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Patrick
A Man for all Christians
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You
may be wondering why a Protestant Christian is writing
about St. Patrick. I believe that this man belongs
to all Christians regardless of sect or denomination.
Since my youth I have been especially interested
in history, Church history in particular. In my
reading and study I am convinced that Patrick was
a genuine Christian, a part of the Body of Christ
which goes beyond our sectarian divisions.
Patrick
was born around 373 AD in either England or in southern
Scotland. He was probably a Celt. The Celts were
the early inhabitants of this region of the world.
It was somewhat later that the British Isles were
inhabited by the Anglos and Saxons who drove the
Celts from England. People of Celtic ethnicity continue
to make up a large portion of the population of
Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Patrick came from
a family that was rather influential. His father
was a deacon in the church. His grandfather was
a presbyter (pastor/shepherd). Even though Patrick
grew up in a Christian home he recorded in his journal,
“I did not know the true God.”
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Patrick was sixteen years old he was taken captive by a
group of marauders from Ireland. Once in Ireland he was
sold into slavery to an Irish chieftain.
Ireland,
at that time, was still largely pagan.While there Patrick’s
slave master placed him in charge of a herd of pigs. During
this period of enslavement Patrick was forced to endure
considerable hardship. He often went without food and was
clothed in little more than rags. It was during this time
in his life that he stated: “And there the Lord
opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief. . .and He
[Christ] watched over me before I knew Him.”
It
is recorded that Patrick greatly missed his family. He was
constantly looking for a way of escape in order to be able
to return to his home. He was finally able to escape making
his way to a seaport where he persuaded the ship’s
crew to take him on board as a ship’s mate. He was
taken to France rather than to his home in the British Isles.
Eventually he was able to return to his homeland and to
his family.
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Once
settled at home with his family the last thing he
wanted to do was to return to Ireland. However, God
had a different plan for Patrick. When he was thirty
years old he heard God’s call upon his life.
He testified that for many years God had ministered
to him in dreams. Not every dream is of God, probably
the vast majority of dreams are not of God, but some
are. God is able and occasionally ministers to believers
in this manner. God performed a great work in his
heart and life of Patrick. Rather than hating the
people who inhabited the emerald isle, he could not
ignore God’s call upon his life. He became burdened
for the Irish people. He saw them as sheep without
a shepherd. He gathered together a group of Christian
co-workers, who also saw the need to evangelize Ireland.
This band of Christian evangelists was determined
to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
with the pagans of Ireland. They set sail for Ireland.
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Once
again in Ireland Patrick was there now, not as a slave,
but as a servant of Jesus Christ. His mission was to share
the Gospel with those who had formerly been his enemies.
Whenever Christ enters the heart and life of an individual,
there is a change. Patrick had experienced this change.
The apostle Paul wrote of this change thusly, “Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he [she] is a new creation; old
things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) NKJV.
Now
that Patrick had come into a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord he had a new nature.
He was now ‘in’ Christ and Christ was in his
life. He had experienced a spiritual rebirth. He had become
more than a church member, now he was a genuine follower
of Christ; a believer. |
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When
Patrick returned to Ireland it was largely a pagan
land with few Christians. The Druid religion of the
Irish required human sacrifices.
Through
the faithful witness, teaching and preaching of Patrick
and his co-laborers the Gospel of Christ literally
turned Ireland from raw paganism to the Christian
faith. Patrick wrote in his journal, “Through
me many people would be reborn in God, and soon after
confirmed, and that clergy would be ordained everywhere
for them, the masses lately come to belief, whom the
Lord drew from the ends of the earth."
It
is believed that the Christianity of Ireland at that
time was Celtic, not Roman. It is said that the churches
in Ireland did not fully come under the authority
nor submit to the Bishop of Rome (pope) until many
years later. The Roman Church denies this, however
many historians believe it to be true.
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Patrick,
speaking with King Laoghaire,
High King of Ireland
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Ireland
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Patrick
ministered in Ireland for 60 years. It is said that
he established 365 churches, each one having a school
attached to it. Contrary to popular legends Patrick
did not drive snakes out of Ireland. There never were
reptiles on the island. However, the greatest of all
miracles was performed by him and his co-workers.
That miracle was that this band of Christian evangelists
was instrumental in accomplishing the feat of seeing
an entire pagan people converted to faith in Jesus
Christ. It should also be noted that the shamrock
has become associated with the name of Patrick because
it is said that he used it in his preaching and teaching
as a symbol of the Trinity. Belief in the tri-unity
of God was then and is now a basic belief of New Testament
Christianity. |
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Patrick
was indeed a special saint of God. Not only was
he God’s Apostle to the Irish people but his
life was marked by a genuine Christlikeness often
lacking in the lives of many of the followers of
Christ. It is fitting that he be honored and remembered
as one of those believers who have been exemplary
in their faith, witness and service to God. I believe
that Patrick is numbered with that “great
cloud of witnesses” spoken of in Hebrews 11
& 12.
It
is unfortunate that the Protestant Reformers often
“threw the baby out with the bath water.”
God has had special men and women, i.e., saints,
who have lived through the centuries. The ‘saints’
label that some of them have worn given to them
by “religion” is not sufficient reason
to dismiss them. Labels are secondary. The important
label is: Christian.
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St.
Patrick's Cathedral. A church has stood here since
the mid 5th century, when St. Patrick is said to
have baptized converts beside a nearby well around
450. The Normans built a stone church here in 1191
which was later rebuilt in the 13th century.
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concept of remembering and honoring the saints of God[1]
need not be dismissed nor dubbed idolatrous. Superstitious
practices, such as placing God’s departed saints in
a position that is unscriptural, should be avoided. Bona
fide Christians do not pray to those saints of God who have
departed this life and are now at the throne of God. As
Christians we reject the belief that the living can draw
upon a supposed treasury of the good deeds of those who
have died to relieve suffering in a non-existent purgatory.
However,
it is not unscriptural to remember and honor believers,
whether in the past or who are being martyred for their
faith in Jesus Christ today in Muslim lands, in Sudan, and
in a number of other countries. Believers should seek to
emulate their Christlike lives. Patrick is one of the many
members of the family of God who fall into this number of
saints who have lived exemplary Christlike lives. He was
undoubtedly filled with and by the Holy Spirit.
Contrary
to what many Protestants believe, honoring Christlike believers
does not have to be limited to Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism
or Eastern Orthodoxy. One of the saints that I as a Biblical
Christian choose to remember and honor is Patrick. The day
traditionally set aside to remember this brother-in-Christ
is March 17th. There is a special prayer for this day found
in “Celebrating Common Prayer” (an English Prayer
Book) that I especially like. I’ve somewhat revised
it to read thusly, “Almighty God, who in Your
providence chose Your servant Patrick to be the apostle
of the Irish people, to bringing the Gospel to those who
were wandering in darkness and error and to bring them to
the true light and knowledge of Your Word: keep us in that
light; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Pray that the people of Ireland who are increasingly becoming
secular and bound by institutional religion. Pray that they
may come into a personal relationship with Christ. The Roman
Catholic Church has dominated Ireland for centuries. Approximately
87% of the population continue to maintain ties with the
Roman Church. However the Roman Church has been rapidly
losing members with attendance at their churches at a low
ebb. Much of this is due to the huge number of sex scandals
among many priests in recent years.
In
the last few years there has been a move of the Holy Spirit
throughout the land. We are told that today there are literally
hundreds of evangelical groups, many of them house fellowships,
coming into existence in Ireland. The majority of them are
either Pentecostal or charismatic.
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It
should be noted that missionary zeal has always had
a very special place among the Irish from the early
days of the ancient Celtic Church.
Six
counties on the island are not politically a part
of Ireland. These six counties make up with is usually
referred to as Northern Ireland. Unlike the south
this area is largely Protestant with the Presbyterians
making up the largest denomination. The vast majority
of non-catholic Christians in Northern Ireland are
evangelicals. However, many of their churches are
lifeless.
As Biblical Christians let us commit ourselves to
praying for the people of both Ireland and Northern
Ireland. Let us pray for a fresh move the Spirit of
God amongst these people. |
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us also pray for new Patrick’s will arise in this
part of the world who will like Patrick of old once again
claim Ireland for Christ and His Gospel. |
[1]
SAINTS OF GOD: This term refers to all believers. Traditionally
some churches have chosen to remember and honor certain
believers who have been either martyred for their faith
in Christ or who have excelled in their Christlike in living
life. In remembering and honoring God’s saints, we
do not adore, venerate, pray to, or exalt these believers
we simply remember and honor them. |
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