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This message, preached on August 15th, 2021, the day that marked the 47th anniversary of the opening of the Free Presbyterian Hall in Kilskeery back in 1974, was brought to my attention and I feel that is something that needs to be heard again.

I am therefore sending it out by email to those readers on our email list.

Christian, when you receive it I ask you circulate it wisely amongst your acquaintances and pray that the Lord might be pleased to bless the message to the hearts of God’s faithful souls.

Here is the recording and the text that accompanied it on ’The Burning Bush’ website.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

WHO IS ON THE LORD’S SIDE?

A question for us all today!

“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who [is] on the LORD’S side? [let him come] unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, [and] go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour,” Ex 32:26-27.

Today we mark the 47th anniversary of the opening of the hall on this site for the preaching of the gospel.

I would want to honour those who laboured and financed the venture amidst much opposition. I recall the generosity of Mr & Mrs Robert Edwards, who donated part of their garden as a site for the hall and the men who laboured, mostly in the evenings, after their day’s work and on Saturdays, to erect the building. They laboured out of a zeal for the honour and glory of the Lord.

Just over three years after its opening, the small handful of souls here in Kilskeery banded together and were constituted as a congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church. I was called to be the minister and installed as such in February 1978. Some eighteen months later, Kilskeery Independent Christian School commenced.

By the mercy of the Lord, both congregation and school continue to this day.

There are very few of the original founders left, having gone on to glory. But I trust that the spirit that energised the founders is still amongst the remnant here!

* This is not the text that I had hoped to preach upon at this meeting. I may get a chance to preach my original message on another occasion.

The news reports of the DUP mayor of Londonderry officially launching the abominable ‘full programme of events’ to celebrate and extol that greatest of all sins amongst mankind, sodomy, so vexed me that I wrote to the Moderator of our Presbytery, the Clerk and the Chairman of the Morals Committee, expressing my horror and demanding that action be taken to separate the FPC from the sodomite-honouring DUP. (more…)

Below is the heading and an article in today’s ‘Belfast Telegraph’ by Mr Sam McBride. It was sent to me by a kind friend and I am sending it to you at the risk of burdening you with yet another email, for I believe it reveals the spiritual wilderness our Province has become.

Amongst the causes of this dreadful spiritual decline from what Ulster used to be is the failure of many of God’s ministers to speak out and protest against the defiance of God that is seen clearly amongst the ranks of those who profess allegiance to God or at least once did.

That silence has aided the decline very greatly and has encouraged the enemy and has given the impression that consent is being granted to the ongoing departure from God.

“In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them,” Obadiah 1:11.

It is an analysis of a recent poll on religion in Northern Ireland. What it says is that’Northern Ireland, long long distinguished from the religious trends in the rest of the UK and the world in general, has just about caught up with the departure from God and the rejection of His Word that is the norm in other lands!

This tragic development has been going on for years. It can particularly be traced back to when the three main churches here, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland, became founding members of  the World Council of Churches back in 1948.

That organisation became the channel by which every unclean and blasphemous doctrine was streamed in to Ulster via the modernistic and  ecumenical pro-Roman Catholic ministers, who increasingly have taken over the three denominations.

Today, these denominations, to varying degrees, sanction every perversion of the devil, or at least fail to denounce and oppose them as God would have done! The apostasy is not stagnant, though it gives off the stench one associates with that which is, but is ever moving downward and carrying the blinded populace with it. (more…)

“‭He causeth the grass‭ to grow‭‭ for the cattle‭, and herb‭ for the service‭ of man‭: that he may bring forth‭‭ food‭ out of the earth‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Psalm 104:14.

This morning (26/2/24) I read the words: “‭Consider‭‭ the ravens‭: for‭ they neither‭ sow‭‭ nor‭ reap‭‭; which‭ neither‭ have‭‭ storehouse‭ nor‭ barn‭; and‭ God‭ feedeth‭‭ them‭: how much‭ more‭ are‭‭ ye‭ better than‭‭ the fowls‭?‭ . . . ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬Consider‭‭ the lilies‭ how‭ they grow‭‭: they toil‭‭ not‭, they spin‭‭ not‭; and yet‭ I say‭‭ unto you‭, that Solomon‭ in‭ all‭ his‭ glory‭ was‭‭ not‭ arrayed‭‭ like‭ one‭ of these‭,‭”‭ Luke 12:24, 27.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

When I thought upon the word ‘consider’, which is a translation of a Greek word which could also be translated ‘observe and understand’, I saw how that the Lord would have us observe His creation for it, in all its manifested elements, testifies of His merciful providence.

That caused me to think upon the verse above from the Psalms and particularly the words: “that he may bring forth food out of the earth.”

The Bible says: “And . . . ‭‭‭‭‭of making‭‭ many‭‭ books‭ ‭there is‭ no end‭,‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭”‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭ Ecclesiastes 12:12. This is certainly so of cookery books! I never search the internet for news reports of the events of the day without coming upon innumerable recommended meals and recipes that can be prepared. I do not think I am wrong in thinking that such is the variety of food available from the earth for man that the combinations and dishes that are possible are almost infinite.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

I. THE FOOD THAT THE EARTH BRINGS FORTH DECLARES GOD’S KINDNESS.

I wonder have you ever thought of just what it is God provides for our good from the earth? I have often pondered how that man, who was created out of “the dust of‭ the ground‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭” (Genesis 2:7), is daily sustained from that which springs up from the earth.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

1. Everything we eat has its origin in the dust. Whether it be fruit, vegetables or meat, it has all come from the earth. What a miracle is involved in the transforming of grass into a juicy steak! It is most laughable that the ‘learned’ evolutionist thinks that the many ruminants somehow taught themselves to chew their cud and turn grass into that which man find’s delicious! Man cannot digest grass otherwise we would have a very abundant food source produced by our lawn! But God has ordained that many creatures can digest grass and from that produce that which we delight to feast upon and digest! (more…)