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No Room in the Inn

Lights aplenty festoon not just the streets and shops of cities, towns and villages, but I have noticed a great increase in the number of private houses with the trees in their gardens swathed with flickering lights and illuminated heralds of ‘Christmas’!

Way too many lights, Photo by Juliana Malta on Unsplash

It is all supposedly to mark the birth of Christ and yet there is little reference to Him at all amidst the pagan festivities.

Indeed, so absent is Christ from the minds of those engaging in these activities, that they are ignorant of the fact that the Bible tells us Christ was NOT born in December!

Celebrating a birthday, the date of which they have completely mistaken – such is the folly of this season!

But, ‘so what’, say those who thus indulge the desires of the flesh! Any excuse for a good time is all that most are interested in.



But Luke 2:7, displays the world’s true attitude toward the Son of God!

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

There is still no room for Christ in this world given over to the pursuit of the fleshpots of this world!

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster
10th December 2025

Rev. Dr. Bertram Stanley Douglas (Bert) Cooke, Service of Thanksgiving



Read sermon notes here

Rev. Dr. S. B. Cooke in his younger days



Dr and Mrs Agnes Cooke in earlier days


Watch a video of this sermon below:


Dr. Cooke has gone to glory

The passing of ‘Mr. Valiant-for-truth’

Dr S B Cooke (1929 — 2025)

Rev Dr S. B. Cooke

Dr Cooke was a dear friend of mine and we last talked together on Monday past at the nursing home in Kilkeel where he and his dear wife have been. He went to heaven this afternoon.

I wish to express my sincere condolences to his wife Agnes, also a dear friend, his brother Ronald and his family in the USA, his two sisters Nancy and Audrey, and Agnes’s loved ones.

Bertie Cooke was a man esteemed amongst his brethren for his wisdom and tenacious stand for the principles of Free Presbyterianism.

We praise God for his lasting witness and testimony.

“‭And‭ one‭ of‭ the elders‭ answered‭‭, saying‭‭ unto me‭, What‭ are‭‭ these‭ which‭ are arrayed in‭‭ white‭ robes‭? and‭ whence‭ came they‭‭?‭ ‭And‭ I said‭‭ unto him‭, Sir‭, thou‭ knowest‭‭. And‭ he said‭‭ to me‭, These‭ are they‭‭ which came‭‭ out of‭ great‭ tribulation‭, and‭ have washed‭‭ their‭ robes‭, and‭ made‭‭ them‭‭ white‭‭ in‭ the blood‭ of the Lamb‭,” Revelation 7:13-14.

Funeral Service in Moneyslane Free Presbyterian Church
Monday 8th December at 12 noon, followed by burial
in the Ballygowan Free Presbyterian graveyard

(Full details here)

Dr Cooke (front right) and Rev Ivan Foster (left), a second year ministerial student at the Free Presbyterian Church protest against the ecumenical apostasy of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, June 1967.