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A sermon preached by Rev Ivan Foster in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church on 7th June 1987.

“And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him,” 1 Samuel 5:1-4.

In the midst of apparent defeat, God continues to work!

The information in the first verse reminds us that the Lord may permit the enemy to the remove the ordinances He has instituted and even the visible evidence of His presence amongst His people if there is a turning away from Him as there was in the days of Eli.

Such a defeat and set back for the people of God is viewed as a great victory over the Lord. In that we have a strong reason to avoid ‘backsliding’ because of the dishonour it brings to the name of the Lord.

The defeat of Israel at the hands of the Philistines was the direct result of her sin and rebellion rather than any superiority of the Philistines’ skills of war. Sin had cost them the Lord’s blessing and brought about their consequent defeat.

While the Philistines attributed their victory to their god, ‘Dagon’, the Lord soon demonstrated the folly of that notion!

The incident is illustrative of what takes place at conversion.

I. CHRIST COMING INTO THE SOUL OF THE BELIEVER IS MARKED BY AN OVERTHROWING OF  THEIR FORMER ‘GOD’.

Here is the nature of the work of God in the heart of the converted sinner.

1. Before conversion the soul is a ‘house of Dagon’! The devil is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” Ephesians 2:2. The devil is the ‘god of this world’! “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them,” 2 Corinthians 4:4.

2. When Christ enters the heart through faith, the power of the devil is broken. Immediately the Lord begins to work in our hearts and lives. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13. (more…)

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter VI

An Answer to the Bishop’s slander of the Reformation

It is on the subject of the Reformation that the Bishop once more gives us a display of his Jesuitry and cunning. We quote from  his second lecture: “Now I want to look briefly at a period of change in Christianity which will probably be better known to the audience: the Reformation  of the 16th century. We usually think of this as the period above all others of change in the Church and in Christianity”. We shall return for a moment to the Bishop’s discussion of the various changes, but firstly let us settle one question. Did Christianity and the Church change at the Reformation? Do not drink the Bishop’s proffered cup, for the keen eye will detect the taint of poison. The Reformation was a “time of change”, but the changes did not take place in the Church or in Christianity. By the “Church” I mean the unchanging and unchangeable religion of the Word of God.

The Bishop’s inventions

As we rake through the rubble of the Bishop’s collapsed intellectualism we constantly come across this one persistent falsehood. Varied may be its disguises, but its nature never changes. Dr. Hanson labours assiduously throughout these lectures to make “CHANGES” acceptable to his audience, and his readers. To do this he invents periods of change in the Church. The date and background for his “changes” are not chosen at random, but carefully. He first of all suggested that the 2nd century was a time of change, and so of course it was, but the changes were political and philosophical, not doctrinal. Empires may fall, philosophical theories perish, but the religion of God’s Word is unaffected in its intrinsic nature. Jesus said “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall never pass away”.

Now again Dr. Hanson seeks to introduce another of these periods of change. Again he has carefully chosen his time and background. No one will deny that the 16th century saw many changes. BUT WE CONTEST HIS STATEMENT THAT THE CHANGES TOOK PLACE IN THE CHURCH AND IN CHRISTIANITY. The changes were men and women leaving the CHURCH OF ROME in their tens of thousands, and by the work of the Holy Spirit made members of the CHURCH OF GOD – “The church of the first-born, which are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23). It was not changes in Christianity that took place, but men changing their God, changing from the God of popish Rome to the LIVING GOD OF THE BIBLE. There was no more a change in Christianity during the Reformation than there was when Paul preached in Thessalonica and “many turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess, 1 : 9-10). The Reformation saw a MULTIPLICATION OF BELIEVERS, but NOT an ALTERATION OF BELIEF. With this fundamental fact in mind we shall examine the rest of the Bishop’s statement.

One of the results of the Reformation, he tells us, was that “it left a Church divided into fragments, some of them sharply opposed to the others”. Here the Romanist comes to the fore of Dr. Hanson’s character. “It left a Church divided”. This was the chant of super-ecumenist Pope John, which has been taken up by the like-minded deceivers. We need to remember that it was the false and idolatrous Church of Rome that was shattered. Dr. Hanson is insinuating that Martin Luther committed the sin of schism, i.e., withdrawing from God’s people. Martin Luther did not sin. He obeyed a Divine principle and SEPARATED FROM DARKNESS. The harm done by Martin Luther’s action can be likened unto the disturbance in the tomb of Lazarus when he rose from the dead, or to the bursting open of the graves by the dead raised at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. (more…)