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January 2025
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Man's consciousness of God
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Evidence of God's Existence
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God is Spirit Who must be worshiped
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Introduction Pt 2preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Jan 14, 2025
Tears of Joy and Sorrow
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An introduction
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Jan 7, 2025
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preached by Mrs. Ann Foster on Sat Feb 25, 1984
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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here
Artificial Intelligence - the frenzied hope of many . . . .
The BBC carried the following headlines in a news report:
PM plans to ‘unleash AI’ across UK to boost growth
Whenever the supporters of AI begin to pontificate on the topic of their latest fantasy, they sound like a recital from a science fiction comic!
It is the ‘be all and end all’ of man’s fondest dream! Supporters of AI would have us believe that it will usher in a utopian era, BUT will it??
BBC commentators, Liv McMahon, Zoe Kleinman & Charlotte Edwards had some words of warning for the Prime Minister!
“But the government faces questions over how much time and money will be needed to make its vision a reality, amid concerns over borrowing costs and the falling value of the pound.”
“The government tasked AI adviser Matt Clifford with creating a UK action plan for supporting the growth of artificial intelligence and its use in public services.
He came back with 50 recommendations which are now being implemented.
Among these is for the UK to invest in a new supercomputer to boost computing power – marking a change in strategy after the Labour government ditched the previous government’s plans for a supercomputer at Edinburgh University.
Sir Keir said AI ‘will drive incredible change’ in the country and ‘has the potential to transform the lives of working people’.
‘We’re going to make AI work for everyone in our country,” he added, saying the “battle for the jobs of tomorrow is happening today’.
“Sir Keir said the UK would become one of the AI “superpowers” – mirroring former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s drive to boost the UK sector so it could rival that of the US and China.”
The article goes on to set out: _
How the AI plan could affect you
Among the government’s proposals are:
AI will be used by the public sector to enable its workers to spend less time doing admin and more time delivering services. Click to read more…
Posted on 2025-01-15 a 11:43 pm
A further step down the road to national destruction
I recall once, in the late 1970s, when preaching in the Bedford, England area and staying with my dear friend, Dr Stephen Scott-Pearson and his family, I paid a visit a small museum there which was dedicated to the memory of John ‘the Tinker’ Bunyan, a native of that area.
The lady who supervised the little establishment asked me to sign the visitors book and excitedly informed me that Prince Charles had visited the museum and signed the visitors’ book but a short time before. She spoke excitedly of him and asked me what I thought of him, doubtless expecting me to endorse her opinion.
In reply I said, ‘King Charles I was a rascal, King Charles II was a greater rascal and I expect King Charles III to be an even greater rascal!’
This greatly astonished the dear lady but if she is alive, still she has had ample evidence that my assertion was in fact very true!
The latest evidence of Charles III’s ‘rascality’ has been announced in the press in recent days. One news website, GB news, heralded forth:
King Charles ‘set to travel to Italy to hold momentous first meeting with Pope’ since becoming monarch.
He is a ‘lover’ of all things popish as the previous encounters with the papal antichrists indicate.
Posted on 2025-01-11 a 11:01 pm
Tears of Joy and Sorrow
This is the audio recording of the message I preached at Wednesday night’s prayer meeting in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church.
The text was Ezra 3:10-13.
Read sermon notes hereWatch this sermon below:
Posted on 2025-01-09 a 11:36 pm
So near and yet so far away . . . .
Here is the headline in a BBC news report on Thursday, 2nd January.
UK’s biggest ever dinosaur footprint site unearthed
It is about the discovery of fossilised footprints of large dinosaurs. Of course you have the ‘evolutionist’s folly’ displayed in that they dated at some 166 million years ago.
The report details how they were uncovered. “The tracks were first spotted by Gary Johnson, a worker at Dewars Farm Quarry, while he was driving a digger.
I was basically clearing the clay, and I hit a hump, and I thought it’s just an abnormality in the ground,” he said, pointing to a ridge where some mud has been pushed up as a dinosaur’s foot pressed down into the earth. But then it got to another, 3m along, and it was a hump again. And then it went another 3m – hump again. Another trackway site had been found nearby in the 1990s, so he realised the regular bumps and dips could be dinosaur footprints.
“I thought I’m the first person to see them. And it was so surreal – a bit of a tingling moment, really,” he told BBC News.
The Evolutionist — ‘So near yet so far away from God’s truth’!
This was offered by way of explanation for the wonderful preservation of the very old footprints: “Something must have happened to preserve these in the fossil record,” said Prof Richard Butler, a palaeobiologist from the University of Birmingham. We don’t know exactly what, but it might be that there was a storm event that came in, deposited a load of sediments on top of the footprints, and meant that they were preserved rather than just being washed away.” Click to read more…
Posted on 2025-01-05 a 12:04 am
The men the Free Presbyterian Church needs in 2025
“And Uzziah . . . when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him,” 2 Chronicles 26:14, 16-20.
Paul wrote, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning,” Romans 15:4. There is much to be learned from the verses from 2 Chronicles 26 which I have quoted above. I read them on the Lord’s Day, 22nd December.
How very relevant they are for the Free Presbyterian Church today!
The first thing I would have you notice in the verses is that:
I. GOOD MEN CAN MAKE VERY SERIOUS MISTAKES!
1. Without a shadow of doubt, Uzziah was a good man, a great man! We can take God’s word on that!
“Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper,” 2 Chronicles 26:3-5.
2. Yet despite his undoubted regeneration by the grace of God, he committed a dreadful sin. We are told the ‘source’ of his sin. “And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction,” verses 15-16. That phrase simply means that when his kingdom became wonderfully strong for the Lord “marvellously helped” him, he became proud and haughty, and that to his “destruction”. Click to read more…
Posted on 2025-01-01 a 11:00 pm
Happy New Year!
Sincere good wishes to all our readers for a happy 2025 and my grateful thanks for your support and prayers for the witness of ‘The Burning Bush’ during the last year.
“For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name,” Hebrews 6:10.
Posted on 2025-01-01 a 10:49 pm
December 2024
Audio sermons
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KICS assembly talks. Current series: “KICS Studies – Children in the Gospels who met the Lord Jesus”
- Part 13, Part 14, Part 15
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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here
KICS - Why we should separate from Christmas celebrations, Pt 2
Kilskeery Independent Christian School being on holiday and there being no Assembly, I am sending out two studies which I conducted with the school 4 years ago.
They are entitled: ‘CHRISTMAS — why we should distance ourselves from the celebrations, parts one and two.
It is the Christian’s duty to keep themselves “unspotted (Greek – aspilos) from the world,” James 1:27. Peter uses the same word, “unspotted” when he wrote of how we must be “diligent” we must be in maintianing our purity while awaiting the return of the Saviour. “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, (Greek – aspilos) and blameless, 2 Peter 3:13-14.
Here is the second study.
I would like to consider with you my second part of my talk on how the birth of Christ should be celebrated.
I. I BELIEVE THAT CHRIST WAS BORN IN AND AROUND THE MIDDLE TO THE END OF SEPTEMBER.
The Bible does give us information about the time of His birth. We can work out from Luke 1:5, (8th in the schedule of priestly week long duties in the temple.) 8, 23-24. These duties began at the Passover, is around March/April on our calanedar. Passover in 2025 begins on April 12th. From these verses in Luke 1, we can conclude that John the Baptist was born about the middle of the month of March. Six months later the Saviour was born “And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren,” Luke 1:36.
In agreement with this is the fact that sheep were in the fields, verse 8, which would not be the case in mid-winter!
II. SEE HOW THE ANGELS CELEBRATED HIS BIRTH.
(A). They revealed the story of His birth unto men in great detail, 9-12.
(B). They burst into song, v 13.
III. CONSIDER HOW THE SHEPHERDS CELEBRATED HIS BIRTH.
(A). They recognised the divine nature of the news they had just heard, v 15.
(B). They heeded the good news, v 15.
(C). They acted immediately, v 16.
(D). They focused their attention on the Saviour, v 16-17.
(E). They shared the news with others, v 17.
(F). Their celebrations left them refreshed and glad.
That will not be the case with the ‘Christmas’ celebrations that men engage in!!! Wickedness and excess of every form is what will mark ‘Christmas’. We should avoid where possible all the sinful and superstitios and pagan-originated activies of this time of the year and witness rather of what the Bible tell us of the ‘coming of the Son of Man’ to save sinners.
Posted on 2024-12-31 a 10:54 pm
"On the outside looking in!"
Extracts from a ‘Belfast Telegraph’ article on the deposing of Rev David DiCanio, Saturday 28th December.
The sacking of a Free Presbyterian minister has unsettled a church which is changing faster than some of its clerics would like
Tiny Protestant denomination has had a disproportionate political and societal influence – but after years protesting against others, now some of its ministers are protesting against it
The Free Presbyterian Church — Northern Ireland’s most hardline Protestant denomination — has just ejected a minister for being too hardline.
It’s an episode which in other circumstances might mean little, but which relates to a far deeper shift within the church founded by Ian Paisley in 1951.
Even that might be of little relevance beyond the few thousand members of this institution. Yet Free Presbyterianism has never simply been about God; it’s always been closely linked to developments in secular power.
Once that was about denouncing the powerful; these days, there’s a good chance that the powerful are in a Free Presbyterian pew on a Sunday morning.
Free Presbyterianism has never been a mass movement akin to the Presbyterian Church or the Anglican Church, let alone the Catholic Church. It’s smaller than the Baptist or Pentecostal churches, yet far better known because of the high profile of many of its members and its outspoken public protests which often attract media coverage. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-29 a 9:46 pm
How much do the redeemed in Heaven know about the activities here on earth?
There is a more substantial link between heaven and earth than we Christians can perceive. There is much of heaven’s activity on earth of which we are not aware. The Bible clearly indicates that. For instance, the Saviour said on one occasion: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven,” Matthew 18:10. Again, we are told by Paul of the angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Hebrews 1:14.
I have been made to wonder, as a result of personal experiences in recent times, just what the redeemed in glory know of events that are taking place here on earth. As I pondered this matter, the first thing that occurred to me was:
I. WHATEVER THEY KNOW CANNOT IN ANY WAY DEPRIVE THEM OF THE JOY AND PEACE OF THE HEAVEN WHICH THEY HAVE ENTERED!
1. Heaven is a place of perfect, uninterrupted peace and happiness for the redeemed. It is spoken of as a place of rest. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God,” Hebrews 4:9. The word ‘rest’ carries the meaning of ‘a keeping of the Sabbath’. As the Lord rested after He had created the universe, so the believer enters a similar rest when they die and go to heaven. This is emphasised in that heavenly announcement in Revelation 14:13. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” Blessed rest is the portion of the redeemed throughout eternity when they depart this world!
That being so, if they know anything of this world’s activities, it is a knowledge ‘sanctified’, or ‘filtered’, if I may use that term, so that nothing of the wickedness of this world is conveyed to them that would disturb their peace. I cannot really understand how this may be but I feel it is a logical conclusion we must draw if we do understand that the saints of God in heaven know something of events taking place in the world.
2. Perhaps I can draw a parallel with the knowledge the Lord has of events on earth but which do not defile Him or deprive Him of the perfect peace that is the eternal disposition of the eternal God. Here on earth, the saved sinner knows something of the ‘peace of God’. “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus,” Philippians 4:7. “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful,” Colossians 3:15. The peace spoken of here is that peace which comes from the knowledge that “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-27 a 8:54 pm
KICS - Why we should separate from Christmas celebrations, Pt 1
Kilskeery Independent Christian School being on holiday and there being no Assembly, I am sending out two studies which I conducted with the school 4 years ago.
They are entitled: ‘CHRISTMAS — why we should distance ourselves from the celebrations, parts one and two.
It is the Christian’s duty to keep themselves “unspotted (Greek – aspilos) from the world,” James 1:27. Peter uses the same word, “unspotted” when he wrote of how we must be “diligent” we must be in maintaining our purity while awaiting the return of the Saviour. “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, (Greek – aspilos) and blameless, 2 Peter 3:13-14.
Here is the first study.
I. ‘CHRISTMAS’ WAS UNHEARD OF AMONGST CHRISTIANS FOR SOME 300 YEARS AFTER CHRIST’S ASCENSION.
‘Christmas’ is but a ‘christianising’ of a pagan mid-winter feast by the ‘church’ that had already largely departed from simple Bible religion. Like a farmer dresses up a few old sticks as a ‘scarecrow’, a make-believe man. That is what ‘Christmas’ is. A mere make-believe celebration of the birth of Christ. It was the 1300s before the very name ‘Christmas’ appeared. The ‘Saturnalia’, a Roman pagan feast, began on 19 December and lasted for the best part of a week. Morality and restraint were abandoned. We can easily see that is what takes place at this time of the year in the name of celebrating the birth of Christ.
II. THE CHIEF CENTRES OF THESE CELEBRATIONS ARE NOT WHERE CHRIST IS HONOURED.
Pubs, dance halls, parties etc., are places where the name of the Lord is blasphemed and the Law of God despised and rejected! That is how it is in such places 12 months of the year and it does not change at this time of the year!
III. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES ARE REQUIRED TO TAKE SPECIAL ACTION TO RESTRAIN LAWLESSNESS DURING THESE CELEBRATIONS.
Drunk driving, disorder and fighting on the streets, shop-lifting and stealing are rampant. This cannot be of God! This is very different from the scene we read of in Luke chapter 2. There we have heavenly and earthly praise to God. “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. . . . And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them,” verses 13-14, 20.
Nothing contrasts more with the modern ‘Christmas’ scene than this!
Posted on 2024-12-24 a 9:42 pm
The true character of ‘Contemporary Christian Music’ revealed on our doorstep!!!
On two nights Keith and Kristyn Getty brought their ‘Home For Christmas’ show (that surely is a significant definition of the event that is used in their announcement of it) to the SSE Arena, Belfast. on 19th and 20th December!
We are told in the ‘blurb’ announcing the affair that — ‘The Grammy-Nominated duo will be performing well-known carols and hymns along with new songs to fill everyone with holiday cheer’.
Considering the booze-induced ‘cheer’ that permeates society at this time of the year this is hardly a prospect that should encourage a true Christian to attend their ‘show’.
A brief examination of the event highlights yet again that the whole ‘Contemporary Christian Music’ is marked and corrupted with the spirit of the world and is therefore an offence to the Lord and ought to be offensive to the devout Christian.
The Lord says: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time,” 1 John 2:15-18.
There was every mark of the world upon this ‘show’ and Christians are left with no excuse for embracing CCM and believing it is of God.
I. THE FIRST THING TO BE NOTED IS THAT ALCOHOL WAS ON SALE AT THIS ‘CHRISTIAN’ AFFAIR!
Here is an official reply to a question sent by a Christian bother to the Odyssey Complex regarding the sale of alcohol during the Getty event. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-24 a 12:31 am
Principles of Biblical worship which affect praise and music
This an article penned by my son, Rev Andy Foster, minister of Penticton Free Presbyterian Church, Canada.
It sets out the Biblical principles which govern our worship of God, including how it is we are required by Him to offer praise.
In the light of the present controversy within our denomination, this is an important source of reference for us all.
I trust that you will print it out and peruse it carefully and prayerfully.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
Principles of Biblical worship which affect praise and music
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord,” Colossians 3:16
To most Christians today the words “worship” and “praise” are synonymous. Yet the Scripture makes it very clear worship involves much more than the use of song to glorify God. However, praise and singing is an important constituent part of Biblical worship.
From the beginning of time to the extent of all eternity to come, singing the praises of God will be a feature. The Lord speaks to Job of the angels singing as the earth is created, Job 38:6-7: and Revelation 15:2-4 gives an insight into the singing of the saints in Heaven.
God’s people are commanded to sing the praises of God. It is an important part of their duty and work here on earth. But—like every other aspect of our duty—that praise is regulated by Scripture! The general principles of what God requires of men apply to our praise. We are not to suppose that we can sing whatever we wish and however we like! There is praise that is acceptable to God as worship because it conforms to what He requires, and there is praise that, because it does not so conform, is an abomination and idolatrous in His eyes.
I. THE ORIGIN OF PRAISE THAT PLEASES GOD.
1. The Scriptures. The primary and instructive role of the word of God in worship is seen in these words. This means that:
a. Biblical revelation is the sole source of our praise. It is to shape and inform every part of our singing! Praise is to be Biblical as far as its content is concerned. The theology of our praise is not to be sacrificed to the claims of poetic licence or musical appeal. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-21 a 9:12 pm
What is contemporary Christian music??
There is a need for a more expansive consideration of that problem which has arisen to distress devout believers within the Free Presbyterian Church and vex the unity of God’s people.
I do not have any ‘musical skill or technical knowledge’, but such is not needed to draw a right conclusion regarding the new style of praise that some are anxious to have embraced. A consideration of its origins and the settings in which these ‘praises’ are often sung — one day in a church assembly and also in what can only be termed a ‘religious disco’ — indicates that such are not suitable for the true and holy worship of God! Rev David DiCanio’s video vividly exposed this evil sham. Discovering this truth will surely aid the discerning Christian in coming to a right conclusion in this matter.
This is a CCM ‘hymn’ being sung in a ’religious nightclub’ setting. Who is it will say that the use of such material is in keeping with the teaching of Holy Scripture?
Here are the words of a hymn by Keith & Kristyn Getty, leading exponants of ‘Contemporary Christian Music’, which has been sung in at least one of our churches. It has terms and phrases and words that are definitely linked to the gospel message and might easily be embraced and accepted.
What is our hope in life and death?
Christ alone, Christ alone
What is our only confidence?
That our souls to Him belong
Who holds our days within His hand?
What comes, apart from His command
And what will keep us to the end?
The love of Christ in which we stand
Oh, sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal
Oh, sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess
Christ, our hope in life and death
What truth can calm the troubled soul?
God is good, God is good
Where is His grace and goodness known?
In our great Redeemer’s blood
Who holds our faith when fears arise?
Who stands above the stormy trial?
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
Unto the shore? The rock of Christ
Oh, sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal
Oh, sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess
Christ, our hope in life and death
Unto the grave, what will we sing?
“Christ, He lives, Christ, He lives!”
And what reward will Heaven bring?
Everlasting life with Him
There we will rise to meet the Lord
Then sin and death will be destroyed
And we will feast in endless joy
When Christ is ours forevermore (forevermore)
Oh, sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal
Oh, sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess
Christ, our hope in life and death (oh, sing)
Oh, sing hallelujah
Our hope springs eternal
Oh, sing hallelujah
Now and ever we confess
Christ, our hope in life and death
Now and ever we confess
Christ, our hope in life and death
However, compare its words with this well known hymn by Augustus Toplady. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-19 a 5:10 pm
Resisting the introduction of 'Contemporary Christian Music'
What Rev Greer says in this video clip is very true. Any attempt to introduce ‘modern, jazzed up music’ or ‘Contemporary Christian Music’ MUST indeed be opposed and stopped.
Rev John Greer, Clerk of Presbytery, preaching at the ordination and installation of his son, Stephen, as minister of Coleraine Free Presbyterian Church, 4th December 2024.
How?
But how is that to be done? There seems to be a great reluctance on the part of some senior Free Presbyterian ministers to recognise this evil and speak out against the very evident introduction of CCM that has already taken place. Its introduction is not merely a possibility to be opposed but a tragic thing that has already happened.
There have been public denunciations of CCM and the threat which it poses to traditionally scriptural worship. It has been stated on numerous occasions that any attempt to introduce it must be condemned. However, when evidence is produced that CCM is ALREADY within the ranks of Free Presbyterian congregations, the response is not concern and alarm, but rather abuse directed at the one producing the evidence!
The type of music which Rev. Greer objects to IS ALREADY IN THE DENOMINATION!
A look at a number of congregational websites will show that to be so. But despite many warning articles being published, no action has been taken by our Presbytery oversight. Action should have been taken by it since, as Rev Greer states, such a sin must be resisted.
So what is to be done?
One response would be to compile some examples of the music which Rev. Greer objects to, actually being used in Free Presbyterian congregations, and then publish it in a video as a means of exposing just how this infiltration has taken place.
If one were to do that, however, he may be accused by some, who ought to know better, of violating the command of Christ in Matthew 18:15. “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-13 a 12:00 am
A Liberian Christian protests against the deposing of Rev David DiCanio
Here is further evidence of the wrong that has been done to Rev David DiCanio and the far-reaching implications for the work of God in Liberia.
This young Liberian Christian’s words make sad reading though we salute him for his courage in standing up for the truth of God. I have not included his name though it is known to me for the simple reason that I do not wish to place him in the way of any retaliation.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
This protest was posted on Facebook and sent to me by Rev Stephen Hamilton.
The the name of the brother who posted it was displayed but I am not disclosing his name – The Editor.
“I want to take this time to publicly react to the statement released by the Executive of the FPCNA informing the Free Presbyterian Mission Church in Liberia of the disposition of the Rev Dicanio.
I am a convert saved in the FPMCL through the ministry of Dr. Alan Cairns, whose sermons were broadcast on the radio. I began attending the FPMCL under the ministry of Rev. Dicanio, under whose guidance I was baptized and began faithfully walking with the Lord as he shepherded us.
As a servant of the Lord who had to separate from friends, family, and even churches that adhere to this brand of so-called ‘gospel music,’ a worldly movement from which I was saved, I do not in any way take the slightest delight in supporting such sin.
Although I am grieved by the proceedings of the FPCNA against Rev. Dicanio, I am also encouraged and in total agreement with and supportive of faithful men like Rev. Andy Foster, Rev. Stephen Hamilton, and Rev. Milos Solc, who strongly opposed such proceedings against the faithful minister Rev. Dicanio.
I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the first letter read in October 2024 from the LPCNA presbytery to our church. I heard nothing about addressing the sin that a faithful minister exposed but instead about his ‘methodology,’ which seemed absurd to me. Rev. Milos Solc made a heartfelt statement: ‘I wish we would be in sackcloth and ashes, praying, fasting, and weeping over how far we have fallen, rather than being so dissectible about the methodology of the messenger—sin is in the midst, not the messenger.’
As a servant of the gospel of Jesus Christ, one who is seeking to be a gospel minister and who has to contend with this type of music, which is so prevalent in many churches in my own country and is destroying the lives of young people, I wholeheartedly oppose the sin of the CWM movement with my whole being. I am committed to faithfully separating from every form of such a trend, whether it be in any church, organization, or elsewhere.
I stand with Rev. DiCanio because I believe his actions were biblical. He did what Paul would have done when he withstood Peter publicly (Galatians 2:11). As a minister of the gospel, it is his duty to rebuke sin, just as Elijah did (1 Kings 18:17-18). He must act as one who will give an account to God for the souls entrusted to him (Luke 16:2; Acts 20:28).
How do we need to heed these words today!
Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Rev 2:6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
CCM is worldliness dressed up in religion and, therefore, must be abhorred! We need no other ‘methodology’ to address worldliness if our ‘methodology’ is grounded in Scripture.”
Posted on 2024-12-11 a 5:01 pm
Statement from Rev Milos Solc on the dismissal of Rev David DiCanio by the Free Presbyterian Church of North America
This is an article by Rev Miloš Šolc of the Free Presbyterian Church in the Czech Republic.
Rev Šolc has been a long time opponent of the evils of “Contemporary Christian Music”. He is a member of the Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America.
In this article he expresses his utter opposition to what the North American Presbytery has decided with regards Rev David DiCanio’s protest against ‘CCM’!
He along with Rev Stephen Hamilton and Rev Andy Foster opposed its decision to depose Rev DiCanio for his protest against ‘CCM’.
His article is a most welcome testimony to the very wrong decision of the NAFPC.
Rev Ivan Foster
I take this opportunity to publicly react to the statement released by the Executive Committee of the FPCNA, informing the churches of the deposition of the Rev DiCanio. After the release of an article by the Rev I Foster under the heading The Free Presbyterian Church at a decisive crossroad, I called the Rev Foster to express my regret that he did not include my name along with the Revs A Foster and S Hamilton, as the third minister who from the outset strongly opposed the proceedings of the FPCNA Presbytery against the Rev D DiCanio.
My words to the Presbytery from the very beginning of the proceedings expressed my grief over where we find ourselves as a denomination. I stated that if we truly understood the gravity of the issue of Contemporary Christian Music that has permeated many of the Free Presbyterian churches in Ulster and most of the young generation, we would be in sackcloth and ashes, praying and fasting, and weeping over how we have fallen; certainly not dissecting the ‘methodology’ of the messenger. We would deal with the grievous message – sin in our midst, and not the messenger. We would understand the issue at hand.
As stated by the Rev I Foster in the above mentioned article, Dr Paisley was often criticised for his ‘methodology’ (as was my grandfather the Rev M Šolc Sr, a mighty servant of the Lord in this land, the Czech Republic; and as I have been). But interestingly enough, the one unifying feature of these critics is that they have no perfect method of their own to offer, since they don’t actually do anything, just as is the case here with the issue of Contemporary Christian Music in our Free Presbyterian churches in Ulster, hence the spread of this carnal, sinful music. And now, when a minister exposes this sin, we condemn him instead. You couldn’t make this up. By doing so, we have accelerated and encouraged the sin, and everything that it brings.
In no way whatsoever do I delight in dealing with this matter, nor do I delight in controversy. Nor do I have any other agenda. I believe that for all those who have stood against these proceedings, it has been a great grief and burden – for me, very personally. My separation from my family church and Baptist denomination for four generations–both my father and grandfather being leading ministers, and I an elder–was on the very issue of Contemporary Christian Music and compromised associations. Here is a very pertinent excerpt from my March 2, 2002, resignation letter:
This is not a rash decision, but something that has been a process for the last number of years. It was just this past Friday that our young people attended a youth rally at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre called Missionfest 2002. There we heard a ‘Christian’ rock band entertain hundreds of youth…If that is what we have to offer to young people who are seeking the Lord or who are trying to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), we have NOTHING at all! It is secular, it is carnal, it is of the lusts of the flesh, it is irreverent and unholy – it is blasphemous! The Word of God says to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:2), and what I witnessed at the above event…to that the Lord could only say as He said by the prophet Amos: “Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs” (Amos 5:23). There is little surprise that our young people are so spiritually weak and unstable, when this is what they are fed. We have all failed in guiding them in purity and truth.
How true these words ring today in the situation we find ourselves in, in the Free Presbyterian Church, some 23 years later! Who would have believed it?
If I have taken a hard stand at a great cost, against my own father, family, former church and denomination, other New Evangelical ministries, on this very matter of Contemporary Christian Music, how could I tolerate or excuse the same sin in my own denomination. What sort of a witness would that be? What sort of a witness would that be to my own wife, sons, and daughter? What sort of a witness would that be to the church here in the Czech Republic to which the Lord sent me to be a watchman to give them warning from Him (Ezekiel 3:17) and to lead them in the faith of the “old paths” (Jeremiah 6:16)? What sort of a witness would that be to those that I admonished for this sin? In this context, it really is a very straightforward matter. Tolerating or excusing this sin would be a betrayal of my calling. It would be the end of this separated ministry. It would be the end of the Lord working in our midst. It would be shameful hypocrisy. A double standard. A respecting of persons. A falsehood. Unrighteousness. “The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). “How are the mighty fallen” (2 Samuel 1:27).
I wholeheartedly, before God, agree with the response to the FPCNA Presbytery statement on the deposition of the Rev D DiCanio of the Rev A Foster, as published in the aforementioned article by the Rev I Foster. It is an accurate, careful, and biblical summation of these shameful proceedings against the Rev DiCanio, highlighting two key issues: one, the biblical duty of a preacher to publicly expose public sin; and two, the sinfulness of Contemporary Worship Music – an outflow of Contemporary Christian Music. Indeed, the Presbytery of the FPCNA has acted very shamefully, foolishly, wrongfully, and cowardly in this matter, and I fundamentally and completely reject its ratification of the guilty verdicts of both Judicial Commissions and its deposition of a faithful minister of the Gospel. This must come as no surprise to the Presbytery, as the Presbytery itself is my witness, as well as the documentation of the proceedings, that I most firmly opposed it in this matter from the very beginning, both in word and deed. Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me.
Before God, the only Righteous Judge of all things,
In Christ our Lord,
Rev Miloš Šolc
Free Presbyterian Church in the Czech Republic
Posted on 2024-12-10 a 11:50 pm
A preoccupation of many today!
“And they began to enquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest,” Luke 22:23-24.
I read Luke 22 on the Lord’s Day passed. It deals with issues that took place in a day when the cause of Christ is in the midst of a crisis. It provides us with an insight to events impacting upon the whole Free Presbyterian Church.
I am referring to the dismissal of Rev David DiCanio from the ministry of the gospel. David DiCanio’s ‘sin’ was to fearlessly denounce that which is already denounced in God’s Word, ‘Contemporary Christian Music’, and which is specifically denounced in the standards of the Free Presbyterian Church.
However, there are those ministers and elders who defy the Bible’s denunciation and encourage the use of such unscriptural music in the worship of the Lord.
David DiCanio I believe, offended those whose minds were set, like the minds of the apostles in our text, upon self-importance and self aggrandisement rather than upon the information given them by the Saviour regarding the climax of His earthly ministry.
In considering these verses I was struck by the fact that:
I. THE MIND OF GOD’S SERVANTS, EVEN AS THEY STILL SAT AT THE TABLE WHERE THE SAVIOUR HAD JUST INDICATED HIS APPROACHING DEATH, SEEMED INDIFFERENT TO THAT REVALED TO THEM IN THE SAVIOUR’S WORDS!
1. How could those men be occupied with self esteem and self importance in the aftermath of the Last Supper? Had they heard nothing of what He had said?
“And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you,” Luke 22:14-20.
The Saviour had just announced that He was to be taken “by wicked hands” and “crucified and slain,” Acts 2:23. But the apostles were occupied by thoughts of vain glory!
2. Is it not sadly so today? The Free Presbyterian Church was brought into being to engage in the battle for truth and the honour and glory of the Saviour as His enemies crowded around to overthrow all that was His.
That battle rages still today BUT there are few in our church who engage the enemy as that enemy was engaged by Dr Ian Paisley in those early days. I submit that there are men more interested in who will hold office and flaunt their ‘authority’ than in the shameful treatment of the Saviour both within and without of the ranks of professing Christians!
I doubtless will offend some by saying this BUT what I say is the mind of many ministers if they would but say it publicly rather than just privately amongst themselves! Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-09 a 11:49 pm
The Free Presbyterian Church at a decisive crossroad!!
Many Free Presbyterians will be shocked to learn that Rev David DiCanio has been ‘deposed from the ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America for the sin of contumacy.’ The sin he is charged with is a ‘stubborn refusal to obey or comply with authority.’
Below is a statement which my son, Rev Andy Foster, read to his congregation in Penticton in response to the decision of the Presbytery of FPCNA, which we have also included.
I am most happy to be in total agreement with what my son says and to follow his lead and that of Rev Stephen Hamilton, both of whom have been to the fore in opposing the utter folly of the leadership of the FPCNA in this matter. This decision is the result of a ‘pandering’ by leaders of the FPCNA to the demands of some prominent ministers here in the Ulster Presbytery.
The exposure by Rev DiCanio of the use of ‘Contemporary Christian Music’ within some of our congregations here in Ulster, in the video he sent out, referred to by Rev Andy Foster in his statement, stirred the ire of the ministers and those involved in this sin.
However, the FPCNA has in its statement on worship a clear denunciation of CCW music. The relevant portion is quoted in Rev Andy Foster’s statement below.
The Ulster Presbytery, being in union with the FPCNA, is in agreement with that position on this worldly and unscriptural form of worship.
Yet prominent members of our Ulster Presbytery sided with the users of CCM within our congregations and ‘secretly’ demanded that the FPCNA act against Rev David DiCanio.
The result of that pressure has been the unscriptural and unjust dismissal of a man of God who has faithfully laboured to establish a thriving missionary witness in Liberia on the contrived basis that he refused to repent of that which in essence is but his obedience to God’s Word.
His ‘sin’ is denouncing that which is considered a sin in the stated standards of the Free Presbyterian Church in a fashion displeasing to his accusers. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-08 a 9:33 pm
Christian Institute: Alliance Party conversion therapy law could see parents jailed for seven years for 'discouraging their child from gender transition or sexual experimentation'
The following report appeared in today’s ‘Belfast Newsletter’, Friday 6th December.
In it, the ‘Christian Institute’ indicates the dangers that will arise from the legislation which the Alliance Party deputy leader, Eoin Tennyson revealed his proposals on Thursday.
Tennyson professes openly that he is a sodomite!
Here is the report by Philip Bradfield.
Alliance Party proposals to criminalise conversion therapy could see parents jailed for up to seven years “when they discourage their child from gender transition or sexual experimentation” a Christian charity has warned.
Anyone convicted is also liable to a fine of up to £5,000.
Alliance Deputy leader Eoin Tennyson revealed his proposals on Thursday, saying he was frustrated by delays at Stormont and Westminster to outlaw the practice.
Mr Tennyson proposes two new criminal offences – engaging in conversion practice and removing a person from NI for conversion practice.
He proposes that convictions must m eet four tests;- provision of a service; intent to change someone’s orientation or gender identity; targeted at an individual; harm must be caused.
The only defence would be that the accused’s conduct “was reasonable in the circumstances”.
Anyone convicted would face up to seven years in jail and / or a fine of up to £5000.
See his proposals in full HERE
But James Kennedy, NI Policy Officer with the Christian Institute, now says the Scottish Government gave up on similar legislation this year due to risk of legal challenge, asking Westminster to legislate instead.
He said Alliance has published a flow chart for the bill almost identical to Scottish proposals.
Mr Kennedy said: “Thankfully, abusive practices are already outlawed in Northern Ireland. Christians oppose verbal and physical abuse.”
He added: “Mr Tennyson has copied the threshold from the Scottish plans. The broad definition of ‘harm’ would mean a parent could be prosecuted when they discourage their child from gender transition or sexual experimentation. Even saying ‘you might regret it’ could be seen as causing fear and thus be illegal. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-06 a 11:38 pm
Alien lodgers entering the professing church!
“Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it,” Luke 13:18-19.
I will never forget brother Jordan Khan preaching on the above brief parable in Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church back in 1970. Brother Khan was a visitor to Ulster from India and preached in various congregations of our denomination. He “was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.” I recall his telling us that his father was a prayer partner to ‘Praying Hyde’, John Nelson Hyde (November 9, 1865 – February 17, 1912) an American missionary who preached in the Punjab state in India.
Jordan Khan’s exposition was an early warning of what, some 30-40 years later began to take place within the Free Presbyterian Church.
Please note from this parable:
I. THE TRUE WORK OF GOD HAS VERY SMALL AND HUMBLE BEGINNINGS!
“Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed.”
1. The greatest period of blessing and expansion in this New Testament age began with a small group of men and women meeting in prayer. “And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren,” Acts 1:13-14. We are told that earlier when they gathered in this same room: “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,” John 20:19.
The early days of the apostolic church were indeed days of humble and trembling beginnings.
They were days of clinging to the Lord for mercy and help in the face of the opposition of men stirred up by the devil.
2. Some are still alive within the ranks of the Free Presbyterian Church who will recall the early days in the 1950s when the opposition of our ecumenical opponents was most vicious. I wonder how many know that a godly founding member of Ballymoney Free Presbyterian Church was assaulted and beaten by an ecumenical Presbyterian minister and some of his henchmen?
This spirit was still very much alive in the 1960s. My late wife, Ann, a graduate from Queen’s University, Belfast, was unable to obtain a teaching position because she was a Free Presbyterian. Often times, once it was known that she was a Free Presbyterian, the interview was abruptly ended. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-01 a 11:46 pm
Attitudes all too common in a day of backsliding!
“They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly,” Amos 5:10.
I was not long converted when I heard an endearing word about Amos the prophet. Dr Paisley quoted from his book in response to criticism that was being heaped upon his head by ecumenical ministers, whose folly and defiance of God’s Word he had condemned. The verses he quoted are found in Amos 7:14-15.
“Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.”
I instantly learned that the Lord was pleased to call into His service those whom some might consider as being utterly unsuitable!
I later learned that the Lord had earlier displayed the same mercy and sovereign grace in the calling of that great prophet Elisha, anointed to that holy office by his great predecessor, Elijah.
“So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him,” 1 Kings 19:19-21.
I can say as did Amos, but even more unquestionably: “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son” but the Lord called me into His service, and in a faint likeness, I ministered to an ‘Elijah’. For shortly after I began my studies as student for the ministry in January 1965, Dr Paisley took me to live with his family for about six months and in a small way I ministered unto him, driving him around the province to gatherings and to gospel meetings and all the time gaining a knowledge of what it was to preach.
In our text, you have the prophet’s observation regarding the attitude of those intent on following their own devices and who detested the rebukes that the prophet addressed to them.
I. THIS IS AN ALL TOO COMMON ATTITUDE TODAY
This is a day of backsliding. Even the most unobservant Christian knows that this so. Worldly attitudes and notions have invaded the ‘church’! Sadly, many fail to recognise them for what they are. Ministers know at least something of what is happening BUT, sadly, are reluctant to address the issues because of the response that may be forthcoming. Amos encountered ‘hate’ and ‘abhorrence’!
1. There was defiance outburst against authority in the prophet’s day. “They hate him that rebuketh in the gate”. This is a reference to those who hold a God-appointed position of authority. ‘The Gate’ is where the judges sat and administered justice. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-12-01 a 11:27 pm
November 2024
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A glorious conclusion to the saga of the nation of Israel
“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God,” Amos 9:11-15.
What a happy future prospect for his fellow Israelites Amos, a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea, is inspired to predict as his final words. His book begins with judgment pronounced upon nations surrounding Israel and on Israel itself.
“Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes,” Amos 2:6.
Dark times
The days during which he prophesied were dark times indeed. Isaiah, his fellow prophet, reveals that to us.
“The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers,” Isaiah 1:1-7.
Yet despite the dreadfulness of the days in which he lived, Amos could look forward to a future day of blessing for his nation!
There are those who would believe that the blessings referred to in our text are blessings that will fall upon the ‘Church of Christ’ and not upon the nation of Israel. They believe that because it is their view that God has finished with Israel as a nation and they have been cast away by Him forever and that being so, these blessings belong to those, ‘spiritually’ referred to as ‘Israel’, to whom the Lord turned when He rejected Israel following the crucifixion of the Saviour by Israel. In other words Gentile believers!
I do not believe that to be so, and that for a number of simple reasons. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-11-25 a 6:00 am
Christian Education - Rev Daniel Henderson
Friday evening, 22nd November was the 45th annual prizing of Kilskeery Independent Christian School and also the annual prize-giving of Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church Sabbath School.
It was a very special night and I would encourage those who can to view the video recording of the meeting on Facebook.
Here is the audio recording of the sermon preached by guest preacher, Rev Daniel Henderson of Moneyslane Free Presbyterian Church.
I say sincerely to our readers that his message was one of the best messages ever preached in Kilskeery. He spoke from Psalm 78:1-11. It was a powerful exposition of God’s interest in children. I just wish every Free Presbyterian could hear it, especially those who foolishly send their children to state schools.
I would urge you all to share the message with those you know and love, for it is a message from the Lord.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
Posted on 2024-11-23 a 10:01 pm
A proposed law to legalise assisted dying
This article, which is the substance of a sermon I preached on ‘EUTHANASIA’ quite some years ago. On 14th May 2006, I again dealt with the subject from the text: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them,” Revelation 14:13. It first appeared in the ‘Burning Bush’ back then. I am attaching a recording of that message.
The subject that prompted it has come up again, though under a slightly different title!
The title may have changed but the Christian’s response to this subject has not. It is, as it was in the past, ‘Thus saith the Lord’!
Here is what the BBC reported on November 12th, 2024.
A proposed law to legalise assisted dying, external for terminally ill adults in England and Wales has been formally introduced in the House of Commons.
MPs are due to debate and vote on the bill on 29 November – further debates and votes would be needed before the bill becomes law.
The bill – called the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – would make it legal for over-18s who are terminally ill to be given assistance to end their own life.
‘Assisted dying’ simply means helping a person to commit suicide. If those who would take their own lives only knew what lay after death they would not for one moment act so.
For those who are trusting in Christ for salvation from the consequences of their sin — eternal damnation — there is no inclination to end their life by their own hand, no matter what suffering they are enduring. Such a Christian may well pray that the Lord would intervene and take them to heaven and ask loved ones to likewise pray for them, but they know that self-murder is a great sin and they would not wish their last act on earth to be one so heinous!
For a government to contemplate legalising such a wickedness is but further evidence of the depths of the nation’s apostasy from God that is ever increasing around us.
Having been rejected in the past and now once more being pursued by blind and deluded leaders, is proof of the determined spirit of those who would cast aside every statute of God!
We have slightly revised the original article but have not in any way altered the main thesis of it.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
EUTHANASIA OR ASSISTED SUICIDE — WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURES?
The word euthanasia is of Greek origin and comes from two words meaning ‘GOOD DEATH’. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-11-20 a 12:49 am
The certain hope of those "looking"!
“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation,” Hebrews 9:28.
The religion of Christ is a religion of certainties! Daniel, upon revealing God’s future purpose to king Nebuchadnezzar underlined that the matter was settled and could not be altered.
“Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure,” Daniel 2:45.
The words ‘certain’ and ‘sure’ carry the meaning of ‘utterly reliable’!
BUT we live in a world of uncertainties because of our very limited perception of what lies beyond the ‘here and new’!
Thus James counsels us:
“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that,” James 4:13-15.
The Word of God sets before us that of which we may be absolutely certain. Our text sets forth just such a most happy and thrilling certainty — the glorious return of Christ our Saviour!
Please consider some simple considerations set forth in this lovely verse.
I. HE IS SPECIAL BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE WHO BORE THE SINS OF MANY
“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.”
1. Let me underline that word ‘offered’. It is absolutely true that Christ offered Himself , as we read in Hebrews 9:14.
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
But it is also stated in that familiar and much loved verse, John 3:16, that the Father offered His Son at Calvary. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-11-16 a 12:05 am
The first 'right' decision the man ever made !!!!
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigns over Church abuse scandal
The Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned, days after a damning report into a prolific child abuser associated with the Church of England.
In his resignation statement, Justin Welby says the report “exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about the heinous abuses of John Smyth.”
He says when he was told in 2013 that police had been notified, “I believed wrongly that an appropriate resolution would follow.”
“It is very clear that I must take personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period between 2013 and 2024,” he says.
Smyth was not brought to justice before his death in South Africa in 2018.
Posted on 2024-11-12 a 6:33 pm
A storm of wrath approaching that few are aware of!
“Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us,” 2 Kings 22:13.
I read the chapter 22 of 2 Kings this morning. I was made aware of the fact that the news brought to godly Josiah by Huldah the prophetess that fearful and final judgment would break upon Judah very soon, the king was stirred to do what he could to reform his kingdom, in the time that remained.
The prophetess had declared the Lord’s determined purpose in judgment.
“And she said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read: because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched. But to the king of Judah which sent you to enquire of the LORD, thus shall ye say to him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, As touching the words which thou hast heard; because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the LORD, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the LORD. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again,” 2 Kings 22:15-20.
Floods in Spain
There is a flood that has broken forth upon our nation like that which recently wrought such devastation, grieve and misery upon Spain, only it is even more destructive and catastrophic for it is the eternal wrath of God that will fall upon men for their defiance of Him.
King Josiah did much good and saw a turning in the nation but it was but temporary for the next generation reverted back to apostasy and rebellion as was seen in the lives of his sons.
I believe we had a ‘Josiah-like’ reformation here in Ulster in the 1960s to the early 1980s, but it is passing away and there is a reverting back to the evils that were rejected back in those glory days!
Despite the repeated warnings of the encroaching inroads of the falsehoods rejected by the Free Presbyterian Church so half a century ago:
‘Few there are who seem to care,
And fewer still to pray!’
I find myself unable to keep up with the torrent of shameful news reports which highlight the descent of the nation into the grossest of iniquity. Doubtless the weariness and the limiting of ability that comes with old age plays its part in that failure but I believe that chiefly it is that the tide of inquiry is mounting ever higher!
Here are some of the recent clear indications of the perversion, duplicity and sin that is endorsed and eulogised in our land!
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
CHURCH OF ENGLAND ACCUSED OF COVERING UP CRIMES AGAINST CHILDREN!
The ‘National Church’ in England, of whom the king is a titular head, is a cesspool of inquiry as is seen in this report from the ‘Family Education Trust’.
It is the manifestation of that same depraved corruption that Jude said had invaded the ‘church’ in his day.
“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” Jude verse 4.
What hope is there for a nation when such behaviour is openly practised but little is really done in response to its exposure! Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-11-09 a 8:26 pm
The ecumenical attempt to undo the Reformation
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle,” 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
(A message preached In Newtownabbey Free Presbyterian Church, Tuesday night, October 17th, 2017)
Jude was pressed in his soul to warn of the infiltration of the ranks of the Apostolic Church by those he called ‘creepers’! “There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” Jude 1:4.
Jude makes very plain the character and the objective of these men.
1. They are ‘ungodly’, ordained of old to condemnation.
2. They are intent on altering the Bible’s definition of God’s grace. From holiness and purity to ‘lasciviousness’ or ‘wanton filthiness’!
3. They determined on promoting a refusal and rejection of God the Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
An example of such a spirit was seen at Calvary. “But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you,” Acts 3:14.
That which was evident in the 1st century amongst the people of God continues today, indeed is stronger than ever it was.
The Ecumenical Movement within the professing Christian Churches is but the League of Creepers and Infiltrators of which Jude spoke in his day. Infiltrators will ever change their appearance in order to advance their scheme. The robes of Ecumenism are one of today’s disguises of these ancient enemies of God and Truth.
I say ONE of the disguises for there are many. During W. W. II, the number of spies at work on both sides of the conflict were legion! They attained the highest positions in the ranks of the enemy and served the cause they espoused by advancing lies and misinformation.
So it is today. Ecumenism is a fountain of falsehood, duplicity and misinformation. It is a chief source of deceit amongst unsuspecting Protestants regarding what the Bible teaches and what is the character and objectives of the leading opponent of Bible truth, the Church of Rome. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-11-08 a 6:00 am
Slavery in the days of the antichrist
“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men,” Revelation 18:11-13.
I was reminded of these words when I saw the following headline on a BBC news article.
Charity claims human trafficking ‘huge’ problem in Northern Ireland
The following is found within that article.
“ . . . the women referred to the charity are done so by the Home Office. They are newcomers to Northern Ireland who tend to have been trafficked prior to their arrival here. But some others, she said, are brought to Northern Ireland specifically to be exploited – whether sexually or for domestic servitude. While others include women who are from Northern Ireland and who are exploited by people from here.”
These poor women are made ‘slaves’ for the most depraved reasons. The most severe punishment should be inflicted upon those engaged in this wickedness. That will not be the case of course!
It is a long time ago when I first read the verses quoted above. When I read the reference to trade in slaves I was puzzled how that such could ever be the case. Surely the days of slavery are over! Well, it was not too long afterwards, as I grew in a knowledge of God’s Word, that I learned that as this age advances toward its conclusion, sin and wickedness will greatly increase.
Antichrist’s empire
The rise of the Antichrist’s empire, particularly in the last seven years of this age, will see an empire of the most depraved activities established. The times of previous pagan and heathen practices will be revived and that to a degree above all that ever went before.
In the empires of Babylon, of Greece and of Rome, which was the empire of Antichrist in embryo (Daniel 2 and 7), slavery was a common thing. It was part of every day life. That is seen in the references to it in the days of the apostles. Even Christian homes had slaves. I would think that slavery was practiced in homes and then the gospel came and changed the home wonderfully. I am sure that those who before were slaves were then henceforth treated very differently. It would not have been a simple matter to release one who was a slave. They likely had no family nearby, being taken from some distant region of the Roman Empire. They would have no possessions, no home other than that of their master and likely no skill or trade to provide them with a living.
This was a problem encountered in more modern times, following America’s President Abraham Lincoln issuing the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
In apostolic times, I think it was the case that a slave owner who was converted thought it best for those he had formerly treated as slaves, that he continue to employ them within his own household but now on a voluntary basis and that for wages.
Philemon
Paul’s epistle to his friend Philemon illustrates something of what I have just suggested as taking place under gospel influence.
Philemon was a good friend of Paul’s and highly regarded by him as a man of God. He was Paul’s “dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,” verse 1. Furthermore, there was a “church” in his house, verse 2. That is, there was an assembling of Christians in his house for worship and fellowship.
Paul rejoiced in the witness and testimony that Philemon had. ““For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother,” verse 7.
However, Philemon was a slave owner. He had one at least, Onesimus. Onesimus had run away from his master and had arrived in Rome, where by the providence of God, he met with Paul and was converted.
The epistle of Paul to Philemon was a plea by the apostle to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-11-06 a 5:10 pm
Message preached yesterday evening in Coragarry
Yesterday I preached at the Sabbath services in Coragarry Free Presbyterian Church in Co. Monaghan.
When I arrived home after the evening service I contrasted my weariness with how I felt in 1971 when I first travelled there to conduct a gospel mission in the old Orange Hall, beside which now stands the Free Presbyterian Church.
Back then, three meetings per Sabbath and very occasionally, four meetings as well as five meetings during the week, was a usual occurrence. That I was able to do without the least weariness.
But I was only 27 years old!
I enjoy yesterday’s visit and I am attaching a copy of our evening message. You may have listened to it before for I preached the same text on at least one other occasion.
Read sermon notes here
We pray that the folk in Coragarry will experience the Lord’s blessing as they welcome Mr Gregory Gibson, who is to be ordained and installed as their new minister at the end of this month. We wish Mr Gibson and his family every blessing.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
Posted on 2024-11-04 a 4:52 pm
Further update re RBL 'sodomite poppy'
Here is an a further update on the ‘pro-sodomite poppy’ promoted by RBL this year.
Jo Bartosch is a journalist who has taken issue with the ‘SodomitePoppy’.
The Royal British Legion’s day to forget — The “Pride poppy” demeans what should be a dignified occasion
I do not endorse all the views of this woman but what she says on the issue of the ‘SodomitePoppy’ is of note!
The RBL states that it has ‘‘Worked with them (Stonewall) in the past’! ‘Stonewall’ says of itself: “At Stonewall, we stand for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace (LGBTQ+) people everywhere. We imagine a world where all LGBTQ+ people are free to be themselves and we can live our lives to the full.”
In other words, this organisation is in open rebellion against God and His Law and seeks to promote everything God calls ‘ABOMINABLE’ and which will damn those who engage in such practices to ‘everlasting hell’!
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient,” Romans 1:26-28.
“But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things . . . . But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds,” Romans 2:2, 5-6.
“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly,” 2 Peter 2:6.
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire,” Jude 1:7.
Irrespective of RBL’s present relationship with ‘Stonewall’, it has obviously left its mark on the RBL as is seen in the sodomite badge that it is flouting and promoting this year!
I have no doubt that this will greatly hit the ‘Poppy Appeal’, for no person, who has any regard for God’s truth and common decency, will wish to be associated with an organisation which promotes the views and objectives of ‘Stonewall’!!
Churches should especially take note of this evil innovation by the RBL!
Sincere regards,
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Posted on 2024-11-02 a 4:08 pm
Another reason to hesitate before supporting the RBL ‘Poppy Appeal’
Yet another reason to hesitate before supporting the Royal British Legion ‘Poppy Appeal’!
This fact should be announced in every church!
Sincere regards,
Rev Ivan Foster
Posted on 2024-11-01 a 4:49 pm
God's purpose in the recent distressing revelations about political deceptions
“For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil,” Ecclesiastes 12:14.
News reporters notoriously seek out the most lurid headlines in order to intrigue the reader and encourage further reading or viewing. Selling their product is of the utmost importance and all other considerations, such as concern for the person or persons being featured in the article, the impact of the article upon friends and family or even truth itself, take second place.
There is an important place for the news media in society. There is a need for information on a whole range of matters which impact our lives and about which we need to be informed in order to make appropriate decisions, whether they be moral, political or financial.
Governments desire to control the ‘news’! Even in the freest of societies that takes place. There are many means used to accomplish this ‘control’. The issuing of false reports — ‘kite-flying’, simply ‘buying’ a reporter to set forth what the government wants the people to hear or conceal what they do not want the electorate to know.
Here is Ulster, there has been much of that over the last 50+ years! Elements within the government, the civil service and the various media outlets have been most keen to hide from the public the truth with respect to the long-term objectives of government, regarding the activities of Irish Republican terrorism.
Ever since William Gladstone introduced the ‘First Home Rule Bill’ in 1886, Ulster Protestants have been deeply suspicious of London’s intentions. The Home Rule Bill, and the successive attempts that followed would have placed Ulster’s Protestant majority under a Roman Catholic, Dublin based regime! Our forefathers back then adopted the slogan, ‘Home Rule is Rome Rule’ and they would have none of it. Indeed, when it appeared that London was prepared to use the British Army to force Protestants under Rome rule, our forefathers formed the Ulster Defence Force and prepared to resist such treachery by our own British government.
This map satirizes the Irish Home Rule crisis of 1886 and appeared two years later in the Conservative St. Stephen’s Review.
Members of the British Army prepared to Defy Orders
Providentially, there took place what was termed, ‘The Curragh Mutiny’. Wikipedia comments on the incident as follows.
“The Curragh incident of 20 March 1914, sometimes known as the Curragh mutiny, occurred in the Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland. The Curragh Camp was then the main base for the British Army in Ireland, which at the time still formed part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Ireland was scheduled to receive a measure of devolved government, which included Ulster, later in the year. The incident is important in 20th-century Irish history, and is notable for being one of the few occasions since the English Civil War in which elements of the British military openly intervened in politics. It is widely thought of as a mutiny, though no orders actually given were disobeyed.
With Irish Home Rule due to become law in 1914, the British Cabinet contemplated some kind of military action against the unionist Ulster Volunteers who threatened to rebel against it. Many officers, especially those with Irish Protestant connections, of whom the most prominent was Hubert Gough, threatened to resign or accept dismissal rather than obey orders to conduct military operations against the unionists, and were privately encouraged from London by senior officers including Henry Wilson.
Although the Cabinet issued a document claiming that the issue had been a misunderstanding, Secretary of State for War J. E. B. Seely and Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) Field Marshal Sir John French were forced to resign after amending it to promise that the British Army would not be used against the Ulster loyalists.”
‘The Curragh Mutiny’
Abiding Animosity!
It is a long time ago that in a press conference in December 1971, the then British Home Secretary, Reginald Maudling, made reference to an ‘acceptable level’ of violence in Northern Ireland. It was deemed a ‘political gaffe’ on his part but I have no doubt it revealed the animosity that abides still within the hearts of many mainland politicians toward the Protestants of Ulster and the sympathy those politicians have for Irish republicanism. Click to read more…
Posted on 2024-11-01 a 6:00 am