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The History of St. Patrick
By Jay Rogers. Posted Mar 10, 2010.
You may be planning to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this coming weekend, but you probably know little of the true history of Patrick. Contrary to popular belief, he was not Irish at all. He was a British bishop who lived at exactly the same time as St. Augustine. And the people he preached to in Ireland, were not “Irish,” but “Scots.”
Most people don’t know it, but two genuine writings of Patrick survive.
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Legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the Ireland. One suggestion for the origin of this is that “snakes” referred to the serpent symbolism used by the Druids of that time, or to the heresy of Pelagianism — the idea spread by heretics of that day that we are saved by works and not by grace. Legend also credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock. My Irish grandmother once told me an interesting version of this story concerning Patrick’s explanation of four leaf clovers. If you send me an email, I will tell you about that.
One could also make the claim from reading Patrick’s letter to Coroticus that he was proto-Protestant — or at the very least in tune with the robust Augustinian doctrine of the fifth century.
Most importantly, Patrick was a rescuer. If he were alive today, he would have been a pro-life activist. He denounced the pagan practice of the shedding of innocent blood. He begins his Letter To Coroticus with these words:
I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, resident in Ireland, declare myself to be a bishop. Most assuredly I believe that what I am I have received from God. And so I live among barbarians, a stranger and exile for the love of God. He is witness that this is so. Not that I wished my mouth to utter anything so hard and harsh; but I am forced by the zeal for God; and the truth of Christ has wrung it from me, out of love for my neighbors and sons for whom I gave up my country and parents and my life to the point of death. If I be worthy, I live for my God to teach the heathen, even though some may despise me. With my own hand I have written and composed these words, to be given, delivered, and sent to the soldiers of Coroticus; I do not say, to my fellow citizens, or to fellow citizens of the holy Romans, but to fellow citizens of the demons, because of their evil works. Like our enemies, they live in death, allies of the Scots and the apostate Picts. Dripping with blood, they welter in the blood of innocent Christians, whom I have begotten into the number for God and confirmed in Christ!
Patrick writes here of the barbaric practices of the Celtic tribes of northern Europe – the ancestors of the Gaelic speaking peoples of England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and northwestern Spain. The Celts were pagan idolaters who commonly sacrificed human beings – even innocent children – to the Mother Goddess.
In fact, Julius Caesar wrote of the Druids of Gaul (relatives of the Gaelic people in the British isles):
The whole nation of the Gauls is greatly devoted to ritual observances, and for that reason those who are smitten with the more grievous maladies and who are engaged in the perils of battle either sacrifice human victims or vow so to do, employing the druids as ministers for such sacrifices. They believe, in effect, that, unless for a man’s life a man’s life be paid, the majesty of the immortal gods may not be appeased; and in public, as in private life they observe an ordinance of sacrifices of the same kind. Others use figures of immense size whose limbs, woven out of twigs, they fill with living men and set on fire, and the men perish in a sheet of flame. They believe that the execution of those who have been caught in the act of theft or robbery or some crime is more pleasing to the immortal gods; but when the supply of such fails they resort to the execution even of the innocent.
Patrick put a stop to ritual human sacrifice in Ireland over 1500 years ago. It is only fitting that we will honor his name by circulating Personhood petitions at St Patrick’s Day events here in Florida.
So, how is it that in Ireland, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are called children of God; the sons of the Irish [Scotti] and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ.
- The Confession of St Patrick
- Pro-life Activism
- Revival and Spiritual Awakening
A Revival Account: Asbury 1970 (DVD)
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Dr. Francis Schaeffer - How Should We Then Live? (DVD)
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Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism (DVD)
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Just what is Calvinism?
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This is the first video documentary that answers these and other related questions. Hosted by Eric Holmberg, this fascinating three-part, four-hour presentation is detailed enough so as to not gloss over the controversy. At the same time, it is broken up into ten “Sunday-school-sized” sections to make the rich content manageable and accessible for the average viewer.
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Massacre of Innocence (DVD)
Exposing The Occult Roots of Abortion
This presentation looks at the spiritual roots of abortion and exposes the myths surrounding child killing. Little known historical facts about abortion and how they relate to modern feminism are presented logically and accurately. Has been effective in converting many to a pro-life position.
Massacre of Innocence goes where no pro-life presentation has gone before in “tearing the lid off abortion” to reveal the spiritual realities we must battle if we will bring an end to this crime. The presentation is absorbing, fast-paced, informative and incredibly devastating to any attempt to justify abortion.
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Running time: 85 minutes
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Dr. Francis Schaeffer - A Christian Manifesto (DVD)
That Swiss Hermit Strikes Again!
Dr. Schaeffer, who was one of the most influential Christian thinkers in the twentieth century, shows that secular humanism has displaced the Judeo-Christian consensus that once defined our nation’s moral boundaries. Law, education, and medicine have all been reshaped for the worse as a consequence. America’s dominant worldview changed, Schaeffer charges, when Christians weren’t looking.
Schaeffer lists two reasons for evangelical indifference: a false concept of spirituality and fear. He calls on believers to stand against the tyranny and moral chaos that come when humanism reigns-and warns that believers may, at some point, be forced to make the hard choice between obeying God or Caesar. A Christian Manifesto is a thought-provoking and bracing Christian analysis of American culture and the obligation Christians have to engage the culture with the claims of Christ.
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