April 2024

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DRUGS — the dominant curse of the latter days of this age!

Photo by Colin Davis on Unsplash

“ . . . . thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived,” Revelation 18:23.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued a report in 2023 on the subject of drugs.

Here are some extracts from that report.

“New data put the global estimate of people who inject drugs in 2021 at 13.2 million, 18 per cent higher than previously estimated. Globally, over 296 million people used drugs in 2021, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous decade. The number of people who suffer from drug use disorders, meanwhile, has skyrocketed to 39.5 million, a 45 per cent increase over 10 years.

The Report features a special chapter on drug trafficking and crimes that affect the environment in the Amazon Basin, as well as sections on clinical trials involving psychedelics and medical use of cannabis; drug use in humanitarian settings; innovations in drug treatment and other services; and drugs and conflict.

The World Drug Report 2023 also highlights how social and economic inequalities drive – and are driven by – drug challenges; the environmental devastation and human rights abuses caused by illicit drug economies; and the rising dominance of synthetic drugs.

The demand for treating drug-related disorders remains largely unmet, according to the report. Only one in five people suffering from drug-related disorders were in treatment for drug use in 2021, with widening disparities in access to treatment across regions.

Illicit drug economies (are) accelerating conflicts, human rights abuses, and environmental devastation.

The drug economy in the Amazon Basin is exacerbating additional criminal activities – such as illegal logging, illegal mining, illegal land occupation, wildlife trafficking and more – damaging the environment of the world’s largest rainforest. Indigenous peoples and other minorities are suffering the consequences of this crime convergence, including displacement, mercury poisoning, and exposure to violence, among others. Environmental defenders are sometimes specifically targeted by traffickers and armed groups.

While the war in Ukraine has displaced traditional cocaine and heroin routes, there are signs that the conflict could trigger an expansion of the manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs, given the existing know-how and the large markets for synthetic drugs developing in the region.

In the Sahel, (hot semi-arid climate that stretches across the southernmost latitudes of North Africa – Editor) the illicit drug trade finances non-state armed and insurgency groups, while in Haiti, drug traffickers take advantage of porous borders to bolster their businesses, fuellSing the country’s multiplying crises.”


Long before men realised the growing curse that drug addiction was becoming, the Lord told us that such substance abuse would become an ‘industry’ in the last days, the means of deceiving and blinding the inhabitants of the earth to the eternal truth of God and the everlasting damnation that the rejection of the gospel will bring.

In our text above we have mention made of ‘merchants’, ‘great men’, ‘sorceries’ and ‘deception’. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-29 a 5:15 pm


Godly fathers’ desire for their daughters or POLISHED NOT PAINTED!

Polished granite stones, photo by L R on Unsplash

“That our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace,” Psalm 144:12.

Here in the island of Ireland, we are all familiar with granite. It is seen in large displays such as our Mountains of Mourne and in  the Irish Republic there is the extensive range of the Wicklow mountains. Smaller samples of this stone are seen in graveyards, marking the graves of the departed.

It is described as ‘an igneous rock consisting mainly of quartz, mica and feldspar. It is extremely durable, as it is not easily chipped or damaged by heat. Hundreds of colours can be found naturally, which makes granite a perfect design element to homes or businesses.’

Frequently it is used in the making of an ornamental stone to mark the building of a church and it is ‘ceremonially’ laid by a guest at a ‘stone-laying’ service, so familiar to Free Presbyterians.

The stone referred to in our text is not named but if we think of a granite stone we will easily understand the spiritual point that is to be observed in this verse.

Consider:

I. POLISHING BRINGS OUT THE INWARD BEAUTY OF GRANITE

This father is requesting of the Lord that daughters might experience the moving of His grace in her life whereby she may show forth a beauty that He alone can produce in a life. “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness,” 1 Chronicles 16:29. This world does not consider ‘holiness’ beautiful but the Lord does. It is that ‘beauty’ this father desires in daughters.

1. Not all rocks or stones can be polished. Were some rocks subjected to polishing they would merely crumble away. There is no richness in their composition that can be brought forth by polishing.

2. There are rocks which can be polished. Not all men and women consist of that which may be polished and made beautiful. By nature we are merely ‘clay’. But the marvellous grace of God transforms a sinner who believes the gospel and he/she becomes a ‘new creation’. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17. From the ‘clay of depravity’ the sinner is transformed and becomes one of the precious stones built into the spiritual temple of God. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-26 a 3:00 am


Joe McCann, IRA gunman, and his three months under the gospel

Joe McCann was shot near his home in the Markets area of Belfast in April 1972

The following headline appeared on the local BBC news site on Monday 22nd April, 2024.

 Joe McCann: Attorney general orders fresh inquest into Official IRA man’s death

The shooting of Joe McCann, fifty-two years ago this month, has been at the centre of an ongoing campaign by Republicans to have his death declared as murder.

This latest chapter in that controversy has stirred afresh for me memories of events some 58 years ago when providence placed me in the company of Joe McCann every day for three months.

I have written about that time before and this latest development prompts me to mount again the article I wrote back in 2016.

I am once again moved to ponder the merciful providence of God that brings men under the sound of the gospel and the all too common reaction of sinners to that mercy!

Below is the 2016 article I wrote on Joe McCann.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster
24th April, 2024


Joe McCann, IRA gunman, and his three months under the gospel

by Rev Ivan Foster

The death of IRA man, Joe McCann, is once again in the news. Attempts are being made to put on trial those soldiers who were involved in the firefight when Joe McCann was shot by paratroopers. McCann (24) was commander of the Official IRA’s third Belfast battalion. In February 1972, McCann was involved in the attempted assassination of Ulster Unionist politician John Taylor. He was regarded by the security forces as a dangerous terrorist. McCann was shot by soldiers in disputed circumstances in Joy Street in the Markets area, close to his home, on April 15, 1972. One of the men, Soldier C, is a grandfather from Hampshire, England, who served with distinction for 23 years. “How can this be justice?” he asked. “It is a disgrace. I was doing my duty in Northern Ireland, trying to protect the public and keep the peace. Now I am being thrown to the wolves.”

I had a close association with Joe in the Crumlin Road Jail for three months in 1966. Most Free Presbyterians will, I hope, know that Dr Ian Paisley, Rev John Wylie and I, a second year student at the Free Presbyterian Theological Hall, spent 90 days in prison as a result of being prosecuted for our part in a protest against the ecumenism of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland on 6th June 1966. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-24 a 4:32 pm


DUP compromise facilitates promotion of perversion

The folly of the DUP in going back in to Stormont and, by so doing, re-activating the means whereby the enemies of righteousness that are the political parties in Ulster (with the exception of the one member of the Traditional Unionist View party, Jim Allister, who sits there) were able to push their evil agenda for the future generation in Ulster, was clearly demonstrated yesterday in a debate on a motion calling on the Education Minister to support ‘compulsory, standardised, inclusive, high-quality, evidence-based and age-appropriate relationships and sexuality education’ (RSE) in schools.

The motion was passed by the Assembly. The DUP may have opposed the motion — though it must be noted that there appears to have been no reference to God’s Word and the moral standards of behaviour and lifestyle which He has ordained and thereby there was a failing to set forth the true and only real basis of opposition to the evil supported by the motion.

In truth, despite their feeble opposition, the DUP made such a debate and such a decision possible in the Assembly by their RETURNING to Stormont and that on the basis of their deceitful claim that they had won the argument on the implementing of a border in the Irish sea (the reason for their withdrawal) which excluded Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom!

We are still excluded from the UK and the DUP won no victory at all despite their repeated claims of such! A recent report in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ had the following statement: “Consignments of fresh seafood are being either impounded or sent back to Scotland at Belfast port thanks to the Protocol.”

Parliament Buildings, often referred to as Stormont, because of its location in the Stormont Estate area of Belfast, is the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly

So much for the DUP’s victory. What a party of lies and chicanery it is! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-23 a 9:24 pm


“Won’t Work? — Don’t Eat!!”

“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat,” 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

The Word of God presents a plan for life that is perfectly complete and ahead of the shifting sands of man’s social innovations and novelties.

Man working in machine shop. Photo by Maxime Agnelli on Unsplash

The headline: “Benefits to be axed after a year on the dole to stop it becoming a ‘lifestyle choice’, Prime Minister announces” is but the declaring of a long-required response, though falling far short of what is needed, in the face of a social ill whereby schemers and scammers are provided with a comfortable ‘workless’ lifestyle by the Government at the expense of those who do work and pay taxes!

‘Skiving’ is nothing new. The excuses given range from the ‘cunningly ingenuous’ to the ‘lame brained’.

One trade union official, Paul Embery, is reported as offering the following stupid reason why some are right not seek work and instead live at the expense of others. “Many Britons are dissuaded from working due to its “mundane drudgery”. (See here)

There used to be a programme on the BBC radio, many years ago, called ‘Workers Playtime’.  It was transmitted by the BBC between 1941 and 1964. It was intended originally as a morale-booster for industrial workers during World War II.

Now it seems that ‘playtime without any work’ is what many demand!

Another such BBC radio programme was ‘Music While You Work’. It was a daytime radio programme of continuous music broadcast in the United Kingdom twice daily on workdays from 23 June 1940 until 29 September 1967.

Both of these broadcasting ventures were in order to aid workers often engaged in the most tedious of labours, especially during wartime and the subsequent demanding years of scarcity.

However, today sees the increasing notion that is held by some that they have a right to live and be entitled to a totally frivolous life at the expense of their neighbours!

From the words of our text it is obvious that it is not a new notion. The maxim that Paul quotes is founded upon an obvious truth   and is in accordance with the great law under which our Creator has placed us. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” Genesis 3:19.

That law in the circumstances was benevolent, and it should be our aim to carry it out in reference to ourselves and to others. The law here laid down by the apostle extends to all who are able to work for a living but who will not do it, and binds us not to contribute to their support if they will not labour for it.

What Paul was instituting was a rule whereby the local Church should not offer support to those who could but would not work and earn a living. Instead they were happy to live off the ‘charity’ of others. That which the apostle so succinctly states as a law originating with God is poorly imitated by politicians in an effort to save public money at a time of austerity. The prime minister and those who support him are not moved by a desire to institute biblical morality! No, most likely unwittingly they are recognising the simple logical common sense of that which has its origins in heaven!

SUCCEED

Sadly, I do not think it will prove successful. The attitude of heart and mind that produces such selfish laziness is born within each person. It is an instinct of our depraved nature. Paul was teaching those who were but until recently, Grecian heathens. There was not the welfare provisions of today from which they could sponge. However, that did not stop some sitting all day in the sunshine at a street corner and begging of passers by. Most likely there were those who ‘advertised’ their needs either by mimicking illness or injury or exaggerating any physical complaint they may have had.

I will never forget my experience in downtown Nairobi when beggars of every form swarmed around me and those I was with. I later learned that oftentimes some of the dreadful injuries and deformities were evidently self-inflicted in order to promote pity on the part of those passing by!

I would have thought that employment was an easier route to obtaining food and clothing! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-22 a 2:00 am


The 'lunacy' that now passes as 'sanity'!

Derelict home for the insane. Photo by Nathan Wright on Unsplash

A recent newspaper report stated that “The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said the current law in England and Northern Ireland has created ‘grey areas,’ which mean there is sometimes a defence to physical punishment.”

The general view of ‘medical big-wigs’ is that it is perfectly moral and proper to kill unborn babies and it is very right to assist adolescents in their  pursuit of the evil and perverted desire to change their gender. However, they reject God’s teaching on the right discipline of children.

This is a day of calling “evil good, and good evil”, of putting “darkness for light, and light for darkness” and putting “bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter”! (Isaiah 5:20).

This embracing of the ‘new morality’, which is in truth the ‘old immorality’, is the undercurrent which has brought forth the dreadful harvest of murders, abuse, rapes and violations that daily are reported in the news.

Despite the claims of possessing a ‘superior wisdom’ on the part of those who are the ‘influencers’ of the nation, they utterly fail to see the correlation between the new standards and the increase in immorality.

There is an undeniable and irrefutable logic to the simple truth of Galatians 6:7-8.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

That has been believed and embraced, at least in its intrinsic wisdom, even by the heathen!

The Saviour emphasised this truth. “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit,” Matthew 7:16-18.

When there is an overwhelming ‘crop’ of evil being reaped by a nation simple logic would tell us that that nation is sowing the seeds that have brought forth this harvest of criminality, fraud and iniquity!

That logic was displayed in the parable of ‘the wheat and the tares’.

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this,” Matthew 13:24-28.

There is ‘an enemy’ at work in our nation and that enemy is the depraved thinking of religious and political leaders which has overthrown the simple acceptance of the Law of God of which it has been wisely said: “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes,” Psalm 19:8. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-19 a 2:00 am


A fond tribute to an earnest warrior

Mr Ernie Monteith

On Saturday morning the news of the passing of Mr Ernie Monteith of Tullyrush, Beragh, was brought to me. It stilled my heart and mind as I immediately recognised that one who had played a major part in the formation of Omagh Free Presbyterian Church had gone to his eternal reward.

Born in 1926, the same years as Ian Paisley, he had almost reached the 100 year mile-stone.

I first met Ernie when he came on occasions with family members to the Free Presbyterian Church meetings in Lisbellaw. The witness there had begun in February 1967. Ernie and His wife Mollie, who went to be with the Lord last February, had long been unhappy with the increasing ‘false ecumenism’ of their church, the Church of Ireland. Being fervent believers they were enthusiastic supporters of the witness and protests against the modernism and apostasy of the mainline denominations by Dr Ian Paisley.

Ernie, of his own volition and encouraged by Dr Paisley, bought the site on the A5, Beltany Road, presently occupied by Omagh Free Presbyterian Church, and arrangements were made for Dr Paisley (who had agreed) to come and conduct a gospel mission on the site in a large tent which seated many hundreds.

Dr Ian Paisley back in those days.

The tent was burned by republicans subsequent to the mission but not before the ‘the fire of God’ fell upon the meetings in it.

PRAYER

In preparation for that mission, prayer meetings were organised in the Monteith farmhouse at Tullyrush and Rev John Long and I led those meetings. Concerned Christians from the area assembled there for some weeks before the mission in the late Autumn of 1968 and I have the happiest of memories of the meetings in the Monteith home; the wonderful gospel mission when some 180 souls were saved; the subsequent formation of a congregation and the weekly church prayer meetings held temporarily in the old band hall in the car park behind High Street in Omagh. Whenever I meet any of the older members of Omagh, mention is made of those meetings in the ‘Band Hall’!

On 15th December 1968, having been placed by Presbytery as minister in charge, I constituted the new Church in Omagh Orange Hall.

NEW CHURCH

A large wooden portable hall was erected on the church site in June 1969 and it  met the needs of the congregation until a permanent building was completed. It was opened by Dr Paisley on Saturday 24th April 1976.

From the Omagh witness there sprang the churches in Castlederg and Sixmilecross.

Ernie was elected an elder in the infancy of the congregation and served as Clerk of Session for many years and only a few years ago stepped down from his duties as an elder.

Following those days in 1968, my family and I were in the Monteith home on many occasions and our boys have many memories of the activities they happily engaged in on Uncle ‘Narnie’s’ farm, for he always found time to show them around and have them engage in some of the tasks of a farm, the tractor rides and the foddering and  rounding up of cattle and sheep and moving them to fresh pasture. My wife Ann and I have never forgotten the many kindnesses shown to us by Mollie and Ernie and never will.

I had a last time of fellowship with him at the end of January and he was well able to recall the turbulent and contentious days at the commencement of the Omagh congregation.

Omagh Free Presbyterian Church

He certainly ‘fought a good fight and kept the faith’. He has undoubtedly laid up for himself “a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge”, shall give him at that day, 2 Timothy 4:8.

To all of the wide Monteith family we offer our sincere sympathy on the passing of their loved one of whom all in our family circle had the deepest respect and regard.

 

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

The funeral for Mr Monteith took place in Omagh Free Presbyterian Church on Monday 15th April and the service may be viewed here.

Funeral for Mr Monteith

Posted on 2024-04-15 a 10:00 pm


The blessed impact of teaching Bible prophecy!

“‭Therefore‭‭, brethren‭, stand fast‭‭, and‭ hold‭‭ the traditions‭ which‭ ye have been taught‭‭, whether‭ by‭ word‭, or‭‭ our‭ epistle‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬  2 Thessalonians 2:15.

The word ‘therefore’ indicates that Paul is here drawing a conclusion from that which he has stated in the earlier verses of this chapter.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is one of the most detailed regarding the person of the Antichrist and the prestige with which he will be viewed by unconverted men and also his perdition in shame.

SECRET RAPTURE

Be that as it may, it is a chapter, the plain teaching of which, is very sadly ignored. Were it read and believed the notion of a ‘secret rapture’ of the saints of God would be universally abandoned.

The opening verses makes it clear that there will be no return of Christ for His saints until after the revealing of the Antichrist.

“‭Now‭ we beseech‭‭ you‭, brethren‭, by‭ the coming‭ of our‭ Lord‭ Jesus‭ Christ‭, and‭ ‭by‭ our‭ gathering together‭ unto‭ him‭,‭ ‭That‭ ye‭ be‭‭ not‭ soon‭ shaken‭‭ in‭ mind‭, or‭ be troubled‭‭, neither‭ by‭ spirit‭, nor‭ by‭ word‭, nor‭ by‭ letter‭ as‭ from‭ us‭, as‭ that‭ the day‭ of Christ‭ is at hand‭‭.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ ‭Let‭‭ no‭ man‭ deceive‭‭ you‭ by‭ any‭ means‭: for‭ ‭that day shall not come‭, except‭ there come‭‭ a falling away‭ first‭, and‭ that man‭ of sin‭ be revealed‭‭, the son‭ of perdition‭; w‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ho‭ opposeth‭‭ and‭ exalteth‭‭ himself above‭ all‭ that is called‭‭ God‭, or‭ that is worshipped‭; so‭ that he‭ as‭ God‭ sitteth‭‭ in‭ the temple‭ of God‭, shewing‭‭ himself‭ that‭ he is‭‭ God‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬ 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

There was a common notion amongst some of the early believers that the Saviour could come in their day. But Paul is countering that by saying that the Saviour will not return until AFTER ‘a falling away‭ first‬’, or an ‘apostasy’. Furthermore, he says that the Saviour will return after the revealing or ‘unveiling’ of the ‘‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭man‭ of sin‭ . . .‭‭ the son‭ of perdition‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬’, the Antichrist.

Therefore the ‘timetable’ of the second coming is set down for all to see. It will come AFTER the rise and the revealing of the Antichrist. The revealing of the Antichrist will IMMEDIATELY initiate the ‘great tribulation’. The Saviour makes that plain!

“‭When‭ ye therefore‭ shall see‭‭ the abomination‭ of desolation‭, spoken of‭‭ by‭ Daniel‭ the prophet‭, stand‭‭‭‭‭ in‭ the holy‭ place‭, (whoso readeth‭‭, let him understand‭‭:)‭ ‭then‭ let them which be in‭ Judaea‭ flee‭‭ into‭ the mountains‭:‭ ‭let him which is on‭ the housetop‭ not‭ come down‭‭ to take‭‭ any thing‭ out of‭ his‭ house‭:‭‭ neither‭ let him which is in‭ the field‭ return‭‭ back‭ to take‭‭ his‭ clothes‭.‭ ‭And‭ woe‭ unto them that are‭‭ with‭ child‭, and‭ to them that give suck‭‭ in‭ those‭ days‭!‭ ‭But‭ pray ye‭‭ that‭‭ your‭ flight‭ be‭‭ not‭ in the winter‭, neither‭ on‭ the sabbath day‭:‭ ‭For‭ then‭ shall be‭‭ great‭ tribulation‭, such as‭ was‭‭ not‭ since‭ the beginning‭ of the world‭ to this‭ time‭, no‭, nor ever‭ shall be‭‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Matthew 24:15-21.

Note the total urgency that must be shown once the Antichrist identifies himself by the erection of ‘‭‭‭‭‭the abomination‭ of desolation‬‬‬‬‬‬’ in ‘‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭the holy‭ place‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬’, which will be the temple the Jews will one day soon build in Jerusalem. The ‘‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭great‭ tribulation‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬’ will begin immediately that happens and there is not even time to snatch up a discarded item of clothing or gather together a few things from the home before fleeing to the hills.

PLANNING

For the ‘‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭great‭ tribulation‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬’ to be set in motion and become effective as the Saviour indicates, it must be well and secretly planned by the Antichrist for quite some time before! Within living memory, the world has been given a foretaste of that of which the Saviour speaks.

In 1934 in Germany, there took place what was called ‘The Night of the Long Knives’. It was also called the ‘Röhm purge’ or ‘Operation Hummingbird’. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-12 a 5:58 pm


The 'Anti-Israel' opposition grows!

This is the fourth article I have written on the subject of how Israel will find itself hated and isolated at the end of this age and that in a manner never known before. (See: The Book of Esther – Part 1, The Book of Esther – Part 2, and Allies abandoning and Enemies Encircling — Jacob’s day of trouble draws on!  To these I could add yet anotherThe latter-day universal abandonment of Israel recently hinted at!!)

Despite two millennia of ‘antisemitism’ since Israel’s rejection and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, a more dreadful spirit of hatred and persecution against the ancient people of God is yet to be manifested.

These few headlines, of which there are many more, highlight the increasing opposition.

The world turns on Israel after World Central Kitchen slaughter: International fury grows, with UK possibly axing arms deals as IDF is accused of war crimes and aid worker death toll exceeds that of any other conflict

STEPHEN GLOVER: I’m a supporter of Israel, but there comes a point when the killing wreaked on innocent people outweighs the original sin

Israel meets the requirements for a just war in Gaza, but it’s losing the propaganda battle, says Jacob Rees-Mogg 

Denmark: NGOs sue the Danish state to stop arms exports to Israel

‘Morally Unacceptable’: Senior Tory Says UK Must Stop Arms Sales To Israel

UN to take up Pakistan’s resolution on banning arms sales to Israel

Biden warns Netanyahu that US will change policy on Gaza unless Israel protects civilians

Israel has not done itself any favours of late in the Gaza conflict. There have been reported incidents which the most supportive of her sympathisers would not seek to justify. As Jacob Rees-Mogg says, they have been outpointed by Hamas and its allies in the ‘propaganda war’!

Again, that is a familiar factor to us here in Ulster for Sinn Fein/IRA, thanks to its many allies in the media, outscored Unionism and the British Government in the past and still does! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-06 a 1:01 am


60 years ago, I called upon the Lord for His mercy

Rev. Ivan Foster (rtd), editor of The Burning Bush

On Friday, 5th April, it will be sixty years since I called upon the Lord for His mercy and salvation. I cried out of darkness and much spiritual ignorance, hardly knowing what it was I needed or sought but moved to seek the Lord by the returning to my mind of words spoken to me by a young lassie, Hazel, while I was travelling by a train with a companion, Albert, from Belfast to Portrush in Co. Antrim on ‘Good Friday’, March 27th 1964.

What the young lassie had said to me as we emerged from the train in Portrush station, following a very acrimonious (on my part) discussion in which she and her companions sought to witness of our need of Christ to Albert and me, was to quote Genesis 6:3. “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.”

I was totally unaware of where the quotation came from and I was utterly dismissive of the words of Hazel and truly never gave them another thought until the evening of April 5th in Albert’s home in Lowwood Park, Belfast. But in an instance, the Lord made known to me something of the meaning of those words and I was driven to call upon Him for mercy.

Here is a recording of my testimony given in a gospel mission in Ballinamallard, back in April 2017.



The house in Lowwood Park, Belfast in which I called upon the Lord. The window, top right, if I remember correctly, is that of the room in which I was saved.

 

Posted on 2024-04-05 a 2:00 am


Londonderry Republican Riots - a Mini-Gaza

LATEST | Petrol bombs thrown at media during dissident parade in Derry as involvement of children branded ‘reprehensible’

Many who lived through the republican riots of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, will know that the tactics the Hamas terrorist have used in Gaza in recent days are but those we saw almost daily in republican areas in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein/IRA have changed in tactics and placed an emphasis on political activity. They have been forced to do this because they were not winning ‘the war’. They have not renounced violence but demonstrate its intrinsic place in the Irish Republican’s thesis by celebrating the terrorist ‘exploits’ of recent years annually. There have been those disappointed republicans who wish to see terrorism continued and they cursed Sinn Fein and have tried to muster support for a restarting of the terror campaign.

At the ‘Dissident Republican’ annual celebration in Londonderry to mark the ‘Easter Rising’ in Dublin in 1916, the chief feature was petrol bombing by juveniles. This has ever been the standard manifestation of lawlessness and murder that is inherent in the spirit of Irish Republicanism. It also was but a display of the practice of the IRA and Hamas of sending youngsters forward to attack the security forces knowing that they will find it difficult to reply to these acts of terrorism by adolescents without  becoming targets of the left-wing media pundits and their campaign to attack any resistance to lawlessness and anarchy as being an attempt to shoot unarmed and innocent juveniles!

Youths carrying crates of petrol bombs in the Creggan area of Derry after an illegal dissident republican parade

The tolerating of such lawless displays by the government and society generally and the cloaking of the insurgency  by unscrupulous members of the press, is but confirmation that there is a manifesting around us of that prophesied in Psalm 2.

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” verses 1-3. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-03 a 5:21 pm


Ignorance of what follows upon death breeds ungodly laws and practices

“‭And‭ as‭‭ it is appointed‭‭ unto men‭ once‭ to die‭‭, but‭ after‭ this‭ the judgment‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Hebrews 9:27.

But‭ after‭ this‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ . . . WHAT ???????

The following headline jumped out at me when I went to look at the latest news headlines on Thursday past.

Could assisted dying be coming to Scotland?

It is a report of a member of the Scottish Parliament, one Liam McArthur, who has tabled a bill whereby, if it becomes law in Scotland, terminally-ill people will be offered assistance to end their lives!

The report continues: “Supporters of the legislation say it would ease suffering.

Opponents worry that some terminally-ill people could feel under pressure to end their lives.

The Assisted Dying Bill is drafted by the Lib Dem MSP, Liam McArthur, who expects it to be debated this autumn.

The bill was published on Thursday and will potentially be voted on next year.

The Scottish government says ministers and SNP backbenchers will not be instructed how to vote, as the matter is an issue of individual conscience.

First Minister Humza Yousaf, who is a Muslim, has indicated that he is likely to vote against the bill, which is also opposed by the Church of Scotland, the Catholic Church in Scotland, and the Scottish Association of Mosques.

Under the proposals, patients could only request medical assistance to end their life if they had a terminal illness and had been ruled mentally fit to make the decision by two doctors. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-01 a 2:00 am