July 2026

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KICS assembly talks. Current series: “KICS Studies – Analysing Acts”

• School is out for the summer holidays. No talks will be posted this month.
• See all the talks in this series here.
• See all the KICS assembly talks listed here.

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Recently Featured Sermons

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Older Sermons Recently Added

Testimony of Rev. John Wylie
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Barbed arrows repulsed
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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here

A series of sermons titled “CAN WE EXPECT A BREATH OF REVIVAL AMIDST THE APOSTASY OF THESE LAST DAYS? “, preached at Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church beginning on Sunday morning, July 19, 2026 by Rev. Ivan Foster (Rtd).

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon below:

Posted on 2026-07-29 a 10:19 pm

There is hardly an opening prayer offered in a Bible-believing Sabbath service that does NOT contain an offering of thanks for the freedom we enjoy here in Northern Ireland to gather in God’s house to worship Him in accordance with His Word.

However, I suggest that few give thought to the sad truth that that freedom and others, which the Gospel of Christ has brought to our land, are slipping away under the corruption and error promoted by wicked men in an ever more increasingly rebellious world.

A recent article in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ highlighted one of the latest evidences of the threat to the Gospel in today’s society.

PSNI does not deny cleric’s claims that openly carrying a Bible in Northern Ireland hospitals could be criminal

It comes from the Government’s measures to protect those who wish to kill the unborn by abortion.

An Independent Methodist minister, Pastor Jonathan Campbell of Newbuildings Independent Methodist Church, in Co. Londonderry, has raised the question of the possibility of a minister committing a criminal offence by openly carrying a Bible in any hospital covered by an abortion protest buffer zone.

That is a zone which surrounds any hospital where abortions are carried out and within which any action that can be construed as a Christian protest against abortion – such as carrying a Bible – is deemed a criminal act!

Pastor Campbell said he is deeply concerned about the possibility.

The response of the Police Service of Northern Ireland ought to concern every Christian.

The ‘Newsletter’ reports: ‘The issue arose after police gave the Policing Board guidance on how the Safe Access Zone legislation applies at hospitals with abortion clinics.’

‘At a recent Policing Board meeting, member Patrick Nelson asked police how the legislation affected routine chaplaincy work, including praying with patients, reading scripture with them, carrying Bibles, pastoral ministry and visible religious practice. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-27 a 6:00 am

“Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble,” Jeremiah 11:14. (BC 608)

“Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good,” Jeremiah 14:11. (BC 601)

“Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee,” Jeremiah 7:16. (BC 600)

A few days ago I read the last of these verses as part of my daily reading. As I read them I remembered that this was not the first time that Jeremiah had received this command from the Lord. According to Ussher’s chronology, what is written in  chapter 7 is dated about 600 BC, chapter 11, 608 BC and chapter 14 is likely dated about 601 BC.

I have listed them above in chronological order. As is the case in many places in Holy Scripture, the chapters do not always appear in chronological order.

First command

In chapter 11:14, the events of which came first in these series of verses, Jeremiah is given  his first command to stop praying for the people. “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.”

I believe, as is ever the case with the Lord, His tone is somewhat gentler in this the earliest issuing of the warning against Judah, of that which He would bring upon them for their sin.

The next command is given some seven years after, again according to Ussher’s chronology. This time there is a specific forbidding to pray for the “good” of the people.

“Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good,” 14:10-11. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-25 a 6:00 am

This message was preached in June 1985, 41 years ago. It is a reminder of the chicanery of the British Government and the authorities here in Northern Ireland and the betrayal of our Protestant and constitutional heritage that has long been at work.

I might point out that in the message recorded here I mention Revelation 17 and the identify of the ‘woman’, that features in that chapter, as ‘Roman Catholicism’. Since preaching that message, through further studies of God’s Word, I have come to believe that Romanism is indeed the main ‘present-day’ embodiment of the evils personified in the ‘woman’, but I believe that the final manifestation of all things evil will be, as the Bible repeatedly says, a resurgent ‘Babylonianism ’.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

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“Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?”  Psalm 94:20.

The annual band parade in Castlewellan was banned because of a hastily arranged mass in the chapel, made so as to clash with the parade and thus give an excuse to the authorities to ban that parade. The parade was rearranged for last Thursday, June 27th. At no time did the local police wish to ban the parade. The banning was a political decision. The announcement of the ban was made in the early hours of Thursday morning in order to create the greatest possible confusion and to hinder the making of any alternative plans.

I issued a call for men to come to Castlewellan and that call was responded to despite the cancellation of buses that had been booked to carry supporters and bands to the parade and extensive police roadblocks stopping any approach to Castlewellan.

When I made to approach Castlewellan from Newcastle, just over one mile, I was told by the police that I could neither drive nor walk there. I insisted that I had a right to walk to Castlewellan and was arrested for ‘disorderly conduct’. I was released from police custody in Newcastle RUC police barracks at about 12:15 am on Friday morning.

During the evening the police were defied and Castlewellan was paraded.

The blame lies entirely with those who made the decision — Hermon, head of the RUC and Hurd, the Secretary of State for NI! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-23 a 6:00 am

AND YOU THOUGHT THINGS COULD NOT GET WORSE!!

The DUP leader, Gavin Robinson told the ‘London Evening Standard’ when speaking to reporters at CS Lewis Square in east Belfast, that he had “many exchanges” with the Rhondda and Ogmore MP, Sir Chris Bryant, described him as “good fun”.

What a ludicrous description of a man described by the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ as a a former ‘gay’ Anglican priest!

It is clear that the DUP and its leadership has lost all contact with the moral code of God’s Law!!

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster
21st July 2026

Posted on 2026-07-21 a 6:06 pm

“‭And‭ they departed‭‭‭ from‭ the presence‭ of the council‭, rejoicing‭‭ that‭ they were counted worthy‭‭ to suffer shame‭‭ for‭ his‭ name‭.‭ ‭And‭ daily‭‭ in‭ the temple‭, and‭ in every‭ house‭, they ceased‭‭ not‭ to teach‭‭ and‭ preach‭‭ Jesus‭ Christ‭,” Acts 5:41-42.

An open air meeting took place in the common area of Kilskeery after the Sunday evening service. These are generally held during the summer and early fall months when the weather is conducive.

This meeting was conducted by Rev. Ivan Foster (Rtd).

Posted on 2026-07-19 a 10:10 pm

A series of sermons titled “CAN WE EXPECT A BREATH OF REVIVAL AMIDST THE APOSTASY OF THESE LAST DAYS? “, preached at Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church beginning on Sunday morning, July 19, 2026 by Rev. Ivan Foster (Rtd).

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon below:

Posted on 2026-07-19 a 9:51 pm

A series of sermons titled “CAN WE EXPECT A BREATH OF REVIVAL AMIDST THE APOSTASY OF THESE LAST DAYS? “, preached at Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church beginning on Sunday morning, July 19, 2026 by Rev. Ivan Foster (Rtd).

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon below:

Posted on 2026-07-19 a 9:50 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter VII (Final Part)

Ecumenism … or … What is the Choice?

‘But there is really no alternative to the Ecumenical Movement, nothing else that has power to gather all the scattered, fragmented and dispirited forces of Christianity into a shape which gives us hope for the future, nothing that has the same chance of winning the allegiance of what is best in all forms of Christianity, nothing that can so well appeal to or so well use whatever there is of Christian intellect today. To oppose the Ecumenical Movement seems to me to opt for suicide.’ (Bishop’s Lecture 3.)

The Bishop claims that only ecumenism can unite the ‘best in all forms of Christianity’. I want to give you a look at what the Bishop calls the best of Christianity. We shall look at the statements of some of the world’s leading ecumenists. We will allow the reader to gauge for himself whether or not Ecumenism is Christianity at its best.

Mary a prostitute. . . Jesus an illegitimate 

Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, former President of the Methodist Conference, in his book, The Christian Agnostic, suggests that the Virgin Mary became a prostitute of the priests and the pregnancy that resulted is described in the Gospels as the Virgin Birth. Dr. Weatherhead goes as far as to suggest that Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, fathered Jesus Christ, while Mary was a temple prostitute. We quote: ‘We are told that, though old, Zacharias was not impotent, for he made his wife Elisabeth pregnant though she was past the normal time of childbearing… We are then told that Mary entered the house of Zacharias (Luke 1:39-40), stayed there three months, and then returned to her own house (Luke 1:56). In such a ‘sacred marriage’ as I have described, a stay of three months was required in the house of the priest, or in the sacred precincts, to make sure that pregnancy was established’. (See pages 61-63.)

Jesus of German blood

Dr. Nels Ferre, an American ecumenist, vies with Weatherhead in his depraved lunacies. He puts forward the following lecherous suggestion: ‘Mary, we remember, was found pregnant before her engagement to mild Joseph. Nazareth was held by a Roman garrison where the soldiers were German mercenaries. Jesus is also reported throughout a continuous part of the history of art, it is claimed, to have been a blonde. This is supposedly unnatural for the Mediterranean countries where this same tradition started and was continued. Hence Jesus must have been the child of a German soldier’!

Telling lies to God 

Dr. Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, is quoted in the Daily Mail, 2-10-61, as saying: ‘I believe it is quite in order for a person to stand up in church and recite the Creed, even if he has scruples about the Virgin Birth, provided he believes in the Pattern of Faith as a whole’. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-18 a 6:00 am

“And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” Jeremiah 11:9.

The old adage, ‘Birds of a feather flock together’, came back to me as I read the above verse on Wednesday, 15th July.

The meaning is simple for those that perhaps have never heard this saying.

The idiom simply means that people who are similar in their interests, beliefs and ambitions, tend to associate and spend time with one another in order to promote that which they have in common.

There was just such a gathering in the days in which Jeremiah ministered to a disobedient and defiant Judah.

1. The meaning of the word ‘conspiracy’. It is the word that the Lord uses of this union of enemies! The word means ‘a treasonable, unlawful alliance’. That is how the Lord saw this amalgam, who were gathered together to oppose Him, His laws and His servant, Jeremiah.

2. The cause that united them. “They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers,” verse 10.

They wanted to return to the ways of sin from which the Lord had delivered the nation!

What they were pursuing was “the imagination of their evil heart,” verse 6.

Such desires have ever surfaced in opposition to ‘continuing on’ in obedience to God on “the old paths, where is the good way,” Jeremiah 6:16.

The reaction to such a revealing of God’s purpose for His people in that day and a calling on these men to obey, was to respond most defiantly, “We will not walk therein.” Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-16 a 4:56 pm

A sermon preached by Rev Ivan Foster in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church on 7th June 1987.

“And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him,” 1 Samuel 5:1-4.

In the midst of apparent defeat, God continues to work!

The information in the first verse reminds us that the Lord may permit the enemy to the remove the ordinances He has instituted and even the visible evidence of His presence amongst His people if there is a turning away from Him as there was in the days of Eli.

Such a defeat and set back for the people of God is viewed as a great victory over the Lord. In that we have a strong reason to avoid ‘backsliding’ because of the dishonour it brings to the name of the Lord.

The defeat of Israel at the hands of the Philistines was the direct result of her sin and rebellion rather than any superiority of the Philistines’ skills of war. Sin had cost them the Lord’s blessing and brought about their consequent defeat.

While the Philistines attributed their victory to their god, ‘Dagon’, the Lord soon demonstrated the folly of that notion!

The incident is illustrative of what takes place at conversion.

I. CHRIST COMING INTO THE SOUL OF THE BELIEVER IS MARKED BY AN OVERTHROWING OF  THEIR FORMER ‘GOD’.

Here is the nature of the work of God in the heart of the converted sinner.

1. Before conversion the soul is a ‘house of Dagon’! The devil is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” Ephesians 2:2. The devil is the ‘god of this world’! “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them,” 2 Corinthians 4:4.

2. When Christ enters the heart through faith, the power of the devil is broken. Immediately the Lord begins to work in our hearts and lives. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-14 a 6:42 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter VI

An Answer to the Bishop’s slander of the Reformation

It is on the subject of the Reformation that the Bishop once more gives us a display of his Jesuitry and cunning. We quote from  his second lecture: “Now I want to look briefly at a period of change in Christianity which will probably be better known to the audience: the Reformation  of the 16th century. We usually think of this as the period above all others of change in the Church and in Christianity”. We shall return for a moment to the Bishop’s discussion of the various changes, but firstly let us settle one question. Did Christianity and the Church change at the Reformation? Do not drink the Bishop’s proffered cup, for the keen eye will detect the taint of poison. The Reformation was a “time of change”, but the changes did not take place in the Church or in Christianity. By the “Church” I mean the unchanging and unchangeable religion of the Word of God.

The Bishop’s inventions

As we rake through the rubble of the Bishop’s collapsed intellectualism we constantly come across this one persistent falsehood. Varied may be its disguises, but its nature never changes. Dr. Hanson labours assiduously throughout these lectures to make “CHANGES” acceptable to his audience, and his readers. To do this he invents periods of change in the Church. The date and background for his “changes” are not chosen at random, but carefully. He first of all suggested that the 2nd century was a time of change, and so of course it was, but the changes were political and philosophical, not doctrinal. Empires may fall, philosophical theories perish, but the religion of God’s Word is unaffected in its intrinsic nature. Jesus said “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall never pass away”.

Now again Dr. Hanson seeks to introduce another of these periods of change. Again he has carefully chosen his time and background. No one will deny that the 16th century saw many changes. BUT WE CONTEST HIS STATEMENT THAT THE CHANGES TOOK PLACE IN THE CHURCH AND IN CHRISTIANITY. The changes were men and women leaving the CHURCH OF ROME in their tens of thousands, and by the work of the Holy Spirit made members of the CHURCH OF GOD – “The church of the first-born, which are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23). It was not changes in Christianity that took place, but men changing their God, changing from the God of popish Rome to the LIVING GOD OF THE BIBLE. There was no more a change in Christianity during the Reformation than there was when Paul preached in Thessalonica and “many turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess, 1 : 9-10). The Reformation saw a MULTIPLICATION OF BELIEVERS, but NOT an ALTERATION OF BELIEF. With this fundamental fact in mind we shall examine the rest of the Bishop’s statement.

One of the results of the Reformation, he tells us, was that “it left a Church divided into fragments, some of them sharply opposed to the others”. Here the Romanist comes to the fore of Dr. Hanson’s character. “It left a Church divided”. This was the chant of super-ecumenist Pope John, which has been taken up by the like-minded deceivers. We need to remember that it was the false and idolatrous Church of Rome that was shattered. Dr. Hanson is insinuating that Martin Luther committed the sin of schism, i.e., withdrawing from God’s people. Martin Luther did not sin. He obeyed a Divine principle and SEPARATED FROM DARKNESS. The harm done by Martin Luther’s action can be likened unto the disturbance in the tomb of Lazarus when he rose from the dead, or to the bursting open of the graves by the dead raised at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-11 a 6:00 am

This is one of today’s headlines in the Belfast Telegraph.

Jeffrey Donaldson moved in with gay DUP colleague – despite public anti-LGBT stance

This headline indicates how far the DUP has departed from what it formerly stood for.

It is clear that the DUP accepts perverts into membership as well as highlighting again the shameful perversity of its former leader – Donaldson.

Here is a quote from the article:

“Convicted paedophile Jeffrey Donaldson moved in with a gay DUP colleague during a rocky time in his marriage – despite his public anti-LGBT stance.

The Sunday World first planned to publish this story 15 years ago – but refrained from doing so after Donaldson presented a manufactured pack of lies, which included a bogus claim of imminent suicide.

The individual who opened his home to the aspiring unionist politician was also an elected representative for the Democratic Unionist Party.

He has not been identified here at this time because of the sensitive nature of his current employment.”

How can any Christian hold membership in and financially and electorally support this evilly duplicitous party?

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

Friday 10th July 2026

Posted on 2026-07-10 a 1:15 pm

“Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. . . A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; he prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:1, 30-31.

So begins and ends a chapter from which I recall preaching in Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church, some 59 years ago.

Back then, the application of these words were not as pertinent as it is today.

The wickedness which brought judgment upon the nation to which Jeremiah ministers, was on the horizon of Ulster, as it were, but the terrible forebodings set forth by the prophets are on our doorstep now!

The other 28 verses of this chapter set forth the sins of the nation and the consequences of ignoring God’s merciful warnings.

I. THERE WAS A PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE LORD BUT THE LORD DECLARED IT FALSE.

“And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely,” verse 2.

There is a like deceit abroad today among God’s people. “Jehovah lives” is the confession of many but His law is increasingly set aside.

We in the Free Presbyterian Church are NOT in the place or following the path of our forefathers seventy five years ago.

The ecclesiastical separation established back then is no longer adhered to and such breaches are sanctioned by our Presbytery! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-09 a 2:36 pm

Matthew 8:11-12

The danger of casting away our privileges is ever with us!

The spirit of the ‘Prodigal Son’ abides in every Christian and if not crucified will lead to an abandoning of the ‘Father’s House’ and a hastening to the ‘far country’ of worldliness and the abandoning of God’s Word.

Read sermon notes here

 

This is what the Saviour warns of in those well known words: “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Matthew 8:11-12.

This message was first preached at the Lord’s Day evening service in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church on 29th June 1986, by the minister, Rev Ivan Foster.

The Centurion, whose request to Christ brought forth these words from the Saviour, was a Gentile, a Roman soldier brought up in the darkness of heathendom.

His posting to Israel had been a blessing in disguise. You can imagine how his wife and family, if he had such, reacted to the news of his transfer. Now, however, they sing of the merciful providence that planned it so.

His approach to Christ and his forthright display of faith became the means of delivering a timely warning to a nation, Israel, greatly privileged and in danger of throwing their privileges away.

It has a very present and pertinent application to the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster for it is evident that there are those in pulpit and pew who are seeking a change from the path that the Lord led our founding fathers to in 1951, to new paths which are in conformity to the thinking of this world.

Such a departure will only lead to that crowded path, which the Saviour said “leadeth to destruction.”

Posted on 2026-07-07 a 6:00 am

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter V

The Second Coming of Christ – Were the early Christians mistaken?

To further his claim that Christianity has changed, the Bishop tries to imbue his audience with the idea that the early Christians and apostolic writers believed that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to return at a very early date. When this did not happen he says that there was a change of thinking concerning the Second Coming of Christ. To knock this argument down all we have to do is pour a little of the “water of the Word” upon the Bishop’s sandy foundation and his little house of false reasoning will sink out of view. The question then is this: Did the early Christians believe that Christ was to return in their day and were they encouraged to believe this by the writers of the New Testament? Our answer is “No”, but of course the Bishop’s would be “Yes”.

In his second lecture he states: “But the greatest difference of all facing the Church of the 2nd century has yet to be mentioned. By the year 150 it had become unmistakably clear to everybody that the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ was not likely to take place in the immediate future . . . St. Paul’s letters are, of course, the earliest books of the New Testament. From every one of the letters which we can with confidence attribute to him (he never misses a chance to spread doubt, does he?) we gain a strong impression that he expects the arrival of Christ in his lifetime or immediately afterward. The earliest of the Gospels, that of Mark, shows the same intense expectation of an almost immediate arrival of Christ. It is only in Mark that we find the words attributed to Jesus: “There be some of those standing by who shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God coming in power” (Mark 9 : 1). Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-04 a 6:00 am

“And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth,” Exodus 9:16. 

Preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Lord’s Day, March 2 1986.

Here is, at least to some small measure, the faith and hope of Free Presbyterians some 40 years ago.

Is something of the same message preached today in our pulpits? The denouncing of ecumenical treachery and betrayal of God’s truth; the same protest against the political compromising in the face of  Romanism’s, ecclesiastical and political, resurgence?

Or are there many of our pulpits silent on such matters and are there ministers who seek fellowship with those, described in our Presbytery’s statement, entitled: ‘OUR STAND ON SEPARATION’, as ‘brethren who maintain fellowship with those who deny the faith.’

If this is so, what a dishonouring of the God who has been so merciful to us as a denomination and what a judgment we will most surely face if there is not a repenting and turning back again to the ‘Old Paths’ of Scriptural obedience!

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Thursday 2nd July 2026

Posted on 2026-07-02 a 6:00 am

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side,” Isaiah 60:1-4.

One thing is ever a source of displeasure when I turn to a chapter like Isaiah 60! It is the notes that most publishers of the Holy Scriptures have placed above the chapter in an attempt to supposedly help the reader understand its contents.

However, when it comes to prophetic chapters, the notes are too often erroneous and most misleading!

In my Bible the notes above Isaiah 60 read:—

1. The glorious access of the Gentiles into the church.
15. The blessings of the church after affliction.

These words are utterly wrong. This chapter is not about what happened after the crucifixion of Christ and the Gospel outreach which followed Pentecost. No, it is dealing with the conversion and the restoration of Israel to God’s favour and blessing at the second coming of Christ and what follows that glorious event amongst the Gentile nations.

Not the Church

Some verses plainly indicate that it is not the church but Israel that is referred to.

“And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee,” Isaiah 60:10.

The redeemed people of God, the church, has never been subject to wrath! Chastening yes, but WRATH, no!

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons,” Hebrews 12:6-8.

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent,” Revelation 3:19.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” Romans 8:1.

Judgment

However, God’s wrath has rested upon Israel ever since they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah. That which they had experienced in a measure under the Babylonian captivity has been their experience to a much greater degree since their rebellion and rejection of their Messiah.

“And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them,” Ezekiel 39:23-24.

Those words were written around 587 BC, and were a foretaste of that which would follow their even greater wickedness in the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah.

Since AD 70, and the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple and the scattering of the nation, the Jew has been an outcast until this day. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-01 a 6:00 am