Over two weeks ago, on May 9th, I sent out an article entitled:
Free Presbyterianism is fast abandoning the separatist stand
I sent copies to the officers of Presbytery because I had issued a challenge to them in the article.
FREE PRESBYTERIANISM IS FAST ABANDONING THE SEPARATIST STAND TO WHICH GOD CALLED IT AND WHICH SAW GOD’S ABUNDANT BLESSING FALL UPON IT IN DAYS WHEN IT WAS FAITHFUL TO THAT STAND!
The likes of Danny Roberts, openly a neo-evangelical and anti-separatist, is welcomed into Free Presbyterian pulpits and representatives of the party supporting murder and terrorism, Sinn Fein, welcomed and lauded in a Free Presbyterian meeting organised to support the ‘Gaelitising of Northern Ireland’. Furthermore, worldly music, long opposed by our church, is now all too evidently employed in some congregations and open opposition to such is resisted and condemned.
This drift began with the sad decision of Dr Ian Paisley in 2007 to enter a ‘power-sharing’ deal with Sinn Fein/IRA.
These things and others of the same ilk have taken place and they are either excused or ignored by the leadership of our Presbytery.
It is all too evident to many Free Presbyterians that there is an abandoning of our historic separatist stand and that can only lead to the judgment of God falling upon us for such rebellion.
I challenge the Moderator and Clerk of our Presbytery to deny what I say and show why I, and many others, ministers and elders, are wrong in our concerns.
I have had no reply from any of the officers of Presbytery to this challenge!
I can only speculate as to why there has been no reply.
Common courtesy would have required them to at least acknowledge receipt of my email, even if they felt unable to answer the challenge.
The Saviour’s Silence
It is true that the Saviour refused to answer some the questions put to Him during his trial, just before His crucifixion.
“Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; but found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace,” Matthew 26:59-63.
“And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly,” Matthew 27:12-14.
However, there were occasions when He did answer His accusers. “And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven,” Matthew 26:63-64.
“And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it. And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing,” Mark 15:1-3.
“And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin,” John 19:9-11.
Very Wrong Impression
I believe it correct to say that the Saviour answered when to have remained silent would have created a very wrong impression.
When asked by the high priest: “tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God”, the Saviour answered. Silence would have implied that He might not be!
Again, “And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest,” Matthew 27:11.
The Saviour’s response was affirmative. He said that He was “the King of the Jews”.
“Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin,” John 19:10-11.
However, the frivolous and false accusations of His accusers were met by His silence.
Officers of Presbytery
I do not believe that the officers of presbytery, by ignoring my challenge, can claim to be following the Saviour’s example.
The matter I have raised is no frivolous or false matter! If what I say is groundless, were they guided by the Saviour’s example, they would be compelled to respond and put me right!
Many
There are very many, ministers, elders and members of the Free Presbyterian Church, who share my fears regarding the trends within the responses of the church leadership to digressive events going back quite a few years. If we are misguided and misled, then why does not the elected leadership of our Presbytery put us right!
There is an old saying that states: ‘Silence is golden but sometimes it is just plain yellow’!
It genuinely pains me to make such a suggestion but after years of unanswered questioning of the direction the Free Presbyterian Church is being lead, I can surely be forgiven for coming to such a conclusion!
The failure to engage in such a discussion does, I believe, indicate that to do so would only bring out into the open the spirit of compromise that is at work within our ranks!
Repeat
I repeat my challenge to the office-bearers of our Presbytery.
I challenge the Moderator and Clerk of our Presbytery to deny what I say and show why I, and many others, ministers and elders, are wrong in our concerns.”
I do not know if I will ever be afforded the courtesy of a reply, but this I know, the Saviour made it clear that we all must account for our words, or the lack of them!
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned,” Matthew 12:36-37.
To this I add the words of Paul.
“So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God,” Romans 14:12.
It is especially stated regarding ministers and elders that “They watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you,” Hebrews 13:17.
That, I know, goes for me as it does also for those who refuse to answer legitimate and important questions regarding the faithful adherence of the church to the truth of God and its peace and well being!
Wait until he dies!
I recall a conversation I had with a Christian brother from England, who told me how it had been related to him by one who was high up in the ‘political entourage’ of the late Mrs Margaret Thatcher, when she was Prime Minister, that she had expressed the view that change could only be introduced to Northern Ireland after Ian Paisley died. They must patiently wait until that happened!
Well, she was wrong as it turned out, but back in the days of her premiership, it could be seen why she thought that, given Dr Paisley’s stalwart stance back then.
I wonder are there any with a similar ‘looking forward’ to the departure of those who object to the direction the church is being taken in, the removal of the stubborn stumbling blocks to the efforts to bring about a change in things here, a change that will be to the detriment of the gospel cause?
Heaven
I am most definitely looking forward to death since I share Paul’s hope. “Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better,” Philippians 1:23.
I am especially looking forward to heaven because there, there is no more cowardice, compromise and chicanery to be encountered and confronted in glory, as there has ever been here on earth during the Christian’s earthly pilgrimage.
However, whatever the future holds for anyone of us, it is incumbent upon us to “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” Ephesians 4:1-3.
If the bedrock of separation be destroyed within the Free Presbyterian Church, then the death knell of our denomination will have been sounded.
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3.
You will notice that there is no answer given to that rhetorical question! The reason being that if the foundations which only God can lay are destroyed no man can restore them!
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” 1 Corinthians 3:11.
If the Free Presbyterian Church rejects the foundational truth of the Word of God — separation from apostasy — then there can be no recovery from that.
Free Presbyterian AWAKE!
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
26th May 2025