I have just sent this letter into the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ in response to one recently published. When I first read it I was troubled by some of the statements in it but I believed that the writer’s intentions were good and so I hesitated to comment.
However, it troubled me that perhaps inadvertently, error was being stated so, as gently as I could, I sought to correct one of the improperly worded statements and thus register the need for great care when writing about the Lord and His purpose.
I can but hope that my motives are understood.
Sincerely in Christ’s name,
Ivan Foster
Dear Editor,
The study of the character and nature of God, revealed to us in the inspired Word of God, is the most exact of all ‘sciences’!
Inaccuracies in definition of terms have eternal consequences.
“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him,” John 3:36.
It is for this reason I wish to make a comment on the letter titled: ‘Irish Christianity that has existed for nearly 2,000 years is dying and in desperate need of reform’ (28/1/26).
I am largely in agreement with the thesis of the letter.
I am, however, concerned about the wording of some of the statements in the letter. I have lived to set forth the teaching of the Bible in the fear of the Lord for over 60 years. Any inaccurate declaration of what the Bible teaches or bordering on such, I will correct and oppose as best I can.
In this letter there are statements which need more careful elucidation.
This is not necessarily a criticism of the writer but my reaction to the possibility of a misunderstanding of God’s Word.
I will but mention one example. The writer says: ‘The Judeo-Christian foundations that held the world together are starting to crumble and the old certainties are showing cracks.’
If he means, ‘That faith and trust in the foundation of Bible religion, the Word of God, is declining world-wide today’, then I agree with him.
BUT the FOUNDATION of true Bible religion cannot ‘crumble’ or be thought of as ‘showing cracks’!
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” 1 Corinthians 3:11.
Christ, our foundation and His Holy Word, CANNOT crumble or crack. But there can be a rejecting of this foundation. That is what has happened under the modernistic and ecumenical ‘ministers’ of today!
I am sure that is what the writer is seeking to set forth.
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3. Dr John Gill explains these words to mean: ‘The doctrines and principles of religion are derided and subverted.’
The Bible teaches that this shall happen in the latter days of this age. The Bible is today generally rejected as the foundation of true faith and the teaching of the Gospel is ‘destroyed’ (Hebrew – thrown dawn).
Paul warned: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils,” 1 Timothy 4:1.
The ‘new foundation’ set forth in the majority of pulpits as ‘the hope for eternity’ is the “doctrines of devils”.
I understand this to be what your writer was objecting to and on that basis I support him.
I trust that no offence is caused by this sincere attempt to make clear the lies and deceit that are abroad today and which are the root and origin of today’s increasing anarchy and apostasy.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
30th January 2026