Article

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…)

“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation,” Hebrews 9:28.

The religion of Christ is a religion of certainties! Daniel, upon revealing God’s future purpose to king Nebuchadnezzar underlined that the matter was settled and could not be altered.

“Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure,” Daniel 2:45.

The words ‘certain’ and ‘sure’ carry the meaning of ‘utterly reliable’!

BUT we live in a world of uncertainties because of our very limited perception of what lies beyond the ‘here and new’!

Thus James counsels us:

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that,” James 4:13-15.

The Word of God sets before us that of which we may be absolutely certain. Our text sets forth just such a most happy and thrilling certainty — the glorious return of Christ our Saviour!

Please consider some simple considerations set forth in this lovely verse.

I. HE IS SPECIAL BECAUSE HE IS THE ONE WHO BORE THE SINS OF MANY

“Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.”

1. Let me underline that word ‘offered’. It is absolutely true that Christ offered Himself , as we read in Hebrews 9:14.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

But it is also stated in that familiar and much loved verse, John 3:16, that the Father offered His Son at Calvary. (more…)