“And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim,” Judges 2:8-11.

I read these words with a trembling and vexed heart on Saturday 19th July, for they all too vividly describe what is happening yet again amongst God’s people! I also read that morning a companion chapter, Jeremiah 15.

In them both there is reiterated the judgment that follows departure from the Lord by His people!

Such is the tendency of the Christian to stray that under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost Isaiah said: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,”Isaiah 53:6.

That ‘straying’ brought about the Saviour’s sufferings on the cross as the means of atoning for our sins and rescuing us and bringing us to the safety of the fold.

Despite being acutely aware of this truth, God’s people, with sad regularity, drift away from the Lord and set aside the clear teaching of His Word and, in consequence, raise children who because of the ‘drift’ of their parents, KNOW NOT THE LORD, NOR YET THE WORKS WHICH HE HAD DONE.

I. I BELIEVE THAT THE ROOT CAUSE OF THIS SAD DEPARTURE AND CONSEQUENT JUDGMENT, IS THE FAILURE OF THE ADULT GENERATION TO RIGHTLY TEACH THEIR OFFSPRING!

On Friday 18th July ‘The Christian Institute’ issued a statement which was headed:

Long-awaited sex ed guidance removes age limits for sex education

“It is also now explicitly clear that “all” teaching materials for sex education lessons “should be available to parents”, including external resources.

Previously, some schools have refused to allow parents access to materials, citing copyright issues, with providers claiming to be fearful that their content would be plagiarised.

But the new guidance also states that where contracts exist that would prevent parents from accessing “any material at all”, these contracts are “void and unenforceable”. This is because “they contradict the clear public policy interest of ensuring that parents are aware of what their children are being taught in sex and relationships education”.

“While this is welcome, the new guidance does contain some concerning updates regarding LGBT content. Previous wording had stated: “Primary schools have discretion over whether to discuss sexual orientation or families with same-sex parents”.

But this has been replaced by: “We strongly encourage primary schools to teach about healthy loving relationships, and to include same-sex parents along with other family arrangements when discussing families”.

While this statement relates to education on the mainland, here in Northern Ireland, the Department of Education tends to keep in step with what happens in the schools in the rest of GB.

Presbytery’s foolish decision

In response to directives from the Department of Education here in Northern Ireland, the majority in our Presbytery passed a resolution back in March of this year, part of which stated:

“That the imposition of the new ‘Relationships and Sex Education’ directives for schools has launched sustained assaults on so many points of God’s moral law for mankind is a painfully obvious fact. (more…)

In our first two studies we concentrated upon the importance of prophecy and the role it plays in the life of the believer. We also noted the central location of prophetic events in Holy Scripture — the areas around the Mediterranean Sea and in particular that land that the Lord is pleased to call “my land”, (2 Chronicles 7:19, Isaiah 14:25 etc). In our third article, we went a little further and began to note the details of the prophecies given in these two chapters.

In this our fourth study, I would like to come to some more of the details given in these two visions granted to Daniel. The first vision, recorded in chapter 7, which centres upon the emergence of the four great kingdoms (verse 17) which “arise out of the earth”, will be our focus in this study.

The word translated ‘earth’ may be seen to be used in a context which clearly indicates that it is not a reference to the whole surface of the earth. In Daniel 2:39, there is a reference to the ‘third’ great kingdom, the Grecian empire.

“And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.” Now the Grecian empire did not rule over all the lands of the earth, so we can see that the word ‘earth’ here is used in a limited fashion. I believe that it refers to the ‘prophetic’ earth, the territories dominated by the four great kingdoms of holy Scripture which owe their mention in the Bible to the fact that they ‘interacted’ with the people and land of Israel, God’s land and people!

The fourth ‘beast’, or kingdom, is described as being “dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly”, verse 7. That kingdom is the ‘Roman Empire’!

I. I MUST STRESS THAT THE FOURTH KINGDOM, THOUGH EMERGING LONG AGO, AROUND 2171 YEARS AGO, AFTER THE FALL OF THE GRECIAN EMPIRE, WILL STILL BE IN EXISTENCE WHEN CHRIST RETURNS!

That is made very plain in Daniel 2:44. “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.”

The kingdom that the Lord will set up is inaugurated at His return. That is made plain in Revelation 11:15. “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” (more…)