“I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD,” Psalm 40:1-3.
The word ‘patiently’ in the verse is one that refers to a ‘looking with expectancy and a lying quietly waiting’. Prayer often entails a ‘waiting’. Over against that, we must remember that the Lord has said: “before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear,” Isaiah 65:24. The commentator, John Gill has rightly said of these words: “That is, their desires shall be anticipated, God will see their needs, and He will impart to them the blessings which they need. He will not wait to be applied to for the blessing. How many such blessings do all His people receive at the hand of God! How ready is He to anticipate our needs! How watchful is He of our necessities; and how rich His benevolence in providing for us!”
General Rule
I think that we can say that such speedy answers are the exception to the general rule. “Waiting” is a time of preparation for the believer. Their desire for God’s blessing is heightened during the waiting. An awareness of their need is pressed in upon those praying and they are made to recognise their own helplessness and utter dependence on God’s mercy.
Swift answers come to those who are in a right state of heart and mind to receive mercy.
This is illustrated in the account of the death and resurrection of Lazarus, John 13:3-7. “Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.”
That two day wait was for a purpose. There was a readying of Martha and Mary.
The verses I have quoted from Isaiah 65 come from a passage which relates to the future changes that God will bring about amongst His ancient people, Israel. At the end of this age, the remnant of Israel, humbled, broken and distressed by the events they endured during the ‘great tribulation’, will be visited by the grace of God and in a miraculous manner, they will be converted.
“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn,” Zechariah 12:10.
And again, “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children,” Isaiah 66:8.
It is in this context that prayer is so swiftly answered. Those seeking the Lord’s blessing are so brought into union with the Lord and at one with God that they are thinking as one mind!
As the thought of a request is formed the answer to it is on its way.
Peter
I think the events featuring Peter walking on the stormy sea illustrates this. “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Matthew 14:30-31. Peter’s sinking down into the sea instantly brought him to a place of the awareness of his helplessness and danger and he cried with an unusual urgency and ‘immediately’ the Lord answered his prayer.
But to return to our subject: the blessings of patiently waiting on God.
I. THE LORD INCLINES TOWARD THE ONE PRAYING
“I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me . . .”.
The word means the Lord stretches out and bows down to hear the prayers of His people.
1. How faint and feeble are our prayers. The Lord underscores this by inclining toward us in order to hear our weak cries. As the approach of death robs a person of a strong voice so sin strangles our ability to ‘cry aloud’ in prayer. Sometimes our prayers are reduced to mere groanings. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,” Romans 8:26. So weak are we that it is only by the help of the Holy Spirit that we are able even to groan!
2. The Lord is most attentive to hear our prayers. It is said of Samuel that “The LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground,” 1 Samuel 3:19. That is a reference to Samuel’s preaching. I believe that in like manner the Lord will not allow one word of our poor prayers to fall to the ground and lie unheard!
3. How precious to the Lord is even the weakest cry of the saint. Can we not see an eager response by the Lord and a reaching down so as not to miss one word of His child’s cry for help! In another place David prayed: “Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy,” Psalm 86:1. How often the Lord shows His love to us by hearing our feeblest cry!
“ . . . . thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived,” Revelation 18:23.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued a report in 2023 on the subject of drugs.
Here are some extracts from that report.
“New data put the global estimate of people who inject drugs in 2021 at 13.2 million, 18 per cent higher than previously estimated. Globally, over 296 million people used drugs in 2021, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous decade. The number of people who suffer from drug use disorders, meanwhile, has skyrocketed to 39.5 million, a 45 per cent increase over 10 years.
The Report features a special chapter on drug trafficking and crimes that affect the environment in the Amazon Basin, as well as sections on clinical trials involving psychedelics and medical use of cannabis; drug use in humanitarian settings; innovations in drug treatment and other services; and drugs and conflict.
The World Drug Report 2023 also highlights how social and economic inequalities drive – and are driven by – drug challenges; the environmental devastation and human rights abuses caused by illicit drug economies; and the rising dominance of synthetic drugs.
The demand for treating drug-related disorders remains largely unmet, according to the report. Only one in five people suffering from drug-related disorders were in treatment for drug use in 2021, with widening disparities in access to treatment across regions.
Illicit drug economies (are) accelerating conflicts, human rights abuses, and environmental devastation.
The drug economy in the Amazon Basin is exacerbating additional criminal activities – such as illegal logging, illegal mining, illegal land occupation, wildlife trafficking and more – damaging the environment of the world’s largest rainforest. Indigenous peoples and other minorities are suffering the consequences of this crime convergence, including displacement, mercury poisoning, and exposure to violence, among others. Environmental defenders are sometimes specifically targeted by traffickers and armed groups.
While the war in Ukraine has displaced traditional cocaine and heroin routes, there are signs that the conflict could trigger an expansion of the manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs, given the existing know-how and the large markets for synthetic drugs developing in the region.
In the Sahel, (hot semi-arid climate that stretches across the southernmost latitudes of North Africa – Editor) the illicit drug trade finances non-state armed and insurgency groups, while in Haiti, drug traffickers take advantage of porous borders to bolster their businesses, fuellSing the country’s multiplying crises.”
Long before men realised the growing curse that drug addiction was becoming, the Lord told us that such substance abuse would become an ‘industry’ in the last days, the means of deceiving and blinding the inhabitants of the earth to the eternal truth of God and the everlasting damnation that the rejection of the gospel will bring.
In our text above we have mention made of ‘merchants’, ‘great men’, ‘sorceries’ and ‘deception’. Click to read more…
“That our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace,” Psalm 144:12.
Here in the island of Ireland, we are all familiar with granite. It is seen in large displays such as our Mountains of Mourne and in the Irish Republic there is the extensive range of the Wicklow mountains. Smaller samples of this stone are seen in graveyards, marking the graves of the departed.
It is described as ‘an igneous rock consisting mainly of quartz, mica and feldspar. It is extremely durable, as it is not easily chipped or damaged by heat. Hundreds of colours can be found naturally, which makes granite a perfect design element to homes or businesses.’
Frequently it is used in the making of an ornamental stone to mark the building of a church and it is ‘ceremonially’ laid by a guest at a ‘stone-laying’ service, so familiar to Free Presbyterians.
The stone referred to in our text is not named but if we think of a granite stone we will easily understand the spiritual point that is to be observed in this verse.
Consider:
I. POLISHING BRINGS OUT THE INWARD BEAUTY OF GRANITE
This father is requesting of the Lord that daughters might experience the moving of His grace in her life whereby she may show forth a beauty that He alone can produce in a life. “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness,” 1 Chronicles 16:29. This world does not consider ‘holiness’ beautiful but the Lord does. It is that ‘beauty’ this father desires in daughters.
1. Not all rocks or stones can be polished. Were some rocks subjected to polishing they would merely crumble away. There is no richness in their composition that can be brought forth by polishing.
2. There are rocks which can be polished. Not all men and women consist of that which may be polished and made beautiful. By nature we are merely ‘clay’. But the marvellous grace of God transforms a sinner who believes the gospel and he/she becomes a ‘new creation’. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17. From the ‘clay of depravity’ the sinner is transformed and becomes one of the precious stones built into the spiritual temple of God. Click to read more…
Joe McCann was shot near his home in the Markets area of Belfast in April 1972
The following headline appeared on the local BBC news site on Monday 22nd April, 2024.
Joe McCann: Attorney general orders fresh inquest into Official IRA man’s death
The shooting of Joe McCann, fifty-two years ago this month, has been at the centre of an ongoing campaign by Republicans to have his death declared as murder.
This latest chapter in that controversy has stirred afresh for me memories of events some 58 years ago when providence placed me in the company of Joe McCann every day for three months.
I have written about that time before and this latest development prompts me to mount again the article I wrote back in 2016.
I am once again moved to ponder the merciful providence of God that brings men under the sound of the gospel and the all too common reaction of sinners to that mercy!
Below is the 2016 article I wrote on Joe McCann.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
24th April, 2024
Joe McCann, IRA gunman, and his three months under the gospel
by Rev Ivan Foster
The death of IRA man, Joe McCann, is once again in the news. Attempts are being made to put on trial those soldiers who were involved in the firefight when Joe McCann was shot by paratroopers. McCann (24) was commander of the Official IRA’s third Belfast battalion. In February 1972, McCann was involved in the attempted assassination of Ulster Unionist politician John Taylor. He was regarded by the security forces as a dangerous terrorist. McCann was shot by soldiers in disputed circumstances in Joy Street in the Markets area, close to his home, on April 15, 1972. One of the men, Soldier C, is a grandfather from Hampshire, England, who served with distinction for 23 years. “How can this be justice?” he asked. “It is a disgrace. I was doing my duty in Northern Ireland, trying to protect the public and keep the peace. Now I am being thrown to the wolves.”
I had a close association with Joe in the Crumlin Road Jail for three months in 1966. Most Free Presbyterians will, I hope, know that Dr Ian Paisley, Rev John Wylie and I, a second year student at the Free Presbyterian Theological Hall, spent 90 days in prison as a result of being prosecuted for our part in a protest against the ecumenism of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland on 6th June 1966. Click to read more…
The folly of the DUP in going back in to Stormont and, by so doing, re-activating the means whereby the enemies of righteousness that are the political parties in Ulster (with the exception of the one member of the Traditional Unionist View party, Jim Allister, who sits there) were able to push their evil agenda for the future generation in Ulster, was clearly demonstrated yesterday in a debate on a motion calling on the Education Minister to support ‘compulsory, standardised, inclusive, high-quality, evidence-based and age-appropriate relationships and sexuality education’ (RSE) in schools.
The motion was passed by the Assembly. The DUP may have opposed the motion — though it must be noted that there appears to have been no reference to God’s Word and the moral standards of behaviour and lifestyle which He has ordained and thereby there was a failing to set forth the true and only real basis of opposition to the evil supported by the motion.
In truth, despite their feeble opposition, the DUP made such a debate and such a decision possible in the Assembly by their RETURNING to Stormont and that on the basis of their deceitful claim that they had won the argument on the implementing of a border in the Irish sea (the reason for their withdrawal) which excluded Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom!
We are still excluded from the UK and the DUP won no victory at all despite their repeated claims of such! A recent report in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ had the following statement: “Consignments of fresh seafood are being either impounded or sent back to Scotland at Belfast port thanks to the Protocol.”
Parliament Buildings, often referred to as Stormont, because of its location in the Stormont Estate area of Belfast, is the seat of the Northern Ireland Assembly
So much for the DUP’s victory. What a party of lies and chicanery it is! Click to read more…
“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat,” 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
The Word of God presents a plan for life that is perfectly complete and ahead of the shifting sands of man’s social innovations and novelties.
Man working in machine shop. Photo by Maxime Agnelli on Unsplash
The headline: “Benefits to be axed after a year on the dole to stop it becoming a ‘lifestyle choice’, Prime Minister announces” is but the declaring of a long-required response, though falling far short of what is needed, in the face of a social ill whereby schemers and scammers are provided with a comfortable ‘workless’ lifestyle by the Government at the expense of those who do work and pay taxes!
‘Skiving’ is nothing new. The excuses given range from the ‘cunningly ingenuous’ to the ‘lame brained’.
One trade union official, Paul Embery, is reported as offering the following stupid reason why some are right not seek work and instead live at the expense of others. “Many Britons are dissuaded from working due to its “mundane drudgery”. (See here)
There used to be a programme on the BBC radio, many years ago, called ‘Workers Playtime’. It was transmitted by the BBC between 1941 and 1964. It was intended originally as a morale-booster for industrial workers during World War II.
Now it seems that ‘playtime without any work’ is what many demand!
Another such BBC radio programme was ‘Music While You Work’. It was a daytime radio programme of continuous music broadcast in the United Kingdom twice daily on workdays from 23 June 1940 until 29 September 1967.
Both of these broadcasting ventures were in order to aid workers often engaged in the most tedious of labours, especially during wartime and the subsequent demanding years of scarcity.
However, today sees the increasing notion that is held by some that they have a right to live and be entitled to a totally frivolous life at the expense of their neighbours!
From the words of our text it is obvious that it is not a new notion. The maxim that Paul quotes is founded upon an obvious truth and is in accordance with the great law under which our Creator has placed us. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” Genesis 3:19.
That law in the circumstances was benevolent, and it should be our aim to carry it out in reference to ourselves and to others. The law here laid down by the apostle extends to all who are able to work for a living but who will not do it, and binds us not to contribute to their support if they will not labour for it.
What Paul was instituting was a rule whereby the local Church should not offer support to those who could but would not work and earn a living. Instead they were happy to live off the ‘charity’ of others. That which the apostle so succinctly states as a law originating with God is poorly imitated by politicians in an effort to save public money at a time of austerity. The prime minister and those who support him are not moved by a desire to institute biblical morality! No, most likely unwittingly they are recognising the simple logical common sense of that which has its origins in heaven!
SUCCEED
Sadly, I do not think it will prove successful. The attitude of heart and mind that produces such selfish laziness is born within each person. It is an instinct of our depraved nature. Paul was teaching those who were but until recently, Grecian heathens. There was not the welfare provisions of today from which they could sponge. However, that did not stop some sitting all day in the sunshine at a street corner and begging of passers by. Most likely there were those who ‘advertised’ their needs either by mimicking illness or injury or exaggerating any physical complaint they may have had.
I will never forget my experience in downtown Nairobi when beggars of every form swarmed around me and those I was with. I later learned that oftentimes some of the dreadful injuries and deformities were evidently self-inflicted in order to promote pity on the part of those passing by!
I would have thought that employment was an easier route to obtaining food and clothing! Click to read more…
Derelict home for the insane. Photo by Nathan Wright on Unsplash
A recent newspaper report stated that “The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said the current law in England and Northern Ireland has created ‘grey areas,’ which mean there is sometimes a defence to physical punishment.”
The general view of ‘medical big-wigs’ is that it is perfectly moral and proper to kill unborn babies and it is very right to assist adolescents in their pursuit of the evil and perverted desire to change their gender. However, they reject God’s teaching on the right discipline of children.
This is a day of calling “evil good, and good evil”, of putting “darkness for light, and light for darkness” and putting “bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter”! (Isaiah 5:20).
This embracing of the ‘new morality’, which is in truth the ‘old immorality’, is the undercurrent which has brought forth the dreadful harvest of murders, abuse, rapes and violations that daily are reported in the news.
Despite the claims of possessing a ‘superior wisdom’ on the part of those who are the ‘influencers’ of the nation, they utterly fail to see the correlation between the new standards and the increase in immorality.
There is an undeniable and irrefutable logic to the simple truth of Galatians 6:7-8.
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
That has been believed and embraced, at least in its intrinsic wisdom, even by the heathen!
The Saviour emphasised this truth. “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit,” Matthew 7:16-18.
When there is an overwhelming ‘crop’ of evil being reaped by a nation simple logic would tell us that that nation is sowing the seeds that have brought forth this harvest of criminality, fraud and iniquity!
That logic was displayed in the parable of ‘the wheat and the tares’.
“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this,” Matthew 13:24-28.
There is ‘an enemy’ at work in our nation and that enemy is the depraved thinking of religious and political leaders which has overthrown the simple acceptance of the Law of God of which it has been wisely said: “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes,” Psalm 19:8. Click to read more…
On Saturday morning the news of the passing of Mr Ernie Monteith of Tullyrush, Beragh, was brought to me. It stilled my heart and mind as I immediately recognised that one who had played a major part in the formation of Omagh Free Presbyterian Church had gone to his eternal reward.
Born in 1926, the same years as Ian Paisley, he had almost reached the 100 year mile-stone.
I first met Ernie when he came on occasions with family members to the Free Presbyterian Church meetings in Lisbellaw. The witness there had begun in February 1967. Ernie and His wife Mollie, who went to be with the Lord last February, had long been unhappy with the increasing ‘false ecumenism’ of their church, the Church of Ireland. Being fervent believers they were enthusiastic supporters of the witness and protests against the modernism and apostasy of the mainline denominations by Dr Ian Paisley.
Ernie, of his own volition and encouraged by Dr Paisley, bought the site on the A5, Beltany Road, presently occupied by Omagh Free Presbyterian Church, and arrangements were made for Dr Paisley (who had agreed) to come and conduct a gospel mission on the site in a large tent which seated many hundreds.
Dr Ian Paisley back in those days.
The tent was burned by republicans subsequent to the mission but not before the ‘the fire of God’ fell upon the meetings in it.
PRAYER
In preparation for that mission, prayer meetings were organised in the Monteith farmhouse at Tullyrush and Rev John Long and I led those meetings. Concerned Christians from the area assembled there for some weeks before the mission in the late Autumn of 1968 and I have the happiest of memories of the meetings in the Monteith home; the wonderful gospel mission when some 180 souls were saved; the subsequent formation of a congregation and the weekly church prayer meetings held temporarily in the old band hall in the car park behind High Street in Omagh. Whenever I meet any of the older members of Omagh, mention is made of those meetings in the ‘Band Hall’!
On 15th December 1968, having been placed by Presbytery as minister in charge, I constituted the new Church in Omagh Orange Hall.
NEW CHURCH
A large wooden portable hall was erected on the church site in June 1969 and it met the needs of the congregation until a permanent building was completed. It was opened by Dr Paisley on Saturday 24th April 1976.
From the Omagh witness there sprang the churches in Castlederg and Sixmilecross.
Ernie was elected an elder in the infancy of the congregation and served as Clerk of Session for many years and only a few years ago stepped down from his duties as an elder.
Following those days in 1968, my family and I were in the Monteith home on many occasions and our boys have many memories of the activities they happily engaged in on Uncle ‘Narnie’s’ farm, for he always found time to show them around and have them engage in some of the tasks of a farm, the tractor rides and the foddering and rounding up of cattle and sheep and moving them to fresh pasture. My wife Ann and I have never forgotten the many kindnesses shown to us by Mollie and Ernie and never will.
I had a last time of fellowship with him at the end of January and he was well able to recall the turbulent and contentious days at the commencement of the Omagh congregation.
Omagh Free Presbyterian Church
He certainly ‘fought a good fight and kept the faith’. He has undoubtedly laid up for himself “a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge”, shall give him at that day, 2 Timothy 4:8.
To all of the wide Monteith family we offer our sincere sympathy on the passing of their loved one of whom all in our family circle had the deepest respect and regard.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
The funeral for Mr Monteith took place in Omagh Free Presbyterian Church on Monday 15th April and the service may be viewed here.
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle,” 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
The word ‘therefore’ indicates that Paul is here drawing a conclusion from that which he has stated in the earlier verses of this chapter.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is one of the most detailed regarding the person of the Antichrist and the prestige with which he will be viewed by unconverted men and also his perdition in shame.
SECRET RAPTURE
Be that as it may, it is a chapter, the plain teaching of which, is very sadly ignored. Were it read and believed the notion of a ‘secret rapture’ of the saints of God would be universally abandoned.
The opening verses makes it clear that there will be no return of Christ for His saints until after the revealing of the Antichrist.
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God,” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4.
There was a common notion amongst some of the early believers that the Saviour could come in their day. But Paul is countering that by saying that the Saviour will not return until AFTER ‘a falling away first’, or an ‘apostasy’. Furthermore, he says that the Saviour will return after the revealing or ‘unveiling’ of the ‘man of sin . . . the son of perdition’, the Antichrist.
Therefore the ‘timetable’ of the second coming is set down for all to see. It will come AFTER the rise and the revealing of the Antichrist. The revealing of the Antichrist will IMMEDIATELY initiate the ‘great tribulation’. The Saviour makes that plain!
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be,” Matthew 24:15-21.
Note the total urgency that must be shown once the Antichrist identifies himself by the erection of ‘the abomination of desolation’ in ‘the holy place’, which will be the temple the Jews will one day soon build in Jerusalem. The ‘great tribulation’ will begin immediately that happens and there is not even time to snatch up a discarded item of clothing or gather together a few things from the home before fleeing to the hills.
PLANNING
For the ‘great tribulation’ to be set in motion and become effective as the Saviour indicates, it must be well and secretly planned by the Antichrist for quite some time before! Within living memory, the world has been given a foretaste of that of which the Saviour speaks.
In 1934 in Germany, there took place what was called ‘The Night of the Long Knives’. It was also called the ‘Röhm purge’ or ‘Operation Hummingbird’. Click to read more…
Despite two millennia of ‘antisemitism’ since Israel’s rejection and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, a more dreadful spirit of hatred and persecution against the ancient people of God is yet to be manifested.
These few headlines, of which there are many more, highlight the increasing opposition.
Israel has not done itself any favours of late in the Gaza conflict. There have been reported incidents which the most supportive of her sympathisers would not seek to justify. As Jacob Rees-Mogg says, they have been outpointed by Hamas and its allies in the ‘propaganda war’!
Again, that is a familiar factor to us here in Ulster for Sinn Fein/IRA, thanks to its many allies in the media, outscored Unionism and the British Government in the past and still does! Click to read more…
Rev. Ivan Foster (rtd), editor of The Burning Bush
On Friday, 5th April, it will be sixty years since I called upon the Lord for His mercy and salvation. I cried out of darkness and much spiritual ignorance, hardly knowing what it was I needed or sought but moved to seek the Lord by the returning to my mind of words spoken to me by a young lassie, Hazel, while I was travelling by a train with a companion, Albert, from Belfast to Portrush in Co. Antrim on ‘Good Friday’, March 27th 1964.
What the young lassie had said to me as we emerged from the train in Portrush station, following a very acrimonious (on my part) discussion in which she and her companions sought to witness of our need of Christ to Albert and me, was to quote Genesis 6:3. “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.”
I was totally unaware of where the quotation came from and I was utterly dismissive of the words of Hazel and truly never gave them another thought until the evening of April 5th in Albert’s home in Lowwood Park, Belfast. But in an instance, the Lord made known to me something of the meaning of those words and I was driven to call upon Him for mercy.
Here is a recording of my testimony given in a gospel mission in Ballinamallard, back in April 2017.
The house in Lowwood Park, Belfast in which I called upon the Lord. The window, top right, if I remember correctly, is that of the room in which I was saved.
Many who lived through the republican riots of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, will know that the tactics the Hamas terrorist have used in Gaza in recent days are but those we saw almost daily in republican areas in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Fein/IRA have changed in tactics and placed an emphasis on political activity. They have been forced to do this because they were not winning ‘the war’. They have not renounced violence but demonstrate its intrinsic place in the Irish Republican’s thesis by celebrating the terrorist ‘exploits’ of recent years annually. There have been those disappointed republicans who wish to see terrorism continued and they cursed Sinn Fein and have tried to muster support for a restarting of the terror campaign.
At the ‘Dissident Republican’ annual celebration in Londonderry to mark the ‘Easter Rising’ in Dublin in 1916, the chief feature was petrol bombing by juveniles. This has ever been the standard manifestation of lawlessness and murder that is inherent in the spirit of Irish Republicanism. It also was but a display of the practice of the IRA and Hamas of sending youngsters forward to attack the security forces knowing that they will find it difficult to reply to these acts of terrorism by adolescents without becoming targets of the left-wing media pundits and their campaign to attack any resistance to lawlessness and anarchy as being an attempt to shoot unarmed and innocent juveniles!
The tolerating of such lawless displays by the government and society generally and the cloaking of the insurgency by unscrupulous members of the press, is but confirmation that there is a manifesting around us of that prophesied in Psalm 2.
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” verses 1-3. Click to read more…
It is a report of a member of the Scottish Parliament, one Liam McArthur, who has tabled a bill whereby, if it becomes law in Scotland, terminally-ill people will be offered assistance to end their lives!
The report continues: “Supporters of the legislation say it would ease suffering.
Opponents worry that some terminally-ill people could feel under pressure to end their lives.
The Assisted Dying Bill is drafted by the Lib Dem MSP, Liam McArthur, who expects it to be debated this autumn.
The bill was published on Thursday and will potentially be voted on next year.
The Scottish government says ministers and SNP backbenchers will not be instructed how to vote, as the matter is an issue of individual conscience.
First Minister Humza Yousaf, who is a Muslim, has indicated that he is likely to vote against the bill, which is also opposed by the Church of Scotland, the Catholic Church in Scotland, and the Scottish Association of Mosques.
Under the proposals, patients could only request medical assistance to end their life if they had a terminal illness and had been ruled mentally fit to make the decision by two doctors. Click to read more…
The utterly astonishing headlines that filled the media websites in the UK in the last 24 hours are epitomised in the one that appeared on the local BBC website yesterday, the anniversary of the launching of the divisive and duplicitous ‘Good Friday Agreement’ some twenty-six years ago.
The headline is inconceivable and overwhelming and it has left many in Ulster deeply shocked.
The Word of God states: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father,” Matthew 10:29. What that teaches us is the absolute sovereignty of God. Nothing happens that is not under His absolute control.
As I pondered the above news headline and the increasingly horrifying further revelations, such as that issued by the police which indicated that Mrs Donaldson has also been charged, my mind sought refuge in the Word of God!
The basic truth of our system of justice states that a person is innocent until PROVEN guilty, nevertheless the political career of Jeffrey Donaldson is over for there is really no come-back from such a situation, even if a court were to find him innocent!
As I pondered this distressing situation, there came into my mind a portion of God’s Word.
Here it is:
“Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” Amos 3:1-8.
This portion teaches that nothing, absolutely nothing, happens that is not part of the divine plan and purpose. I looked particularly at the words, “Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” Click to read more…
The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Barbara Woodward, called for the “implementation of the resolution to be immediate”
“Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it,” Jeremiah 30:7.
It is most fitting that the ‘weeping prophet’ should tell us of the day of ‘Jacob’s Trouble’!
It is even more fitting that the One Who will save Jacob out of his day of trouble should give us a clear picture of that dreadful time for the people of Israel.
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened,” Matthew 24:14-22.
Any who have the least knowledge of Bible prophecy will have heard of ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’. Click to read more…
A letter from the presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster:
As the officers of the presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, we wish to be publicly associated with the tributes already paid to Mr Colin Hart, previous director of the Christian Institute, who suddenly passed away earlier this month (Tributes to key figure in ‘gay cake’ battle, News Letter, March 19).
We extend to his family and his colleagues our deepest sympathy, assuring them of our prayerful support in the midst of their sorrow.
Colin Hart, founder and previous director of the Christian Institute
We pay tribute to Mr Hart’s memory for his faithful and principled adherence to the moral and spiritual tenets of God’s Holy and Infallible Word as he directed the work of the Christian Institute.
Scripture states that “The memory of the just is blessed” (Proverbs 10:7).
We salute Mr Hart’s memory, and we thank God for his influence for God’s glory in our nation over many years.
Rev Samuel Murray, Moderator of Presbytery,
Rev Ian Brown, Deputy Moderator of Presbytery,
Rev John Greer, Clerk of Presbytery.
Irish politician, outgoing Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael Leo Varadkar
In his final words to his nation as he announced his resignation as leader of the Republic of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, boasts of that which he claims to have achieved but which is in truth in utter defiance of God and all that is holy.
“I am proud that we have made the country a more equal and more modern place when it comes to the rights of children, the LGBT community, equality for women and their bodily autonomy.” (Belfast Newsletter)
He is openly a sodomite and as such he has encouraged the people of the Republic of Ireland to defy God and go further down the road of embracing and sanitising and legalising abortion, sodomy, same-sex marriage and the perversions of the ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender’ lifestyle.
It is this that he is proud of!
In the light of God’s Word, which of course Leo Varadkar rejects, there is a coming day in which his pride will dissolve into bitter despair as he reaps the eternal consequences of his perverted lifestyle and his evil influence upon his country.
God’s people have long anticipated that day as they have endured the vexation of the rebellion of a godless world.
“Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,” Jude 1:14-21.
In February 2007, the following article was published.
“The Burning Bush” bows out
‘This edition of “The Burning Bush” will be the last. It has been in print since March 1970, becoming a regular monthly read since 1988. The founding editor, Rev Ivan Foster, retires next year. It is for this reason alone that the publication is coming to an end.
Burning Bush website banner from 18 October 2000
However, “The Burning Bush” website (www.ivanfoster.org) will continue for some time and it is hoped that pertinent articles will still continue to be made available by this means. The Editor appreciates very much the encouraging comments that have been made by readers regarding the ending of “The Burning Bush”. I would like to thank all those who have faithfully supported this witness, some from the earliest days of its publication.
I must also thank my wife, Ann, who has carefully scrutinised each issue for spelling mistakes etc; since 1970. No one was more pleased at the arrival of a computer in our home than she was, since she had the task of typing out the earliest editions on a typewriter for me then to physically “cut and paste” in order to prepare it for duplicating. The computer meant that she had only the scrutiny to take care of. . . . . . . .
To you one and all, I say a sincere thank you. Ivan Foster.’
That was 17 years ago. Now that 54 years have passed since “The Burning Bush” began its witness and I recently passed my 80th birthday and my wife Ann marked her 77th birthday a few days earlier, our energy levels are not what they used to be!
Consequently, I will be reducing the ‘output’ of articles and comment. While I am able I will continue to offer the occasional comment on public events and the deepening apostasy, but it will not be of the same volume as in past years.
The “The Burning Bush” website will remain available for any wishing to explore its many articles and we have a large number of sermon recordings which we can continue to ‘feature’.
Current Burning Bush website header
In recent years I owe much to the help given me in the maintaining the site to Mr John Pittman Hey whom I have never met since he resides in Mississippi in the USA. He came forward and offered to help ‘gratis’, in maintaining the site, having visited it and found himself in sympathy with our stand on many issues facing God’s people today. He has ‘rescued’ the site on a number of occasions from cyber attacks etc, and patiently put up with my requests for my last minute ‘corrections’, discovered after publication!
It is most likely we will never meet in time but I look forward to the fellowship of heaven with my brother.
I must also thank my son Andrew, resident in Canada, for his original setting up of the present site and caring for it for many years on top of his pastoral duties in Penticton Free Presbyterian Church and his many other labours.
Of course, I must offer my thanks to the many readers who have accumulated over 1,107.000 visits to the site since it went digital in the late 1990s. Their encouraging emails and letters have been most encouraging amidst oftentimes hostile comments from those who reject the ‘the old paths’ of Free Presbyterianism.
I have not yet ‘finished my course’ but I trust by God’s grace I will be able to echo Paul’s words, brought before me by Dr Ian Paisley when he preached my ordination sermon back in April 1968, at least faintly at the end of my days.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith,” 2 Timothy 4:7.
The scenes around the world on March 17th, in which the memory of Patrick was supposedly being honoured, have not honoured the work and testimony of this much maligned man of God.
Indeed, virtually every function that was organised to commemorate the day on which it is believed he died in 465, was of such a character that were Patrick still amongst us, he would have denounced the activities.
Stained glass portrayal located at Carlow Cathedral of Patrick preaching to Irish kings. Franz Borgias Mayer (1848–1926)
Rome has created a mythical figure and called him “Patrick” but he is no more like the historical Patrick than is heaven like to hell.
By the providence of God, there is preserved for us a “Confession” or testimony from the pen of Patrick. Its authenticity is accepted by all, even those whose account of Patrick is proved false by its record — the Roman Catholic church.
This corrupting of the history of Patrick is in no way unique!
The man with a very long title but very short on the knowledge of God, ‘The Right Honourable Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations’, has announced in Parliament a new definition of ‘Extremism’!
Extremism is the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to
1: negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or
2: undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s system of liberal parliamentary democracy and democratic rights; or
3: intentionally create a permissive environment for others to achieve the results in (1) or (2).
It has already come under criticism as being ‘too broad’. “Right-wing MP Miriam Cates told the Commons on Thursday the new definition ‘risks criminalising, or at the very least chilling the speech of, people who have very legitimate, harmless views’.
She used the example of the views of some gender critical feminists, who she said could be ‘labelled as extremist’ under the new definition.”
It certainly is broad indeed so that it is seen to be threatening the freedom to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This new definition of ‘extremism’ rest upon the opinion of any who feel that what someone or an organisation believes and propagates generates hatred or intolerance toward them. Click to read more…
“In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment,” Isaiah 59:13-15.
The multiple means by which we are informed of the events taking place in this world today — newspapers, television, the internet — are agencies of which it can be said that they are dominated by lies and falsehood.
If those who compile the reports are not promoting lies themselves then they are by and large, reporting the lies of others!
What we read and hear and view simply cannot be taken at face value! There was a time when the news media could be expected to report ethically, with a large degree of honesty and rectitude and could be trusted to convey a trustworthy account of matters reported upon. The absolute opposite is the case today in 99% of cases.
British prime ministers have repeatedly told lies and that most blatantly and when confronted with their deceit have not the grace or ability to even blush!
On the local front here in Ulster, undeniable facts have surfaced which show that which the DUP leadership claim is a great reversal of and deliverance from the scandalous impositions of the “Northern Ireland Protocol” is a complete and utter sham. The Protocol was devised by the British government and was intended to protect the EU single market, while avoiding the imposition of a ‘hard border’ that might incite a recurrence of conflict and destabilise the ‘relative peace’ that it is claimed has held since the end of the Troubles.
What that evilly devised scheme actually achieved was the shutting out of Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, and despite the claims of Donaldson and his lackeys, that is still our position.
A headline in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ of Wednesday, March 13th, indicates that to be so.
Lord Empey uncovers £192m budget for Irish Sea border posts – saying frontier is ‘alive and kicking’
‘The cost of constructing border inspection posts required as a result of the NI Protocol / Windsor Framework could reach £192.3 million, the government has revealed.’
So much for the removal of the border imposed by the ‘Protocol’!
But this evil phenomenon of lies is worldwide! Every time a national leader opens his mouth, deceit invariably pours forth! Biden and Trump publicly vie with each other to see who can tell the biggest lie as they battle it out for the minds of the American people.
The conflicts in Ukraine and Israel are immersed in deceit. The events taking place in North Korea, China, Iran are all shrouded in the fog of disinformation, designed only to mislead.
At home here in the UK, we daily read of an army that is undermanned, a navy that can just about stay afloat and an air force running out of training jets!
It details the utterly shameful attempts at corrupting the minds of toddlers by setting forth the perversion of transgenderism in children’s books in public libraries.
The news reports states: “The News Letter came across most of the titles thanks to a Freedom of Information request to Libraries NI, asking for a list of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning) children’s books it owns.
It supplied the News Letter with a list of 22 LGBTQ+ titles in what it calls its “junior” range (covering ages 0 to 16), totalling 504 copies.”
This can only be seen as a satanic attack on the young by a publicly funded agency.
The only politician to raise the matter was, I believe, Mr Jim Allister KC, leader of the TUV party.
Given the increasingly liberal stance of the DUP, with its embracing of lesbianism and support for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender” causes, its silence is hardly surprising!
Here are two others
I have included a link to a video sent to me of Mr Allister raising the matter in the Stormont Assembly today. Time will tell if his requested intervention by the minister in change of libraries issues will be acted upon.
“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man,” Luke 21:34-36.
This chapter substantially parallels Matthew 24 though it includes references to events in Jerusalem in AD 70 when the Roman armies destroyed the city and the nation of Israel was scattered as they remain to a large degree to this day.
I dealt with erroneous conclusions some have drawn from this chapter in the article, Some of the Saviour’s words misunderstood by many! written three months ago when I read this chapter in keeping with Robert Murray M‘Cheyne’s Bible Reading Calendar, which brings one who uses it to this portion twice a year.
Let me set down the two portions from these two chapters containing the Saviour’s words to His disciples when they questioned Him, (Luke 21:7, Matthew 24:3). Many have concluded, because of the similarity of language, that these chapters refer to the same event, the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70..
Luke 21:20-27 states:
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
Matthew 24:15-27 reads:.
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
It may be easily seen that believers have understood these passages to refer to the exact same events. But there is at least 2000 years separating these tremendous happenings! Click to read more…
The main building at Magee was built with Scottish freestone, and opened in 1865.
I comment this article to you all.
Dr Cooke has untiringly sought to sound a warning regarding the discrimination against Protestants at all levels within higher education in Ulster.
To my knowledge, DUP and UUP MLAs take absolutely no heed to his warnings, the results being the continuing demise of the rights of the Protestant and Unionist people in the realm of education.
We are grateful for his labours, though saddened at the heedless attitude of the DUP and UUP members contacted.
The destitution of the Protestant and Unionist cause in Northern Ireland is the direct consequence of the apostasy of the main Protestant denominations and their embracing of every form of anti-Bible falsehood.
In consequence, as a people we are under judgment.
“For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable,” Isaiah 3:1-5.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
The Growth of the nationalist dominated Magee university campus is thanks to the DUP’s NDNA 2020 Deal and the NI Unionist MLAs sitting on the Stormont Assembly Committees.
A article by Dr Edward Cooke, (Professor in Queens University, Belfast)
circulated to Stormont MLAs and local reporters.
NI Unionist voters can thank NI Unionist MLAs sitting in the NI Assembly Committee for the Economy for allowing the continued growth and expansion of the UU campus at Magee, a campus that directly and indirectly discriminates against NI unionist / Protestant students / academics. Realistically, the growth of the Magee campus on the West Bank of Londonderry must be accompanied by the demise of the UU campus at Coleraine and with it the demise of the NI unionist communities in Port Stewart and Portrush. Today’s Irish News article provides confirmation of SF’s Ministers for the Economy and Environment to expand the Derry campus, irrespective of the exceptionally low numbers of unionist / Protestant academics and students at Magee. Click to read more…
Below is an article by Alf McCreary, long-time journalist with the ‘Belfast Telegraph’, though this article by him appeared in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’.
Alf McCreary is an arch-ecumenist who has for many years extolled the modernistic and liberal doctrines which have been gradually introduced to his church, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, and the two other ecumenical
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
denominations, the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland.
Being an advocate of ecumenism, he is an outspoken and bitter critic of all things Biblical and orthodox. That may be seen in the article below.
I give one or two examples of his opposition to the old-time gospel.
First of all.
“The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI), for example, has been becoming much more conservative in recent years, and this is seen in its election of moderators. The current Moderator the Very Reverend Dr Sam Mawhinney announced shortly after his election last year that he did not approve of the ordination of female ministers.
This year’s Moderator-elect the Reverend Richard Murray stated in one of his first interviews that it is “the Lord who decides, and if the Lord wants a woman minister to be moderator next year, then that will happen”.
This has to be one of the least persuasive excuses in the long history of the Presbyterian Church which has never elected a woman moderator, and this is particularly depressing because the PCI was the first major church to ordain a woman minister – the Reverend Ruth Patterson in 1976.
Sadly when she stood twice for the moderatorship she failed to get elected. Sadly and significantly on the second occasion she did not get a single vote from any of the 19 Presbyteries.
Such a total rejection by the church which had ordained her as its first female minister was hurtful to many Presbyterians, and extremely regrettable.”
Two things should be noted in this statement by McCreary.
His obvious annoyance at any sign of ‘conservativeness’ re-emerging in the PCI! Of course, what he considers ‘conservative’ is very far short of orthodox Bible teaching! Click to read more…
“I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD,” Psalm 40:1-3.
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle,” 2 Thessalonians 2:15.
This is the fourth article I have written on the subject of how Israel will find itself hated and isolated at the end of this age and that in a manner never known before. (See:
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27.
The utterly astonishing headlines that filled the media websites in the UK in the last 24 hours are epitomised in the one that appeared on the local BBC website yesterday, the anniversary of the launching of the divisive and duplicitous ‘Good Friday Agreement’ some twenty-six years ago.
A letter from the presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster:
