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God's purpose revealed for our comfort, Pt 2
“In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden,” Isaiah 14:28.
Although I have already touched upon this, please notice the priority Isaiah has given to the future as planned by the Lord!
I. GOD’S WORD IN A DAY OF APOSTASY UNDERSCORES THE PROPHETIC FUTURE AS REVEALED BY HIM
1. Consider the opening verses of Isaiah 14. “For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,” verses 1-3.
Here we have the Lord indicating that a day is coming when He “will have mercy on Jacob.” Furthermore, He “will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land.” See as well that it will be a day of the concession of the Gentile. “The strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.” Please also note that Israel will be assisted by the Gentiles in their return to their own land. “The people shall take them, and bring them to their place.” Especially note that it will be a day of domination by the former downtrodden Israelite! “The house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.”
I can imagine how comforting and encouraging such word would have been to a believing elect amongst the people of Judah back in the evil days of Ahaz!
Likewise, nothing uplifts the spirits of God’s people in these days than an emphasis upon what is set froth in the Bible regard the triumphant future of the saints of God.
Paul the Apostle followed this principle and practice in the days when the church in Thessalonica was troubled and afflicted. “And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost,” 1 Thessalonians 1:6.
Even though Paul was only amongst them for some three Sabbath days, he still taught the recent converts prophetic truth!
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him,” 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10.
How different were these believers from today’s average Christian! And how different was Paul’s message from today’s weak preaching! Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-22 a 12:00 pm
Music, Affections, & Fruit: What Shapes the Heart?
Here is a new article published by Rev David Dicanio about the subject, “Music, Affections, & Fruit: What Shapes the Heart?”
Rev. Dicanio is the country director of Free Grace Gospel Mission in Liberia.
You can subscribe to his monthly newsletter at this email address: info@fggmil.org
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
Posted on 2026-05-21 a 6:00 am
Britain embraces ‘fifth columnists’ to its own destruction!
UK companies linked to payments for small-boat crossings, BBC finds
Doubtless, the headline I have headed this article with will be deemed ‘racist’!
This what the ‘liberals’ and the ‘wokists’ have brought our nation to! Nothing of the truth concerning developments in the nation can be addressed as it truly is. Instead, we are threatened and coerced into a frame of mind akin to that denounced by the Lord long ago.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20.
Good has become evil and evil good in the religious, social and political branches of our national affairs. Further more, we are not only expected to go along with this new definition of acceptable ethics, but we have to be prepared to support such out of the public purse, our purse!
State benefits support to a shocking degree the consequences of the immorality of a sizeable sections of society. The perverting of the ‘social conscience’ by the godless mandarins, who dictate the direction of the nation from behind the scenes, have brought about multitudes who, without shame, live well on the fruits of their immorality!
Yes, there is a need to support those who find themselves in difficult circumstances. That is a teaching of the Bible. But it is also taught in the Holy Scriptures that immorality, laziness and deceitfulness is not to be rewarded!
“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread,” 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12. Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-20 a 6:00 am
‘Burning Yet Flourishing’ - link to a great video
‘Burning Yet Flourishing’
The Birth And Early History Of The Free Presbyterian Church
This video was made in 1987 by ‘Let The Bible Speak’ and its narrator is the late Dr Alan Cairns, the founder of LTBS.
It contains interviews with devoted servants of God who have gone to glory, including some of those from the earliest days of the Free Presbyterian Church.
I commend it to the readers of the Burning Bush because I believe it presents one of the best accounts of our early history and has about it a strong ambiance and ‘flavour’ of true Free Presbyterianism, which our younger generation need to know and embrace!
On a personal level, it contains an interview with Ann, my dear wife who went into the presence of the Saviour some 2 years ago, interviewed outside the school she pioneered.
I also caught a glimpse of some of my own children, now parents and grand parents, playing outside Kilskeery Independent Christian school on that day.
I trust it will prompt you all to pray:
“Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved,” Psalm 80:19.
Posted on 2026-05-18 a 5:29 pm
God's purpose revealed for our comfort, Part 1
“In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden,” Isaiah 14:28.
Today (15th May, 2026) I read this chapter 14 of Isaiah’s prophecy, rejoicing at how wonderfully the Lord shares His purpose with regards Israel and the whole world, with His people in a day of Judah’s sin and rebellion in high places.
The word “burden” is simply a reference to the Word of God which lay heavy upon the heart of the prophet. There are few sermons today that are preached from a ‘burdened’ heart!
The Internet and not the Bible
Sadly, all too often the source of sermons in today’s pulpits, even those which pass as evangelical and fundamentalist, is something ‘filched’ from the internet and which, no matter how sound in doctrine it may be, becomes just a meaningless, frivolous recitation of powerless words, for they are NOT given of the Holy Ghost!
In this case, Isaiah was a “burdened” man! It is little wonder the servant of the Lord was distressed in his soul! We are told that this message was preached “in the year that king Ahaz died.”
King Ahaz was a most wicked king. The Lord summed up his life in these words.
“Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree,” 2 Kings 16:2-4.
Despite having witnessed the overthrow of the ten northern tribes, the kingdom of Israel, Ahaz “walked in the way of the kings of Israel.” That is how blind, stubborn and stupidly wicked men can be!
We are told in 2 Kings 17, “In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents. And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea: for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and brought no present to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,” Verses 1-6.
A Witness That Did Not Deter
Ahaz witnessed the consequences of Hoshea’s rebellion against the Lord. The ten tribes of Israel were taken into captivity by the king of Assyria but he learned nothing from it! Judah would have seen the sad procession of enslaved captives passing her ‘door’ as it were, on their way into Assyrian bondage.
Present Generation
In the lifetime of the present generation there has been abundant evidence of the price paid by the ecumenical churches for their rebellion against the Lord. They are riddled with the ‘leprosy’ of liberalism and the soul-damning doctrines of this Gospel-denying age!
Have we not also witnessed here in Northern Ireland the downfall of the Democratic Unionist Party, once the ‘behemoth’ of Unionism, following its shameful and reprehensible decision to cast overboard all it professed to stand for and hold dear for the ‘mess of pottage’ of entering government as the partner of Sinn Fein/IRA?
From this act of betrayal, hailed by ecumenists and republicans alike, it has descended into embracing lesbianism, sodomy and being guilty of many deceitful betrayals of all that our fathers were prepared to die in order to maintain!
Across The Water
The same picture of the terrible harvest of trampling underfoot the Laws of God has been witnessed across the Irish Sea in mainland Britain. Who can aptly describe the chaos and confusion, the downright absurdity, of British politics at this present time?
These things are but the inevitable harvest of defiance and contempt for God and His Word. We are warned of such an outcome of defiance of God in 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.”
Here in Ulster there is the same blind folly to be seen amongst Christians who choose to ignore the clear warning signs all around — and that includes Free Presbyterian ministers! Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-16 a 9:19 pm
Another minister who apparently finds it hard to understand the words of his ordination oath!
A Free Presbyterian minister affirms submission to the follow questions at his ordination.
Will you maintain with all the strength God shall give you the position on Biblical separation from apostasy as taken by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster in 1951 at the time of its secession from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland?
As God helps you will you expose and resist the continued apostasy from Christ manifested within Irish Presbyterianism, Methodism, Episcopalianism and other visible church bodies; exhorting God’s people to obey the teaching and commandment of 1 Timothy 6: 3-5?
The following Facebook advert was sent to me . . . .
Moyrourkan True Blues Flute Band
Moyrourkan True Blues JLOL 144
Mark your calendars for Sunday 24th May.
The parade will leave Moyrourkan Orange Hall at 2:30pm, making its way to Clare Presbyterian Church for a service at 3:00pm.
The dedication service will be conducted by the Grand Chaplain of the Junior Grand Lodge, Deputy County Grand Chaplain, and Chaplain of Tandragee District, Wor. Bro. Rev. David McLaughlin.
How many more Free Presbyterian ministers are ready to stand in the pulpits of the apostate denomination and by their actions endorse ecumenism, liberal theology and encourage people to continue defying God by their support of denominations in rebellion against God’s Word?
I am convinced that when they are in such pulpits there is never a word spoken against ecumenism and apostasy!
Here is God’s command to all of His people.
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,”
2 Corinthians 6:17-18.
Entering the pulpit of a denomination in rebellion against God is much more than a TOUCH!
Will men not learn from the shaming debacle Rev Paul Thompson got himself into by such folly?
Such public articles as this is a doing of that which our Presbytery leadership is failing to do!
The present spirit of disobedience within our ranks have not gone unnoticed by the the Lord but rather it has “entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth,” James 5:4.
Even an ‘ass’ can see and understand the Lord’s opposition to what foolish men insist on engaging in!
Numbers 22:22-34.
“Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear,” 1 Timothy 5:20.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
13h May 2026
Posted on 2026-05-13 a 5:31 pm
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
“The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth,” Ecclesiastes 12:10.
Earlier today, I had started and almost finished an examination of a statement issued by Rev Paul Thompson yesterday, defending his decision to participate in a meeting in Draperstown Presbyterian Church, which I, and others, had criticised.
The organisers of the meeting was a group going by the Irish name:
The sympathies of this organisation may be understood by considering the activities of the man who is its secretary:
Mr Seán Mac Giolla Fhiondáin
I understand from a Google search, that his name basically means, ‘Son of the servant of St. Fionnán/Brendan. The name derives from Giolla Fhiondáin, where Giolla means devotee or servant, and Fhiondáin refers to the saint. While there are multiple Irish saints named Fionnán, the name is often associated with Saint Finnian of Clonard.’
Hmmm!!!!!
This individual recently took part in a ‘commemoration gathering’, honouring the IRA terrorists shot by the army during their attack on Loughgall police station, back in 1987.
I left off that article because the following statement had been issued by Rev Paul Thompson.
That statement would imply that Rev Thompson was not acquainted with the character of the organisation from which he had accepted an invitation to speak at a meeting in Draperstown Presbyterian Church.
If I believed that, then I must consider Mr Thompson quite a naive fool to accept an invitation from an organisation that went under an Irish name and yet he did not investigate just who or what it was he was getting involved with!
I simply do not believe that Mr Thompson is an ‘innocent abroad’. I must reject the implication that he did not know who he was getting mixed up with!
Last Year
I posted an article back in April last year, entitled:
The Irish Language and the Sinn Fein/IRA campaign to extort more money from the public purse to finance their ‘Gaelitising’ Ulster!
It was a response to a report by the BBC here in Northern Ireland, of a meeting in Antrim. Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-12 a 6:07 pm
Response to attempted denial!
My recent post and email of the advertisement of a meeting in Draperstown Presbyterian Church has prompted some to allege that the meeting announced in this advert is not linked to Draperstown Presbyterian Church!
One Free Presbyterian has been circulating the following, ‘It is kindly granted. It’s a Historical Society using a vacant church building to facilitate Paul to preach the Gospel.’
That being so, somebody failed to tell the Draperstown Presbyterian Church minister!
Here is the advert again and also a video of the minister of that church making the announcement.
The video – about 45 seconds into the announcement
Please note the words by the minster, ‘Here in the church . . . ‘
Perhaps the video of an announcement in that church will help people to make up their minds as to the truth!
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
11th May 2026
Posted on 2026-05-11 a 6:05 pm
How to mark 75 years of separation from the apostate Presbyterian Church of Ireland - Antrim FPC style!!
AND OUR PRESBYTERY LEADERS WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE: ‘WE HAVE NOT CHANGED!’
Does this look like Rev Thompson is keeping the terms of the oath he took at his ordination?
“As God helps you will you expose and resist the continued apostasy from Christ manifested within Irish Presbyterianism, Methodism, Episcopalianism and other visible church bodies; exhorting God’s people to obey the teaching and commandment of 1 Timothy 6: 3-5?”
1 Timothy 6:3-5 states: “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.”
The minister of Draperstown Presbyterian Church does not “consent to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness” for he refuses God’s command to separate from the apostasy of Irish Presbyterianism.
This is but yet another indication that there are those within the Free Presbyterian Church who are determined that the stand taken in Crossgar 75 years ago, in obedience to God’s Word, is overturned.
Sadly, all too many are either too scared, not interested, or just fast asleep, to raise a protest!
The Lord’s attitude toward those who would go back to apostasy is plain.
“And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. . . And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they,” Numbers 14:4, 11-12.
The will of God for His faithful is still that which motivated our separatist forefathers 75 years ago! “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
Those who are abandoning these commands of God and encourage others to join in their rebellion, are ill spoken of in God’s Word! Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-11 a 5:56 pm
Enabled to understand what the 'expert evolutionist' cannot!
or The agnostic evolutionist who repeatedly and inadvertently demonstrates to millions the truth of God’s Word!
“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear,” Hebrews 11:3.
The Greek word translated in our text by the phrase, “we understand”, is NOIEO. It means ‘to perceive with the mind, to understand, to have understanding.’
1. Those who believe the inspired record of God creating all that we see around and above us, stretching out into the immensity of the universe, are enabled ‘to perceive with the mind’ just how this has come into existence and rejoice in that knowledge
Those who follow the subject of man’s excavations of the earth’s record of former times, with any degree of dedication, will have noted how many times we read headlines which may be generalised as :—
‘Experts discover new evidence which throws in doubt former opinions on the origin of all things.’
I read the following statement recently:
‘As of early 2026, several groundbreaking scientific discoveries—primarily from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and CERN—have challenged the conventional Big Bang model and, by extension, traditional understandings of the origin of the universe, galaxies, and matter. These findings suggest that the early universe was far more mature, complex, and active than previously believed.’
Such is the repeated history of the unbelievers’ guesswork as to the origin of all things!
There has been a constant and necessary casting aside of yesterday’s ‘certainties’ and an embracing of yet another short-lived confident definition of the most ‘certain’ truth of how all things began, by Bible-rejecting ‘experts’!
Faith’s Response
All the while, the one who embraces by faith what the Lord says in Genesis chapter 1, finds in the latest discoveries which demolish the ‘authoritative’ declarations of yesterday of the evolutionists, but confirmation of the Bible’s account.
Student
While a student back in the mid-‘60s, part of my theological studies, under the late Dr Alan Cairns, involved an in-depth study of “The Genesis Flood.”
It was much more than helpful in my grasping of how unbelieving man’s searching of the fossil records was but fully endorsing of God’s account of creation.
Of course, palaeontologists, who are disciples of Darwin, place upon such discoveries the most ludicrous interpretations. Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-11 a 6:00 am
NSPCC's latest attack on Biblical discipline of children
Ten days ago, I submitted to the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ this response to a second letter from an NSPCC’s official’s attack upon the Bible.
It has not been published in the newspaper as of today!
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
(My letter to the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ in response)
Dear Editor,
I note that Caroline Cunningham, Policy and Public Affairs Manager, NSPCC Northern Ireland, has made no response to my letter while replying to Dr Birnie’s letter.
Physical punishment of children has no place in today’s society – the Northern Ireland Assembly must act now to remove outdated law
Her reply contains no reference whatever to the Law of God to which I referred.
Might I suggest she should tell the public why experts, ever given to rescinding, changing and abandoning their ‘opinions’ most frequently, having to change because time displays their errors and mistakes, should be heeded rather than the Lord on the matter of disciplining children?
The first Person in the Godhead is the FATHER.
Bearing such a name, He is described in the answer to the 7th question of the Larger Catechism, as being ‘infinite in being, all-sufficient, unchangeable, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.’
That being so, would He not know how children should be disciplined better than any mortal being?
Perhaps Caroline Cunningham could tell us why she ‘out-ranks’ God in knowledge and wisdom, and why she should become the authority on this vital subject, rather than the Word of God?
Sincerely,
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Kilskeery, Co. Tyrone
8th May 2026
Posted on 2026-05-08 a 11:18 pm
March for Jesus: an exposure
By Rev Samuel Fitton
Minister of Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church
In June 1872, Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached on the words of 1st Kings 18:40. In his introduction, he made the remark that “unholy compromises are the fashion of the day.” He went on to describe some of the specific issues facing biblical Christianity at that time. Although almost 154 years have passed since those words were uttered from the pulpit of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, nothing has changed. If anything, such unholy compromises are even more popular today!
It is the duty of a minister of the Gospel, as a watchman, to warn the people of God about such things lest they be led astray into error.
“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.” (Ezekiel 33:6-7)
“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2nd Timothy 4:1-2)
Therefore, the purpose of this article is to warn Christians about the “unholy compromises” of the upcoming March For Jesus that is to be held in Belfast on May 16th 2026. So, in considering this event, I want to set three questions before you:
I. WHAT IS MARCH FOR JESUS?
The official website describes it as follows: “March for Jesus Belfast is a large-scale, non-political, family-friendly public event celebrating the Christian faith. The event brings together churches and Christians from across the land in worship, prayer, and public testimony to exalt the Name of Jesus Christ in the heart of Belfast.”
This description immediately reveals the ecumenical nature of the event as it desires to bring churches and ‘Christians’ together for worship, prayer and public testimony. One advertising video by Pastor Ryan Penn of Island Church, Londonderry further encourages such unity and the setting aside of differences. This is the language of ecumenism, by which I mean the setting aside of biblical doctrine and separation in order to create a visible outward unity. Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-08 a 6:08 pm
The ongoing distress of living amidst a generation ignorant of what awaits the unconverted in eternity!
“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,” Matthew 18:3.
Recently, there was some good parliamentary news!
Assisted dying bill runs out of time
What is sad is that the supporters of the bill, who would make legal this ungodly and heathen practice, have vowed to continue campaigning for its acceptance.
‘Supporters said they would not give up and were confident the legislation would return in the next session of Parliament, which will begin on 13 May.’
This is what the departure from the Word of God, led by ecumenists and liberals in the professing Church of Christ, has brought the nation to!
The enemies of truth do not give up in their campaigning to destroy truth and have the ‘lie of the devil’ embraced.
It is said in Luke’s account of the devil’s temptation of Christ:“And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season,” Luke 4:13.
The devil had not given up! He planned to be back!
Neither do those who blindly seek to promote his interests!
Distressing
One of the most distressing news reports that all too frequently appears is that of someone being assisted to end their life. One headline recently appeared which indicated the growing acceptance of that which the Lord utterly forbids!
‘Swiss assisted dying clinic accepts five Britons a month’
The sixth commandment is explicit:— “Thou shalt not kill,” Exodus 20:13. That means we must not unlawfully kill others OR ourselves. That clinic in Switzerland is a house of murder!
Our dying is in the hands of the Lord.
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment,” Hebrews 9:27.
As our birth took place without our having any part in its timing so it is with our death.
Suffering
Yes, often pain and much suffering is linked to dying, though in these days of advanced medical treatment and care, that is thankfully greatly reduced from former times.
However, such suffering is a solemn reminder of the awful consequences of the fall of Adam and the outworking of the sinful natures we have inherited from our surety and the father of mankind.
“And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 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 3:17-19.
All around us, in the fields and our gardens is the living proof of the curse that sin has brought upon this world.
Furthermore, the fruit of sin in our bodies brings inevitable pain and suffering, both physical, mental and spiritual.
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” Galatians 5:19-21.
The closing words of this passage sets forth the ETERNAL harvest of sin — “They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-06 a 6:00 am
Leaning on Christ as we pilgrimage through the wilderness
“Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?” Song of Solomon 8:5
I understand that at the Presbytery meeting of Friday 1st May, I, along with Rev David Linden was charged with wrong-doing by Rev Ron Johnstone and Rev Marcus Lecky.
I was not informed that this would be taking place nor have I been officially notified yet of the charge laid against me.
The Free Presbyterian Church Book of Church Order, Chapter 10.5, states:—
‘Any business relating to any member of Presbytery shall be brought to the member’s attention as soon as possible.’
Since both Rev Linden and myself are on the phone it would have been an easy matter to have informed us before the meeting of Presbytery that this was going to happen. The Presbytery officers would have been informed of the matter otherwise it could not have been raised without notice.
Furthermore, I was phoned by Rev Marcus Lecky just after 5.00 pm on the Friday evening, but he did not tell me that he was about to charge me with wrong-doing, which in the circumstances seems rather remiss of him!
I understand that the attention of the Moderator was drawn to this obvious violation of the above rule that was taking place, but that was dismissed as not applying in this instance!
I await with confidence in the Lord that the matter will be resolved and sin exposed and, under the grace of God, it will prove a means of the Free Presbyterian Church returning to its first love and works.
This morning I read The Song of Solomon, chapter 8 and the verse 5, as part of my daily reading.
I had planned to send out in a day or so a message I preached on this verse twenty years ago. However, in the light of recent events, I thought I would send it out this morning.
The text poses a question that is very worthy of consideration in a day when Christians are bombarded with men’s thoughts and reasonings, without reference to the Word of God, and are being urged to lean on such unscriptural notions.
Such reasoning will draw us away from Christ and encourage us to cease to lean on His immoveable, all powerful shoulder and instead trust in the proud thoughts of men.
It will result in the same outcome as endured by disobedient Israel long ago. “And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand,” Ezekiel 29:6-7.
Man’s reasoning is but a ‘broken reed’ from which no help or support will come, only disappointment and disaster!
To heed and respond to such unscriptural reasonings has ever been the first step out of God’s will and on to the path of backsliding for an individual or a church, and then eventual apostasy.
It happened 100 years ago in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and it will happen to us in the Free Presbyterian Church if we likewise cease to lean ONLY on the Lord and His Word for guidance and instruction in righteousness.
The Song of Solomon is a love song which celebrates the affectionate relationship between Christ and His spouse, the Church, under the terms expressive of the loving relationship between a husband and wife.
In these days of unbridled impropriety and licence, the terminology of this song is very much open to misunderstanding and abuse. However, the sanctified heart and mind will see only the purity and delights of the unbounded love of Christ for His people and the response to that love that grace engenders within the regenerated soul.
“We love him, because he first loved us,” 1 John 4:19.
From our text please observe the pilgrimage of the child of God from the wilderness to the wonders of heaven and the only enduring source of support and comfort — our Beloved Saviour!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
3rd May 2026
Posted on 2026-05-03 a 12:27 pm
Standing on the doorstep of apostasy!
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent,” Revelation 2:5.
I believe I may respectfully and reverently paraphrase the Saviour’s words in this manner:
“If you do not face up to the fact that you have backslidden and departed from what you once believed and practiced and return to your former ways, I will swiftly cast you off for you are on the doorstep of apostasy.”
We should remember that these words are addressed by the Saviour to a church which before was spoken of by Paul the Apostle in these words.
Ephesians 2:12-22
“That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
It was a church of those gathered out of the darkness and ignorance of idolatry, a people without God, without hope and afar off. But they experienced reconciliation with God through the blood of the Lord Jesus and were now resting upon the foundation of the Holy Scriptures and enjoyed Holy Ghost fellowship with God the Father and were His holy habitation.
But see where they are just some thirty years later! They had “fallen”, no longer engaging in their first zealous works of holiness.
I. THE SAVIOUR CALLS UPON THEM TO REMEMBER FROM WHENCE THEY HAD FALLEN.
In this seventy fifth year of our existence as a denomination, just how much REMEMBERING of the stand taken by our founders and the generation that followed, has truly taken place?
I would claim there has really been very little.
Historical data
Oh yes, the details of the actions in Crossgar back in 1951, of Dr Paisley and the elders in the Lissara congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, have been repeated in a number of gatherings. The details of how the Presbytery of Down refused to allow a Gospel mission, at which Dr Paisley was the invited evangelist, to take place in church property, have been rehearsed.
But just how much of the ‘spirit of separation’ that our founders possessed and lived out, exists today amongst us?
There is not that much, in truth, when Free Presbyterian ministers can share meetings with ministers within the apostate denominations and our Presbytery has sanctioned such an ‘undoing’ of that step taken in Crossgar seventy-five years ago!
We are in grave danger of repeating the folly of Judah for which the Lord chided them by His servant Jeremiah. Click to read more…
Posted on 2026-05-01 a 6:00 am
“But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away,” 1 Corinthians 7:29-31.
Here is an email I received on Wednesday morning, 20th April. I have not altered it but publish it as I received it, including misspellings!
A letter I submitted to the ‘Belfast Newsletter’, back at the beginning of April was some 1000 words long!
The above leaflet has been posted out by our Presbytery to every home in Northern Ireland.Our prayer is that will it be read with profit by many of our fellow citizens.
