Ian R. K. Paisley

Saturday one of the truly great statesmen and truly great preachers of our time passed from this life into the presence of the Lord. Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley was a giant of a man, both in physical stature and in political as well as spiritual influence on a world wide stage. Very deliberate in both speech and action, he packed three lifetimes into one as the pastor of the Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church, a Member of the British Parliament, and a Member of the European Parliament. He was a man who stood in the gap unafraid to fight political or ecclesiastical battles, and was a force to be reckoned with for over fifty years.

Dr. Paisley was a tall, barrel-chested man with a voice that thundered when he spoke. No one who ever heard him came away unaffected. He was a compelling man, you either liked him or you didn't, but there was no middle ground. He was a leader in the Fundamentalist movement and a defender of the absolute authority of the Scriptures without compromise. In 1951, at the young age of 25, he founded the Free Presbyterian Church movement in Northern Ireland. He became involved in Ulster politics often taking to the streets to organize protests, and had such a huge following that when arrested and jailed for an illegal assembly in 1968, thousands took to the streets to protest his imprisonment. Upon his release the attendance at his church doubled.

He was a tireless campaigner against the Irish Republican Army and in 1970 won a seat in the Stormont Parliament in Belfast, and became a member of the British Parliament. In 1973 he founded the Democratic Unionist Party to oppose the Ulster Unionist Party, which had controlled Ulster politics since 1922. In 2005 the DUP overtook the UUP as the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland. In 1979 Paisley won an overwhelming vote to the European Parliament where he gained a reputation for standing up for all of his constituents regardless of their religious affiliation. Never far away from controversy, however, he was once forcibly removed from the Parliament for repeatedly interrupting the speaker and declaring Pope John Paul II to be the Antichrist.

As a preacher he was every bit as tireless defending the fundamentals of the Christian faith. It was my privilege to have heard him speak many times on the campus of Bob Jones University. He was popular among the students and never disappointed. He also had a sense of humor that he carefully crafted into his messages. He once said that when he came to BJU he always picked passages that included a verse eight because he said, "I know how you like to hear me pronounce 'A-yet.'"

Paisley was a staunch Calvinist, while Bob Jones repudiated the Calvinist doctrine. It did not affect the enduring friendship between Paisley and the Joneses. He was invited to speak shortly after the new Founder's Memorial Amphitorium was opened on the BJU campus in 1974. The auditorium seated 7,000, and had a huge speaker system over the platform, but bugs in the system often caused it to buzz on and off when someone was speaking. While Paisley was preaching in a chapel service it began to buzz. He stopped, looked up, and then said, "It sounds like bees in the tulips." If you know anything about Calvinism you'll understand the joke, but it went over the heads of many of us that morning who were not Bible majors. When the Internal Revenue Service had revoked Bob Jones University's tax exempt status in 1980, Paisley mentioned that they both had similar problems. We had our IRS, while in Northern Ireland they had their IRA.

I met him personally only one time. I was walking passed the Fine Arts Building on the campus just as he came out of the door of a guest apartment on the side of the building. He greeted me and enjoined me in conversation for a couple of minutes. In spite of his stature he was not too important to take time to talk to a nobody student like me. In our brief encounter he learned that I had a class with his daughter, Rhonda, who was also a student. With a sly smile he winked at me and asked me if I had asked her out yet. "No," I said, "but I like her Irish accent." "Ah, yes," he said and laughed.

As a speaker he was always purposeful and methodical, almost as if he had intentionally chosen every word to give his messages the greatest impact. He was a master at pause and effect in his style. In the pulpit he would pray at the beginning of each message and he always ended the prayer by saying, "To this end I take, thank God He undertakes ... for me. Amen and amen." His messages were never simple devotionals, they were theological landmarks, which he skillfully presented in a clear, simple and understandable manner. At Bible Conference in 1993 he preached the greatest message I have ever heard from 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, keying on verse 24. He began by examining the arguments of unbelievers against God, and then totally destroyed them with Scripture.

"The Jews say, 'if only God would give us a sign.' Ah, but that's exactly what He did," Paisley said softly. "He gave them a sign in the form of the Son of God," he continued, his volume level rising. Then he roared, "Who is He? He is none other than Chrrrist, the power ... of God, ... and Chrrrist, the wisdom ... of God." I will never forget the thunderclap of his voice as he raised his right arm and rolled the "r" in Christ, and then raised his left arm as he did it again. I bought a tape of the message and played it over and over until I wore it out. One thing that was always evident in his messages was the absolute exaltation of Christ.

Politically, Dr. Paisley seems to have softened his tone in his later years, even agreeing to a compromise arrangement with Gerry Adams and his Sinn Fein organization, the IRA terrorists, in order to bring peace to Northern Ireland. But as long as he had breath, he still preached Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God. Fundamentalism has lost a great warrior, but he would be disappointed if we were to mourn his passing. Speaking of death he once said, "If you hear in the press that Ian Paisley is dead, don't believe a word of it. I'll be more alive than ever. I'll be singing as I sang never before."

And so he is.