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I prepared this little study some day ago and I send it forth from the hospital bedside of my dear wife Ann whose life is ebbing away.

I have been prompted to send this out at this traumatic time by the memory of her unfailing faithfulness to the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.

She let nothing stand in her way of service to the Saviour!

As a Christian she was faithful in prayer and witness to the Saviour’s glory; as a mother she raised six children who now in this dark hour “arise up, and call her blessed,” (Proverbs 31:28).

As a pioneering Christian school teacher, she sacrificed herself for the care of the pupils under her charge.

As a wife and companion, she was unfailingly courageous in her love and prayerful support of this poor servant of God during traumatic and perilous times here in Ulster.

According to my Bible reading in Isaiah this morning, she will soon “see the king in his beauty”: and “shall behold the land that is very far off,” Isaiah 33:17.

Praise God, I and our children, shall join her in glory to bless the merciful God Who has planned it all in grace and love.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

SOME THOUGHTS ON THE OPENING VERSES OF THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION

(Part One)

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand,” Revelation 1:1-3.

According to the great chronologist, James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh and sympathiser with Ulster’s persecuted Presbyterians, the Book of the Revelation was written 100 years after the birth of the Saviour. If that is so, it went forth from John’s pen some sixty seven years into the age of the New Testament Church. Given that the age has endured now for some 2024 years, it was given in the very early formative years of the Gentile Church. There is in that a noteworthy consideration!

The Lord would have His people acquainted with the truth concerning the last days and the second advent of Christ from the earliest days of their pilgrimage. Sadly, that is not the state of affairs amongst His people today, nor has it been so in recent history!

The book was written in a time of great persecution under the Roman Caesar, Domitian, (AD 81-96). John suffered in that time of affliction. “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ,” verse 9. (more…)

“I will therefore put you in remembrance,” Jude 1:5.

I was made aware of the freshness and the inexhaustible nature of the Word of God as I read Jude’s epistle today (29.5.24) as part of my daily devotion.

The word ‘remembrance’ in verse 5 prompted me to consider something which I had never really considered before. I realised that the word suggested something about the believers to whom Jude was writing that I had not given thought to before.

CRAFTY CREEPERS CAN ONLY GAIN ENTRANCE AMONGST A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY HAVE GROWN CARELESS AND FORGETFUL

1. Jude found it needful to write this epistle. That need was born of more than just the invasion by “certain men” bent on “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” verses 4-5.

But he found it necessary to write this warning and exhortation to action because it was obvious that carelessness, born of a spirit of forgetfulness, dominated the churches involved. That how the ‘creepers’ were able to get in. This ‘amnesiac’ spirit had bred negligence whereby the enemy was able to penetrate their ranks. Physically, we all know that as the years go by we are ever more prone to forgetfulness. Well, this is also true of our souls as the years go past.  Long ago, Moses warned Israel: “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;” Deuteronomy 4:9. Forgetfulness has ever been a threat to the wellbeing of God’s people. It breeds carelessness which is exploited by the devil! (more…)