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I have just sent in to the Editor of the ‘Belfast Newsletter’, this response to a letter from a Mr Ferguson which appeared in yesterday’s edition.

I am replying because there are some matters in the letter that need correcting and also the issue dealt with needs a response from one involved in the controversy of Dr Paisley’s entering power-sharing arrangement with Sinn Fein/IRA from the very outset.

I think too that there is a need to highlight, for the present generation, details of events that were not made public at the time.

I trust that this will encourage those looking to the Lord for a restoration of the Free Presbyterian Church to its former stand for God, to continue praying for such.

Let us echo the prayer of the Psalmist.

“Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved,” Psalm 80:19.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

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Dear Editor,

In response to Mr Richard Ferguson’s letter of yesterday (22/4/25), I must first of all point out that the ‘headline’  — ‘Free Presbyterians accepted the abomination of sharing power with Sinn Fein/IRA, which has helped a minister to hold an Irish language event’ contains both a falsehood and a truth.

1. It is false to say Free Presbyterians accepted the abomination of sharing power with Sinn Fein/IRA. That implies a wholesale acceptance of the folly of Dr Paisley back in 2007.

I think the fact that Dr Paisley had to step down as Moderator in January 2008 indicates that a majority of the Presbytery were opposed to him holding the position of ‘First Minister’ in the power-sharing executive at Stormont and that of Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church.

I believe the subsequent removal of him as First Minister and then as leader of the DUP, was an indication of heaven’s disapproval of the step he had taken.

I personally had told him, as a member of a Free Presbyterian Presbytery delegation, which met with the leaders of the DUP in November 2006, that his actions were akin to those of Jehoshaphat. The great king had acted foolishly and was rebuked by the Lord through his servant, Jehu, the prophet. (more…)

— A brief exposition of Psalm 15 —

First study, part 2

For ease of reading, I am splitting this first study into two parts.  Here is the second part

By Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

III. WHERE IT IS THE TRUE BELIEVER IS TO ABIDE.

“LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?”

For the Old Testament believer these two places represent the location of the God appointed place where He is to be worshipped.

1. It was a place appointed by the Lord. “But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come: And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks: And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee,”Deuteronomy 12:5-7.

That is what distinguishes the religion of Christ, true religion, from all those invented by man. Every element of true religion is ordained of God!

In the Westminster Confession of Faith, the underlying confession of Free Presbyterianism, there is this statement in the chapter dealing with the Holy Scriptures. ‘The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men. Nevertheless, we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word; and that there are some circumstances concerning the worship of God, and government of the Church, common to human actions and societies, which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, which are always to be observed.’ (WCF, Chapter 1, Paragraph 6). (more…)

Every form of complimentary adjective has been employed to describe the pope who has just died.

Considering that he and all previous popes, have assumed titles which they have no right to and are guilty of blasphemy by so doing, I, along with all who believe the Bible, believe he was not what the duped followers of his religious teachings believed him to be.

He, along with all previous popes, led a religious organisation which, despite its claim to be the only ’true church’, was in world-wide violation of God’s Law, especially that stated in the ten commandments, Exodus 20:4-6, and repeated many times throughout the Bible.

“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

This law is broken repeatedly every day in all Roman Catholic places of worship and in the homes of the ‘faithful’!

That which God forbids is a chief feature of the religion of the popes!

The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 25:6 says this of all popes:

‘There is no other head of the Church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the Pope of Rome, in any sense, be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself, in the Church, against Christ and all that is called God.’

That view was shared by Protestants generally from such men as John Wesley to Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

I well recall seeing his angry and bad tempered display when a poor benighted woman devoutly clasped his hand in misplaced affection. He slapped her hand away in a most irritated manner.

I believe that the world was given a true glimpse of the man and the highly ‘stage-managed’ persona of the ‘holy, humble, gentle’ deceptive facade was breached. (more…)