Delivered at the Foundations Bible College Congress.

"The Present Crisis in Northern Ireland" I have been asked to speak on recent events in Northern Ireland which caused dismay amongst fundamentalists worldwide. After prayer, I have consented to do so.

Before I come to recent events in Northern Ireland, with their disappointments and distresses, I would wish to speak a little of times of blessing and revival in which one man, Ian Paisley, played a central and vital role.

Just over 45 years ago, I joined the ranks of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. I attended the evening service of Ravenhill FPC on 12th April 1964. I had called upon the Lord just one week previously but was uncertain of my spiritual standing but in response to an invitation from my mother and father, I went with them to hear Dr Paisley.

That night, I found assurance of salvation in Christ and I also found a spiritual home. Shortly after I joined the congregation and within 9 months I had applied and was accepted as a student for the gospel ministry.

Those were days of blessing and revival. From 1964 until 1974, hundreds of people were converted, largely under the ministry of Dr Paisley and some twenty new Free Presbyterian congregations were formed. There were some 25 ministers in the FPC at that time and they laboured alongside Dr Paisley in the battle for souls and the Crown Rights of King Jesus.

To a large degree the harvest gathered in then was the fruit of the previous 20 years of Dr Paisley's province-wide crusade against the apostasy of the the Presbyterian, Church of Ireland and Methodist denominations.