Bits and Pieces – 15th Edition – June 14, 2020

The Government of Ontario has begun to relax the meeting restrictions on churches.  They will be allowed to open with a maximum of one-third of the building’s capacity.  The Toronto church session will decide on Wednesday when it will reopen. Next Lord’s Day services will probably be as today on sermonaudio, the adult Bible class at 9.00am, and the morning and evening services at 10.00am and 5.30pm.  The Sunday evening prayer time is at 4.30pm on zoom, as is the Wednesday evening prayer meeting at 7.30pm. You will be informed of any change.

The Free Church family has been saddened to learn of the death of the father of the Rev. Tony D’Addurno, the minister of our Barrie, Ontario church.  Mr. D’Addurno was 92 and died on June 5 after a lengthy spell of ill health.  Our sympathy goes out to Tony and Pina, and the rest of the D’Addurno family.

On the heels of that sad news came word of the passing of Wayne Downey from the Calgary church.  Wayne and his wife Heather were founder members of the church in Calgary.  Wayne suffered from M.S. for many years but lived a remarkably active life despite his infirmity. He was 77.  Our prayers go out to Heather and the family circle at this time.

Thirteen matching pairs of Anglican and Roman Catholic Bishops held a quiet meeting in the Queen of the Apostles Renewal Centre in Mississauga in May 2000.  It was a meeting of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the main objective of which was to come to some sort of agreement where the Roman pontiff would be acknowledged as the “universal Primate” of the church.  Pope John Paul II and the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey, had issued an earlier joint statement that “Without agreement in this area we shall not reach the full, visible unity to which we are committed.”  They chose an out-of-the-way venue where there would be minimal public interest in their nefarious plan.

However, Toronto FPC knew about it and planned a public protest against it.  Nearly all of the North American FP ministers were present including seven from Northern Ireland.

In fact there were more protesters than ARCICA delegates!  A letter to Dr. Carey was handed over by Dr. Brian Green, and the protest received widespread publicity.  The upshot was that no agreement was reached and, praise God, twenty years later, it still has not been ratified.  [For full details and photosgraphs see The Canadian Revivalist, May/June 2000]

In the Toronto church adult Bible Class we have been studying Peter’s second epistle.  The last couple of weeks have been focused on chapter 2 where Peter warns of false prophets.  Thank God He has His true prophets, and none more faithful than Daniel.  Daniel received a vision from the Lord in the “third year of Cyrus king of Persia”  (536BC).  Here are a few of the things Daniel prophesied, and were fulfilled literally.

* He prophesied of the “mighty king,” Alexander the Great of Greece, 180 years before Alexander was born (Daniel 11:3 & 4).

*He predicted the events of the “kings of the north” (the Seleucid Empire – mostly Syria) and the “kings of the south” (the Ptolemaic Empire – mostly Egypt) hundreds of years before they happened.

*Daniel foretold the battle of Rapphia 319 years before it was fought (11:12).

*Daniel forecast the political union of north and south through the marriage of the daughter of Antiochus the Great to the young Ptolemy Epiphanes 340 years before it occurred.

*Daniel foresaw the coming of a “vile person,” (Antiochus Epiphanes) 361 years before he began to reign as “king of the north,” and would persecute the Jews (11:21ff).

These are but a few of the predictions of Daniel 11, but enough to prove the accuracy, authenticity and authority of the Bible.  Little wonder modernists hate the Book of Daniel!

“Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus.”   (Hebrews 6:20).

“There are four great lines of thought that arise from the idea of Christ entering heaven as our forerunner.  Here we can only make brief mention of them, but they are worthy of our closest attention.  Christ is the forerunner in that He entered heaven, first, to announce the victory of the cross; second, to open up a way of access to the throne for His people; third, to pray for us continually as our great high priest; and finally, to occupy heaven in the name of His people and hold it for them.”