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“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God,” Amos 9:11-15.

What a happy future prospect for his fellow Israelites Amos, a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea, is inspired to predict as his final words. His book begins with judgment pronounced upon nations surrounding Israel and on Israel itself.

“Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes,” Amos 2:6.

Dark times

The days during which he prophesied were dark times indeed. Isaiah, his fellow prophet, reveals that to us.

“The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers,” Isaiah 1:1-7.

Yet despite the dreadfulness of the days in which he lived, Amos could look forward to a future day of blessing for his nation!

There are those who would believe that the blessings referred to in our text are blessings that will fall upon the ‘Church of Christ’ and not upon the nation of Israel. They believe that because it is their view that God has finished with Israel as a nation and they have been cast away by Him forever and that being so, these blessings belong to those, ‘spiritually’ referred to as ‘Israel’, to whom the Lord turned when He rejected Israel following the crucifixion of the Saviour by Israel. In other words Gentile believers!

I do not believe that to be so, and that for a number of simple reasons. (more…)

This article, which is the substance of a sermon I preached on ‘EUTHANASIA’ quite some years ago.  On 14th May 2006, I again dealt with the subject from the text: “And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them,” Revelation 14:13.  It first appeared in the ‘Burning Bush’ back then. I am attaching a recording of that message.

The subject that prompted it has come up again, though under a slightly different title!

The title may have changed but the Christian’s response to this subject has not. It is, as it was in the past, ‘Thus saith the Lord’!

Here is what the BBC reported on November 12th, 2024.

A proposed law to legalise assisted dying, external for terminally ill adults in England and Wales has been formally introduced in the House of Commons.

MPs are due to debate and vote on the bill on 29 November – further debates and votes would be needed before the bill becomes law.

The bill – called the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – would make it legal for over-18s who are terminally ill to be given assistance to end their own life.

‘Assisted dying’ simply means helping a person to commit suicide. If those who would take their own lives only knew what lay after death they would not for one moment act so.

For those who are trusting in Christ for salvation from the consequences of their sin — eternal damnation — there is no inclination to end their life by their own hand, no matter what suffering they are enduring. Such a Christian may well pray that the Lord would intervene and take them to heaven and ask loved ones to likewise pray for them, but they know that self-murder is a great sin and they would not wish their last act on earth to be one so heinous!

For a government to contemplate legalising such a wickedness is but further evidence of the depths of the nation’s apostasy from God that is ever increasing around us.

Having been rejected in the past and now once more being pursued by blind and deluded leaders, is proof of the determined spirit of those who would cast aside every statute of God!

We have slightly revised the original article but have not in any way altered the main thesis of it.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

EUTHANASIA OR ASSISTED SUICIDE — WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURES?

The word euthanasia is of Greek origin and comes from two words meaning ‘GOOD DEATH’. (more…)