From the Director
David Porter

Comment: Jesus is Lord
David McMillan

Seek Peace and Pursue It
ECONI Steering Group

Blessed are the Arrogant
Steve Stockman

What is the Orange Order?
Brian Kennaway

Covenanters and the Orange Order
Norris Wilson

Book Review
Stephen Williams

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'JESUS IS LORD - WILLIAM IS DEAD'
At a recent conference I heard the story of two German street preachers in Nuremberg in the early 1930's. Following one of the huge Nuremberg rallies the men took up positions on the streets to preach to the crowds leaving the stadium. One preacher proclaimed that "Jesus is the only way to God". He was ridiculed and jeered by many making their way home still high on the sights and sounds engineered by Goebbels, and fired up by the anti-Semitic and Aryan rhetoric of Hitler. The second preacher was also speaking about Jesus only he proclaimed that "Jesus is the only Fuhrer". The crowd set on him and left him for dead.

The first preached the truth, the second preached the truth and its implications. The first preacher was tolerated as he aired his particular religious convictions. The second preacher paid dearly for tearing down the idols of his day for the sake of Christ and his glory alone.

This poignant story invites us to reflect on the nature and content of our proclamation of the Gospel in the context of Protestant culture. Evangelical preaching will be tolerated by many at Orange services, services at the Fields, at improvised protest services up against RUC lines and in many other churches and situations over the marching season. The preaching will - no doubt - be faithful to the uniqueness of Christ and his atoning work on the cross. But will its implications be spoken or heard? Perhaps we need to find a new vocabulary to express the full meaning of Christ's lordship in an Ulster Protestant context. A vocabulary such as:

Jesus is God's man for Ulster; The only walking that needs to be done this summer is to "walk as Jesus did" (John 2:6); Walking in the truth is more important than walking on the streets; God commands that we should "walk in love" (2 John 4&6); Christian people must follow the Bible and not banners on which Bibles are painted; Salvation was accomplished in the first century not the sixteenth or seventeenth; we are called to follow Jesus of Nazareth not William of Orange; Jesus is Lord, William is dead.

It is possible that many evangelicals who see themselves as good Ulster Protestants and sympathetic to the Loyal Institutions would, when pushed, accept the basic sentiments I have expressed here. I could understand their annoyance at what they might perceive as my dismissal of God's gracious provision through history. Equally, I have no doubt that the first German street preacher, if pushed, would have agreed with the radical announcement "Jesus is the only Fuhrer". However, only the second preacher proclaimed it and courageously told the whole truth.

David McMillan is the Pastor of Windsor Baptist Church, Belfast He is the chair of ECONI's Central Co-ordinating Group and a member of the Steering Group.