June 2026

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KICS assembly talks. Current series: “KICS Studies – Analysing Acts”

• Part 36, Part 37, Part 38
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Recently Featured Sermons

The Return of Christ, Pt 34
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Thu Jan 15, 2015
featured on Sun Jun 14, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 33
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Jan 13, 2015
featured on Sun Jun 7, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 32
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Thu Jan 8, 2015
featured on Sun May 31, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 31
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Jan 6, 2015
featured on Sun May 24, 2026

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Recently Preached Sermons

The 1966 protest and imprisonment remembered with joy and thankfulness
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sat Jun 6, 2026

Deep sin within the Free Presbyterian Church
preached by Rev. David Linden on Sun Apr 26, 2026

Remember the days of old
preached by Rev. David Linden on Sun Apr 19, 2026

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Older Sermons Recently Added

Testimony of Rev. John Wylie
preached by Rev. John Wylie on Tue Jan 1, 1985

Reminiscences on her 70th birthday
preached by Mrs. Ann Foster on Sat Oct 22, 2016

Barbed arrows repulsed
preached by Rev. Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley on Sun May 25, 1969

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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here

“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest,” Revelation 15:1-4.

Chapter 15 of the Book of the Revelation was one of the chapters for reading on Saturday 13th June, as set down in M‘Cheyne’s Bible Reading Calendar.

I frequently mention my use of this wonderful aid to regular and methodical reading of God’s Word in order to commend it to the readers of ‘The Burning Bush’. I believe it to be without  parallel!

My thoughts were transported to heaven as I read the chapter and particularly the verses which head this article. My washing machine was tumbling my weekly wash as I sat and read the verses and somewhat like my clothes in the machine, thoughts began to tumble about in my mind as I mused upon what is stated in the verses!

Contrast

What a contrast there is revealed here, between the events on this earth and that which is taking place in heaven! The earth is about to encounter the full and final manifestations of God’s wrath against man’s sin and rebellion. Seven angels are given “seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever,” verse 7. In those vials was “filled up the wrath of God,” verse 1.

The ‘vials’ were shallow saucer-like vessels and I am inclined to think of them being dipped in the ‘lake of fire’ (20:15) and their contents pour out upon the nations following Antichrist. The vials being shallow indicates that the fulness of God’s wrath is not being poured out but only a foretaste of that which is to come!

How little mankind today knows of what lies ‘just round the corner’ for this world, especially that area which comprises the territory of the AntiChrist who will be manifested in final days of this age, the lands of the old Roman Empire!

Christian, it is your privilege to KNOW and UNDERSTAND what lies ahead, for it is revealed to us in great detail in that wonderful BOOK, so sadly neglected by Christians, the BIBLE!

I. WHAT JOHN SAW AND WAS INSTRUCTED TO SHARE WITH US, WE SHOULD CONTEMPLATE AS EARTH’S TROUBLES INCREASE DAILY!

1. Like John, every true servant of God should relate what is revealed here to his flock! This blessed book begins with these words: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand,” 1:1-3.

This book is a REVELATION, a revealing, a manifestation of that which the Lord would have us know! The devil would have us believe that it is an ‘unknowable’ tangle of verses containing ‘uninterpretable’ scenes which has led to the confusion of Christians!

That is the devil’s lie, sadly peddled by very foolish believers and even more foolish, ministers of the Gospel! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-16 a 2:15 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

 

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

Chapter II

The Bishop’s Yardstick

Before we consider the conclusions (or should we say confusions) the Bishop comes to, we would do well to consider the principles by which he made his judgments. We quote from his first lecture. ‘Next, I want to give an account of the criteria (standard by which he will decided what is good and what is bad) which I am going to use in these lectures…The first pole is the faith of the individual believer and of the Church…The other criterion which I shall use is… the verdict of historical and theological scholarship.’ The Bishop then is guided by what is acceptable to the Church today and what is acceptable to the theological scholars of today and yesterday. But does it not matter what the Bible says we should believe? NOT TO THE BISHOP. You see, we (in this new and changed world of the Bishop’s making) are going to be given from the Bible that which has first of all passed the test of the theologians of ecumenism. In other words the Bishop would place us in the yoke of bondage which Luther and an enlightened Europe cast off at the Reformation. THE BISHOP WOULD HAVE US ACCEPT THE POPISH DOCTRINE OF SUBMISSION TO THE CHURCH AND NOT TO THE WORD OF GOD ON MATTERS OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. The cry of Fermanagh Protestants to the Bishop and his fellow-Romanisers is a long and loud ‘NO POPERY’!

Broken vow

Dr. Hanson swore at his ordination that his standard of faith was the Word of God. He has only recently changed his mind, because he swore the oath in the spring of 1970. Such is the hypocrisy and dishonesty of ecumenists. God’s Word says, ‘To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.’ (Isaiah 8:20.) The Bishop has put the cart before the horse. We do not judge the Bible by the scholars, but the scholars by the Bible. It is God’s Word by which we judge the words of men. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-13 a 6:00 am

Much has been said by way of condemnation by both church men and politicians with regard to the recent riots in Belfast and in some other areas.

It would appear that the very serious public disorder was sparked off by a murderous Sudanese migrant, who appears to have unlawfully entered Northern Ireland from the Irish Republic. He travelled from the north African country to Paris and then on to Dublin, before catching a bus to Belfast in February 2023.

The border between that separates the Republic from this part of the United Kingdom is exceedingly ‘porous’! It is now acknowledged that the knife-attack suspect Hadi Alodid, was granted asylum under a ‘fast-track’ scheme.

Hadi Alodid attacked a local man, a Mr Stephen Ogilvie, in North Belfast with a knife and caused him serious injuries. The victim has been reported as suffering serious injuries  in the attack and being blinded in one eye. It appears that the migrant was attempting to ‘behead’ his victim!

Had it not been for the intervention of some bystanders and the beating the attacker off from his victim, it seems likely that the local man would have been murdered.

Treacherous policy

The lack of border security, a deliberate policy on the part of the British Government in London, which is bent on pushing Northern Ireland into a ‘United Ireland’ under Dublin, played a large part in causing the riots.

But the root cause goes deeper.

Mr Jim Allister, party leader of ‘Traditional Unionist Values’,  referring to the attack in Parliament said: ‘What I want to know, and what I know that my constituents want to hear, is what will be done to stop the importation of an alien culture that thinks it is appropriate to try to behead someone within the United Kingdom.” (Read report here). Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-12 a 6:00 am

On Wednesday evening in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church prayer meeting, the minister, Rev Samuel Fitton brought a challenging word to us all from Haggai chapter 1.

That message may be listened to with profit by accessing the church website on Facebook.

As a preacher, it is impossible for me to look at a passage of God’s Word without seeing an application of it to the circumstances that prevail around us.

1. Please notice that the call for a ‘considering of their ways’ was directed to the leaders of the work of God in that day.

“In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,” verse 1.

These men, the governor of Judah and the high priest, had for some seventeen or eighteen years been presiding over a ‘dying work and witness’!

Doubtless, both attended to some duties attached to their offices. I cannot but think that Joshua, the high priest never missed a service, but all that time the work of God was dying under their hands!

2. They had to have the careless ways of the people drawn to their attention by the Lord!

“Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built,” verse 2.

The leaders were blind and deaf and indifferent to the spirit that presided amongst the people. The neglect of God’s house was surely most obvious! It surely could not have gone on for some ‘seventeen or eighteen years after the proclamation of Cyrus for the Jews to return to their own land’ as has been pointed out by the learned, Bishop Ussher. And yet the leaders did nothing! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-11 a 9:40 pm

Deuteronomy chapter 13

This chapter was part of the Bible reading schedule for today as set down in Robert Murray M‘Cheyne’s Bible Reading Calendar.

The date of the warnings issued in this chapter is just prior to  Israel’s crossing of the Jordon and entering the ‘Promised Land’.

The Lord is frequently given to repeating Himself. He repeated the promise of His blessing upon them, reminding them of His mercy and grace toward their fathers and the generations which followed. They will be brought into the ‘land flowing with milk and honey’. He also repeats His warning about disobedience and straying from His Word. Both of these matters God’s people are prone to forget, especially the latter matter.

Of course, it was not just the Israelites who tended to forget the command that God has issued to us all: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” Exodus 20:3.

The history of the people of God in this New Testament era is just as marked by departure and spiritual delinquency as was any generation of the Old Testament saints.

The professing people of God in the Old Testament ended their era with a total rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah.

Peter made that plain to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

“The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses,” Acts 3:13-15.

That age ended in the same manner as will this present age! ‘Christendom’ as the body of professing Christians today are often labelled, will end up rejecting Christ to the same degree as did the Jewish race back in the early years of this epoch.

The spirit of apostasy that gripped and dominated Israel and resulted in the crucifixion of the Saviour, will in like manner grip the ‘professing church of Christ’ in the last days and the Lord Jesus, as He is revealed in Holy Scripture, will be utterly repudiated. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-10 a 6:00 am

On Saturday 6th June in Kilskeery FPC, the 60th Anniversary of the 1966 protest and imprisonment was marked with a special meeting where one of the imprisoned ministers, Rev. Ivan Foster spoke about these matters, and how the Lord used it for the furtherance of the Gospel in Northern Ireland.

On Monday 6th June 1966, the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, Dr. Ian R.K. Paisley led a protest to the General Assembly Buildings in Belfast.

As the protestors marched, a cordon was placed across the road by the police which resulted in the march being brought to a halt outside the entrance to Assembly Buildings. Shortly after, a number of individuals were arrested and brought to court charged with unlawful assembly.

Consequently, three Free Presbyterian ministers, Dr. Ian Paisley, Rev. John Wylie & Rev. Ivan Foster were imprisoned in Crumlin Road jail for 3 months.

Both during and after that period of imprisonment, the Lord came down and the Free Presbyterian Church flourished with many new congregations being constituted. Between 1966-1970, approximately 17 new congregations were added to the 13 already in existence which took the Free Presbyterian Church into every County in Ulster for the first time.

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon below:

Here is a link to an old news film of the march which begins with scenes from the Cromac Square riot by republicans and police injured in the riot and then the march and gathering outside of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, General Assembly.

1966 Protest March

Note: this video link will not work outside of locations in Great Britain!

Posted on 2026-06-06 a 11:30 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

 

Chapter 1 – The Unchangeable Character of Christianity

Before examining the text of these lectures we shall examine the title:  “CHANGING CHRISTIANITY IN A CHANGING WORLD”. Its suggestion as before stated, is that Christianity must change with the times. But is this so? We say no.

I. My first reason for rejecting a changed Christianity is that the needs of the world (i.e. mankind) have not changed.

Solomon, the wise man, said: “There is no new thing under the sun”. The scoffer points to the men who recently walked on the moon and cries: “There is something new”. No doubt this is man in new surroundings and new circumstances, but—and this is what Solomon meant —it is old-fashioned man who is on the moon. Th men who trod the earth in the dawn of creation and those who trod the moon’s surface in recent times are exactly the same SPIRITUALLY and MORALLY. Six thousand years may have brought man many technological advances, but he has not advanced one inch toward God or holiness. The sins of the world today were those of the world at the time of the Roman Empire, and correspond with those of the Babylonian Empire. The awful virus of depravity can be traced to its source—Adam’s transgression. ‘By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners’ (Romans 5:19).

In his unrighteous state before God man has remained and will remain utterly alienated from God. However, the grace of God has decreed that this state of affairs can be remedied and that only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The preaching of the Gospel is the spreading of this good news. The resultant religion that stems from faith in the Gospel is Christianity. Christianity is the religion based upon and agreeable to the Holy Scriptures. The position of the reformed theologian can be summed up in the words of the statement which the Bishop swore he believed.

‘Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?’ (Consecration of a Bishop, Book of Common Prayer.)

In answer to this the Bishop should have been honest and said, ‘No’, since he believes that the Bible does not give us sufficient doctrine and we must add to and alter it. Of course the Bishop was posing as a reformed and Protestant Bishop, and since this is what the Reformers believed—namely that the Bible contains all the doctrines necessary for our salvation through Jesus Christ—he said, ‘I am persuaded…’ Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-05 a 6:00 am

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees,” Isaiah 35:1-3.

I read these verses with the mindset that ‘The Lord says what He means and means what He says!’

I consider these words to be a literal setting forth of what the Lord purposes to do one day for Israel and in the midst of mankind. I recall my brother in law, the late Dr John. Douglas, responding to a Christian who held to an ‘A-millennial’ view of prophecy, that if he is wrong in taking God  to mean what it says, then he will explain to the Lord on that great day of standing before Him to give an account of our ways and doings, ‘Lord I simply believed what you said, rather than trusting in any notion of man as to what you meant!’

It came home to that A-millennialist, that there was simple and honest logic behind Dr Douglas’s understanding of Scripture!

Metaphorical

A-millennialism is essentially a dismissing of a considering  of the wording of prophecy as being literal but rather it is to be understood as figurative and metaphorical.

Such a notion gives licence to man’s fertile imagination and produces the most ludicrous notions as to what God’s Word means! The ‘prophetic’ exegesis of those who hold to this notion, demonstrates a likeness to the famous Heinz ’57 varieties’ advertising slogan of some years ago! It is a case of making God’s Word to say whatever you would like it to say!

When we stay with a literal understanding of God’s Word, except where He makes it clear that He is using parabolic language, then that is wise, irrespective of the empty scoffing of foolish men!

What is stated in this chapter is entirely in keeping with other portions of God’s Word.

Isaiah 11 is just such a chapter as is 2:1-4; 9:6-7; 60:1-22; 65:17-25; Micah 4:1-8; Zechariah 14, and I must, of course, add Revelation 20:1-10.

We are told very specifically by Peter that: “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed,” Acts 3:24-25.

To return to Isaiah 35, one of the chapters I read today (3rd June), what wonders are here outlined as being what the Lord plans to do on the earth and amongst mankind.

IN THIS CHAPTER IS EMPHASISED GOD’S PLAN FOR HIS ANCIENT PEOPLE ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN GENERAL

1. It is very wrong to believe that the Lord has abandoned and is finished with the nation of Israel! Paul makes that clear in his writing to the church at Rome. “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew,” Romans 11:1-2.

He then goes on, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to detail God’s future purpose for that ancient people. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-04 a 6:00 am

A few comments on a most appropriate psalm for the people of God today.

Psalm 85 is one of the four chapters of God’s Word allocated in McCheyne’s Bible Reading calendar for reading and study on Saturday 31st May.

As I read it, I found it so appropriate and relevant to the circumstances prevailing in many places amongst the people of God, not least here in Northern Ireland.

I jotted down some observations as I read the Psalm and then felt that I should share them with our ‘Burning Bush’ readers.

So here they are, (a little enlarged) for whatever they are worth, and I trust the Psalm will bless you as it has blessed me — aye and much more!

1. «To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.» LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

‘It is the prayer of a patriot for his afflicted country, in which he pleads the Lord’s former mercies, and by faith foresees brighter days,’ C H Spurgeon.

As it was with Jacob, the nation of Israel, so it has ever been with the New Testament Church! How frequently the Lord has had to ‘bring us back’ from captivity! His bringing us back from captivity is a wonderful evidence of ‘favour’! The word means ’to take pleasure in’. What a favour is that!

2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

What a ‘bringing back’ it has ever been! There is ‘forgiveness’ for our many sins which CAUSED our captivity. In our folly we abandoned the Lord and became slaves of that which oppressed us.

3. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

How we need to ever remember what backsliding and departure from ‘the Old Paths’ bring upon us! ‘Wrath and fierce anger’!

Sadly, God’s people repeatedly forget this truth and only learn it afresh when they begin to reap that sad harvest! “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,” Galatians 6:7-8. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-01 a 6:00 am