“And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe,” Ezekiel 2:6-10.
On the morning of 30th August, I read the second chapter of Ezekiel and I also read from 1 Corinthians, chapter 4, as part of my daily Bible reading.
“Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God,” verses 1-5.
Some 650 years separate the writing of these two portions of Holy Scripture but it is immediately seen that the prophet and the apostle were called upon to serve the Lord amidst opposition to their witness by a rebellious people and they were judged to be anything but what they truly were, the servants of God seeking to deliver God’s message to those whose hearts were set on defiance of God.
Both Ezekiel and Paul were sadly deemed to be purveyors of anything other than God’s Word by many believers!
In this the second and concluding part of our study, I come to a sad conclusion.
I. EZEKIEL OBEYED THE LORD BUT THERE WAS NO HEEDING OF HIS WARNINGS!
“Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted,” Ezekiel 3:1-7.
Ezekiel was made a ‘watchman’ by the Lord.
“And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me,” Ezekiel 3:16-17.
Our Day
Our day is one like that in which Ezekiel was called to witness. There is a need for God’s faithful servants to act as ‘watchmen’. It is defined by Strong’s Concordance as ‘to peer into the distance; by implication, to observe, await: — behold, espy’.
Such activities on the part of a minister are not welcomed by those who would ‘go their own way’! But it is, nevertheless, the calling of a faithful minister in these days!
There is a need for ministers to KNOW what lies ahead for this world and to WARN God’s people of what it is will be encountered by them in the future.
That is the basis of the inspirited warnings of the likes of the apostles Paul and Peter. (See 1 Timothy 4:1-7, 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 2 Peter 3:1-18.)
There is a need for ministers to watch over the behaviour of the people of God and challenge and correct any departure from God’s Word. The shepherd’s staff or crook was the means he used to turn a straying sheep back to the right path.
The staff the preacher must employ is the Word of God. Failure to use that ‘staff’ will only enable and assist in the scattering of God’s flock!
1. It is to be noted that the message of God he was given to preach, was as sweet honey to Ezekiel. That was because in the midst of the warnings of terrible judgment there were the ‘sweet’ promises of mercy.
“Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?” Ezekiel 18:23.
God is of a ready mind to pardon our sins and renew His merciful dealings with us but that is dependent upon our REPENTING of our present wrong doings!
Many Years
I have, over many years, sought to faithfully show that there is a straying within the ranks of the Free Presbyterian Church.
I am ready to acknowledge whatever short comings may be levelled against me in the manner of my issuing of the warnings, but none can deny that I have sought to challenge the unscriptural innovations some have sought to introduce which have been contrary to the teaching of God’s Word and the past testimony of the Free Presbyterian Church.
It is evident that often my appeals, even to Presbytery officers and my challenging of the behaviour of some ministers and elders, have been utterly ignored and correspondence unanswered and my challenges are simply dismissed and contemptuously treated as unworthy of a reply!
Christian Education
One issue that features large in the drift away from an earnest faithfulness on the part of today’s Free Presbyterian Church, is that of Christian Education.
It is forty six years since the first school was opened. There was, in truth, no great enthusiasm for the venture among many ministers. It was often repeated to me that it would mean an increased ‘burden’ upon ministers!
That spirit has not changed even though the dangers presented to the children of Free Presbyterian parents, great and all as it was in 1979, has increased manifoldly.
Today, the State school is the place where transgenderism, abortion, sodomy and other manifestations of today’s apostasy from God’s order by a rebellious world, are legitimised and sanitised and presented as normal to schoolchildren.
Key Aspects of the Education Authority’s Guidance
Supportive Environment:
Schools should foster an environment where transgender individuals are valued and supported.
Designated Contact:
Each school should have a designated staff member to act as a first point of contact for pupils questioning their gender identity.
Preferred Names & Pronouns:
Staff should respect a transgender pupil’s wishes regarding their name and pronouns, using them to promote safety and reduce the risk of bullying and discrimination.
Gender-Aware Practices:
Teachers are encouraged to adopt a gender-aware approach to teaching and learning.
Facilities:
Transgender pupils should not be forced to use facilities corresponding to their sex assigned at birth and should be offered appropriate, private facilities for changing.
Parental Notification:
Schools are advised to inform parents about a pupil’s transgender status, but only with the pupil’s knowledge and consent.
Challenging Bullying:
Schools must actively challenge homophobic and transphobic bullying.
Holistic Support:
The guidance aims to support the social, emotional, educational, physical, and spiritual needs of all pupils.
Warnings Ignored
Christian parents ignore the warnings of the likes of the Presbytery Education Board and continue sending their children under such fiendish influences, by either refusing to believe the warnings or by following the example of those who seem to be able to embrace such evil and work with and alongside it.
I am thinking of the Ballymoney elder, Mervyn Storey, who took the position of chairman of the Education Authority, even though that body was already engaged in pushing the evil agenda whereby today’s perversions are presented to children as developments which must be accepted as normal and any engaged in them must be treated with respect!!
It would appear that many Christian parents are prepared to treat such abominations as ‘normal’ and place their children under where they can be thus influenced.
Surely it must be seen that a most dreadful harvest will result and those parents will be made to deeply regret their folly!
Excuse!
Mervyn Storey felt that he offered a most reasonable ‘excuse’ for taking up the chairmanship of the Education Authority, by pointing out that the guidelines on ‘Transgenderism etc’ were already part of the EA agenda when he was appointed chairman!
That is equal to saying that since the whole gambit of ‘Ecumenism’ is well established in the mainline churches, a Christian may take up membership of such without breeching the Law of God!
That is how stupidly compromise with sin causes you to act!
There have been those who must really know better, who have endorsed this ludicrous reasoning!
“We will go with our young . . our sons and with our daughters,” Exodus 10:9
The lack of enthusiasm for Christian Education, which I referred to as being evident from the very start of that which is but an essential element of God’s teaching on ‘Separation’, has grown!
The Lord would have the offspring of the people of Israel come out of Egypt as well as the adults! But two Free Presbyterians Christian schools were recently closed and that was because there was a lack of a desire to continue with them, even though Christian parents were anxious that they do so!
A Few
There have only been a few ministers, elders and members of our denomination that have contacted me and offered their support for the articles and sermons I publish. I do not believe that those who have contacted me are the sum total of those concerned at recent developments within the Free Presbyterian Church.
However, it would appear that a sizeable number of ministers and elders are content with the serious drift away from “The old paths, where is the good way,” and where we will “find rest for your souls.” It would appear that they are prepared to defiantly answer the call of God by saying, “We will not walk therein,” Jeremiah 6:16.
I have repeated the offers of mercy that the Free Presbyterian Church may yet enjoy, upon repentance, and it has been as ‘honey’ to my mouth to be able to set forth such!
Ultimate Blessing
Like Ezekiel, I have been able to set forth the ultimate triumph of God’s grace amongst His ancient people Israel, at the end of this age, despite their many failings.
That certainly has been as ‘honey’!
“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; after that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there,” Ezekiel 39:25-28.
In my years of seeking to contend against the errors of today — something that was uppermost within the labours of the Free Presbyterian Church I joined in 1964 — I have ever sought to emphasise the final triumph of God’s purpose in grace amongst His people.
I joy in what is recorded in Matthew 25, and the parable of the ‘Wise and Foolish Virgins’, verses 1-13. It is Christ’s picture of the final activities of His Church in the closing days of this age.
“Then — the times referred to in the previous chapter, Matthew 24 — shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom . . . While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him . . . the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut,” verses 1, 5-6, 10.
I have repeatedly pointed out these words of the Saviour and sought to encourage God’s saints, who despair at the state of affairs in the world and amongst Christians, to see how it will all end and thus take hope.
Yes, there is ‘honey’ in the midst of the message of denouncing the compromise and backsliding of today and the disclosing of the judgment which such will bring amongst the disobedient Christians, who take no heed to the merciful warnings of God but in a proud spirit, akin to that shown in Jeremiah’s day by those who rejected him, reject God’s warnings.
I have known a strengthening of my soul in a fashion like that of Jonathan who was sustained by honey in the day of battle, to the displeasing of his father. Food had been banned from his soldiers by king Saul in a foolish belief that such abstinence would gain the Lord’s favour in the battle.
“And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground. And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for the people feared the oath. But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened,” 1 Samuel 14:25-27.
The phrase, “his eyes were enlightened”, is explained by Dr John Gill as meaning: ‘Which before were dim and dull through want of food, which is a common case; but became brisk and lively on eating the honey, nourishment being presently communicated, and he refreshed with it, and his spirits revived; and which quickly appeared in the briskness and sparkling of his eyes: honey being of a subtle nature, gives immediate refreshment and rigour; hence this phrase is frequently used by Jewish writers for refreshment, after hunger, fatigue, and weariness; and which virtue is ascribed by them to fine bread, wine, oil, and particularly to honey.’
As one who suffers from Diabetes, I know how quickly a spoonful of honey can restore a proper blood sugar level and alleviate the feeling of weakness and fatigue that a drop in blood sugar will bring!
God’s Word has indeed been as ‘honey’ to me over the contentious years in which I have sought to cry against the departure from the stand and witness that the Lord brought the Free Presbyterian Church in to existence to proclaim and maintain! I can truly say that I have been ‘enlightened’, refreshed and strengthened!
Jeremiah
So it was with God’s servant Jeremiah as he encountered earlier the same spirit of rebellion as did Ezekiel. He was sustained of the Lord during his ministry amidst dreadfully cruel treatment by his nation, just as the Lord had promised him.
“For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.” Jeremiah 1:15-19..
Thus energised by God’s ‘honey’, that faithful and brave prophet went forth and presented to a wayward people the merciful offer of God.
“Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. . . Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words,” Jeremiah 18:11, 18.
That vexatious and blindly stupid spirit of defiant rejection of God’s truth continued even after the Babylonian overthrow of Jerusalem, as is seen in Jeremiah 44:1-6.
“But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil,” Jeremiah 44:17.
I believe such will be the attitude in the approaching days of the end-time ‘Babylonian invasion’, the final apostasy within ‘Christendom’, as highlighted by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Sadly, we are not easily cured of our backslidings and will face the consequences of our folly if we do not obey God and embrace His offer of mercy!
“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: they would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil,” Proverbs 1:24-33.
Solemn dreadful words that we should tremble before and take heed of!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Thursday 11th September 2025