts into existence, Beden Powell, I took his words, be prepared. And I spoke on the fact that we need to be prepared in time. We need to be prepared for eternity. And we need to be prepared for the judgment. And I spoke with fervor. In fact, one man stayed behind to talk to me after the meeting about where he was going personally. And I left the meeting. Then the BBC got the story I was there. They made it up. And even today on TV when the priests said it wasn't an ecumenical meeting, they maintained it was. Because they must find something to blast me with. and make it a wonder they didn't bring the Pope from Rome and get him under the table and bring him out and air him. I just want to say anything is possible with the BBC. Any lie they can tell. But something else came out. The priest said that he had been approached and was told that I had agreed to him taking power. that I had agreed to him praying, that I had agreed to him reading or choosing the Scriptures. He actually said that. Well that is totally untrue. I didn't even know the priest was to be there. But that has all now come out and it doesn't really matter because they will against something else. I was also told that I called in Mr McGuinness to witness that I asked the forgiveness of the Minister of the Mavadi. Absolutely untrue. Totally untrue. Made up. Who was it made up by? An immoral paper. A wicked paper. The Daily Mirror. And I had a Christian man sat before me one day on a table, this thing, and said, what about that Ian? That was a terrible thing you did. Well, I said, first of all, who is it? He said, it doesn't matter who wrote that. That's it. That's in the paper. It must be right. I said to him, well, you're a fool. An entire fool. If you think everything in the newspaper is right, then you're mad. I made no apology. I think everybody, and could I say something here this morning? There's a great talk that the Pope might come to Ulster, and if he came, I would welcome him. I'd do nothing of the kind. I have made that clear, and I made it clear to the Sinn Féin movement. I have said, you can't even come and meet a member of the Royal Party, the Royal House, and when a member of the Royal House comes to Ulster, you make yourself scarce. And then you have the cheek to say to me, would you meet the Pope? I said, no, I'll not be meeting the Pope now, tomorrow, the 12th of July, or the 12th of August, or Black Saturday, or any time. They never listened to such rubbish. And of course, they tried to do the same. They tried to do the same, very strongly, with the issue of the new cardinal. I sent no message to the new cardinal. I never communicated with them. What other people do is their business, but they're not doing it for me. I'll make it clear. But I am surprised that they do something that surprises me. I'm surprised that people think E. M. Paisley is weak. Well, they'll see, maybe. Christians, supposed to be Christians, some of the members of our other churches, and they said that I had handed £50,000 to the gays. £50,000. And they kept insisting on it. I never handed them one hypno. The story is simple. The previous Secretary of State made a grant of 70,000 to the case. And he paid over, I don't know how many, much of that, but it was over half of it. And then it came under my jurisdiction when I became the Chief, the First Minister, and I was told I had to hand over the rest, as I did not get one haply from me. And the civil servants said, we need to sign there. He says, I have no signature. Take it away. Don't come back to me. And I never signed it. And they took the paper to Westminster. And they signed it at Westminster. And they gave them the money that they had promised them. But I never give them a penny, not a penny. And they told me that if I didn't do it, I could be put in prison. Says, I rule all of the prison. I've been there before. I'm not doing it and I didn't do it, but I had friends who went round this country and at meeting after meeting said I did it. Yes, said it. And a man rang me and he was in tears and he said, Ian, I never thought I would come to this, what, that you would give money to the gays. Well, I said, I want you to dry your tears now because I never gave them anything. Oh, he says, but I was told you gave them money. I said, you shouldn't believe them until you check. I don't know what else they'll say. I was nearly going to say that I no longer live with my wife, that I live with the Pope's wife. That would be as good a thing as they could say and as big a lie as they could tell. I want to tell you this. I am sick today that people will take the voice of evil and they will make it the voice of truth for them. Truth will stand and truth will stand forever. I have said enough on this subject, but I want to draw your attention to my text. It says if these things happen, you're blessed. And I have been blessed in my soul as I have read the Scriptures and as I have prayed. Blessed are ye when you are persecuted for righteousness' sake. And all this persecution is because I have taken a stand for righteousness' sake. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you. Well, I have been reviled. Blessed are ye when they persecute you. I have been persecuted. And shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, without evidence. Without evidence. And I'm sure that some of the things I have said in this meeting today will be reported. And they'll be reported in the way the press, the lying press, wants to report them. But God says something here, verse 12. Rejoice! Rejoice. Well, I'm glad today that I'm not standing in a pulpit, trying to hide some shameful thing I have done. I am glad by the grace of God I have walked straight along my path of profession. And I am glad I can look any man in the eye who has anything to say about me and I can prove to him that I have spoken the truth and by God's help will continue to speak the Rejoice and be glad. No. Be exceeding glad. Exceeding glad. So it is my duty to be exceeding glad. I have been accused of being a chuckler. Well, I don't know what exceeding glad is, but I would think an exceeding glad man would be a man with a face that's smiling and joyful. And I intend to be that. And what is more, great is your reward in heaven. Somebody asked me one day, did I want a great reward in heaven? I said, I certainly do. But he said to Ian, Is that not a bit sinful that you want a reward like that? No, I said it's not. For I said I want the reward so that whatever dazzling shining star it is in the day of judgment, I can take it from my crown. and place it on the crown of Jesus. For the Lamb is all the glory in Emmanuel's land. Oh, I used to sing that hymn, how many stars, how many stars will be in my crown. Well, I trust if I'm going to have any stars, they'll be laid at the feet of Jesus. says in heaven they cast their crowns at Jesus' feet. May God help us and make us willing to do that. The Lord bless you. I thank the people of this congregation for being faithful to me. We have had a long and we have had a tempestuous life in the battle, but here we are in the peace of God's house, with God's Word before us, and we're rejoicing. We're exceedingly glad, for we remember So persecuted they that the prophets that went before you. If you want to hear the history, if you want to hear the history of any preacher that stands for God, just read history. And history you'll find. And you'll find it well. the story of those that believe the Lord and do His will. They treated the prophets like this before. The Lord give us the grace and the strength. May the Lord help us to pray for our new And the task that he has, it's not going to be easy. But may the Lord strengthen his mind and his heart so that he'll be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. And I say from the depths of my heart, on behalf of my wife and family, I thank you for your support. I met a wee man this week, and he says, Are you leaving the Ravenhill Road? No, I said, I've nowhere else to go. I have to stay there. Oh, he says, I'm glad. I thought you'd be leaving. Well, I hope a lot of people will come into this house, hear the gospel, and come to know the peace and the joy and the satisfaction that is found alone in my Savior and my Lord. Let us pray. Father, we thank Thee for Thy presence, for the peace that's in our hearts, and we pray that You'll continue to bless us as we do battle in the battle of life. Hear this, our prayer, in Jesus' name. And everybody say, Amen. God bless you.