“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.”
This was their cause and they combined in their efforts to get others to join with them in abandoning God’s Word for what they considered was a better way.
3. Their ‘conspiracy’ was, by the very meaning of the word, a secret plot designed to undermine the cause of God. They did not openly acknowledge what it was they intended by their scheming. They would have sought to give the very opposite impression of their objectives! They appeared as the genuine article but they were in reality, “reprobate silver”, Jeremiah 6:30.
But the Lord could see through their pretences and would have the people warned by His servant Jeremiah.
“The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God,” verses 1-4.
Refusal
What these ‘conspirators’ sought to see established in the land was not the ‘Covenant’ given them by the Lord but “the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them,” verse 10.
They ‘conspired’ to extoll the benefits of returning back to the ways that were practised before the Law of God was established amongst His people.
Today!
Is there not something of that happening today? Are there not those who would engage in ways that were abolished by the workings of the Lord amongst our fathers in 1951, and have us believe that such ways are good and right?
The cry, ‘let us go back’ is very old, often heard many times during the trek from Egypt to Canaan!
“We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes,” Numbers 11:5-6.
There is no mention of the fact that these ‘delicacies’ were served up on a ‘plate’ of affliction, whippings, toil and misery!
The ways that some would reintroduce today within the Free Presbyterian Church will bring great trouble upon those foolish enough to heed them.
4. The Lord’s reaction to the objectives of these conspirators is most terrible. That I have already highlighted by quoting the verses 1-4. But the Lord enlarges upon what He will do in judgment.
“And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 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. Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them,” 9-11.
A return to the former ways of sin and rejection of God’s Word is to go back to the troubles and bondage that sin brings.
12th July
Ulster has just ‘celebrated’ the deliverances enjoyed under God’s mercy in the 17th century. Sadly, due to the lies and deceit of ecumenical ministers in the three main churches, they did so by largely embracing the very ways and the views that the Lord delivered our forefathers from back some 300+ years ago!
On the ‘Orange platforms’, the majority of ‘preachers’ and those of the rank and file, would have been members of ecumenical churches. Most likely included amongst the platform speakers would have been those who were rejectors of the Gospel of salvation through Christ alone, by faith alone!
Close Ties
The Orange Order is very closely linked to the ecumenical movement and the apostasy it espouses! Those who seek to justify membership are in truth justifying the very process that the Lord is challenging here in Jeremiah chapter 11.
Harvest
From 1951 until recent days, the Free Presbyterian Church highlighted the dire consequences of such trends as are now embraced by some foolish members of our church.
There is a price to pay for mingling and entering fellowship with and following after those who are blind to the truth of God’s Word!
Judah learned this dreadful reality during the days of her Babylonian captivity!
Likewise, days of trouble and affliction will overtake Ulster if the drift away from the standards of God’s Word as set out back in 1951 and embodied in the document, ‘Reaffirmation of our stand on separation from Ecumenism’.
I wrote about this document which defines the Bible’s teaching on ‘Separation’ from ecumenical apostasy and also from this who disobey and refuse God command to all His people to “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” 2 Corinthians 6:17.
Free Presbyterians who disobey God!
According to the Free Presbyterian Church’s Biblical teaching on ‘Separation’, those evangelicals who disobey God’s call to ‘come out from amongst them’, and Free Presbyterian, who ignore the disobedience of these evangelicals who reject God’s call, and openly fellowship with them, are in direct opposition to God’s will for His people and are in direct confrontation with the Lord.
There can only be one outcome — DIVINE JUDGMENT!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
16th July 2026