March 2023

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A time for looking up
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preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Oct 30, 1994

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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here


 

The Big Lie

“Rainbow Warrior” Dr. Kirsten Kearney

It was that consummate and polished Nazi liar, Joseph Goebbels, who said:

If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

That is the strategy of the devil. The Lord Jesus said of him: “‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭He‭ was‭‭ a murderer‭ from‭ the beginning‭, and‭ abode‭‭‭ not‭ in‭ the truth‭, because‭ there is‭‭ no‭ truth‭ in‭ him‭. When‭ he speaketh‭‭ a lie‭, he speaketh‭‭ of‭ his own‭: for‭ he is‭‭ a liar‭, and‭ the father‭ of it‭,‭”‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬John 8:44.

The Saviour tells us in the‭se‬ words that the devil does not abide in the truth. The first use of the Greek word translated ‘abode’ (histemi) is found in Matthew 2:9. “‭When‭ they had heard‭‭ the king‭, they departed‭‭; and‭, lo‭‭, the star‭, which‭ they saw‭‭ in‭ the east‭, went before‭‭ them‭, till‭ it came‭‭ and stood‭‭ over‭ where‭ the young child‭ was‭‭‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, ‘stood over’ is our word. The devil does not stand near or over the truth. Furthermore, the Saviour tells us that the devil is the ‘father’, the ‘ancestor, the generator’ of lies.

Every lie may be traced back to him!

Joseph Goebbels definition of the ‘big lie’ aptly describes the tactic employed by the advocates of the variety of perversions which are lumped together under the acronym LGBT+. Such a term is ‘an abbreviation consisting of initial letters pronounced separately’. That is the umbrella term for the immoral perversities which, while always present amongst the inhabitants of the world, has emerged as a blighting flood upon nations in very recent times!

That ‘LGBT+ism’ is old may be seen in God prohibition of such behaviour as it is set down in His Law “‭Thou shalt not lie‭‭ with mankind‭, as with‭ womankind‭: it ‭is‭ abomination‭,‭”‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬Leviticus 18:22. “‭The woman‭ shall not wear that which pertaineth‭ unto a man‭, neither shall a man‭ put‭‭ on a woman’s‭ garment‭: for all that do‭‭ so‭ ‭are‭ abomination‭ unto the LORD‭ thy God‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Deuteronomy 22:5.

Of course, God’s denunciations of such practices made no difference to those given over to such perversions. It means nothing to them to defy the Lord and ignore and scorn His warnings of the eternal consequences of such wickedness. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-30 a 7:29 pm


The political standards of Kate Forbes

This article was prompted by an email from a friend which highlighted the high opinions of Kate Forbes (or Mrs McLennan to use her married name) expressed in the press.

Such opinions underscore the ignorance of God’s Word that is to be found amongst professing Christians.

We wish to challenge these foolish views.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster


THE POLITICAL STANDARDS OF KATE FORBES EULOGISED AND THE BIBLE IGNORED

Kate Forbes, SNP member of the Scottish Parliament

Headlines such as those which have appeared in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ of late, such as ‘Kate Forbes stood by her Christianity with courage and dignity’ and ‘No glass ceiling for Christians in politics’, all seem to praise the actions of Mrs Forbes of the Scottish Nationalist Party.

Such praise is offered in ignorance and contradiction of the Word of God. The path Kate Forbes pursued of late may have caused many to feel she had acted courageously but what she did was not endorsed by the Word of God.

The SNP is a most morally corrupt party, One of its main political planks is that of sanctioning and promoting the ridiculous and evil notion of ‘transgenderism’! Kate Forbes is reported as being opposed to such but then Lot was somewhat opposed to sodomy, Peter tells us it ‘vexed’ him (2 Peter 2:7-8), but that does not exonerate him being in Sodom!

Furthermore, many of, if not all of the policies of this party, which nurtures strong anti-British and anti-Protestant sentiments, are unbiblical. It is pro-abortion and pro-same-sex marriage.

Again, this not the company of the child of God.

I noticed that during the leadership election campaign, Kate Forbes was highly critical of the man who eventually became the leader, the Muslim, Humza Yousaf. But it was pointed out in a newspaper article that she had voted for all his polices in the past!

That is hardly being principled! Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-29 a 4:26 pm


Free Presbyterian ‘Anti-Abortion’ Protest in Belfast

I am sharing these photographs, sent to me by my one of my granddaughters, of Saturday’s Free Presbyterian protest (March 25th) at Belfast’s City Hall, against the imposition on Ulster of evil abortion laws by the Westminster Parliament.

Here is a video of the protest:

We are thankful for such a witness and trust that the Lord will bless the word preached and the literature distributed.

Rev John Armstrong, one of the preachers taking part in the protest. Rev Armstrong is minister of Dungannon Free Presbyterian Church and Moderator of the Presbytery of the Church. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-27 a 4:42 pm


If there was a united Ireland tomorrow (Pt 2)

I wish to thank all who contacted me and offered very kind words of encouragement following the publication of the first part of my dealing with this subject.

My Bible tells me of the rearranging of the political borders in Europe in the latter days and I believe we see signs of that happening.

The Lord has not left us without a ‘prophetic map’, if only God’s people would attentively consult it.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster


IF THERE WAS A UNITED IRELAND TOMORROW — WHAT SHOULD CHRISTIANS DO??

Part Two

Since posting the first article on this subject, it has occurred to me that there are matters I did not touch upon which I would like to do now.

A ‘United Ireland’ is no happy prospect for an Ulster Protestant. As the people of Ukraine have witnessed the animosity and bitterness of Vladimir Putin and his Russian military in the form of artillery bombardments, missiles and drones and invading soldiers across their border, so we in Ulster have had very clear and graphic evidence of the enmity that nestles in the heart of the southern Irish Romanists in the form of harassing verbal missiles since the birth of our state and ‘invaders’ crossing our border to plant bombs and mount ambushments and assassinations. Of course, there have been those from within our territory, citizens, who hate the existence of Northern ireland and who have laboured by a wide variety of means, many illegal and immoral, to bring about its downfall.

The Ukrainian people have been supported and sympathised with by many, many nations, and rightly so. But that is not the case with the Protestant in Ulster. The government of the United Kingdom, our Government, has shown every sympathy with the cause of the IRA and their bomb and bullet campaign. So much so that political restraints were placed upon the security forces so that they did not do what they could have done in a very short time, wiped out the IRA terrorists. Even though it meant the murder and maiming of many hundreds of civilians, the destruction of many properties and businesses worth £billions and the loss of a great numbers of their own security force members, such was the treacherous connivance of the ‘powers that be’ to undermine the well being of the Protestant people and their place within the United Kingdom, that it was considered that such was a price worth paying!

We have seen all too many United States Presidents cosying up to representatives of the IRA terrorists over the years for us not to learn that the USA would gladly see the demise of Protestant Ulster.

Why is this so? Well it all comes back to the Bible!

A long time ago the Lord said to the devil: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,” Genesis 3:15. There was to be a spirit of ‘enmity, hatred’ placed between the devil and Christ and also His ‘seed’ or ‘spiritual offspring’. The Christian is told by the Word of God and by the indwelling Spirit of God that “We are the children of God,” Romans 8:16. As such, we share in the animosity directed toward Christ by the devil and his allies. That hatred is most widespread for “The whole world lieth in wickedness,” 1 John 5:19.

Protestantism in Ulster is not what once it was! Nevertheless, there remains within it elements of old-fashioned Bible Christianity, the remnants of of the glorious Protestant Reformation. Sadly, much of the old truths have been forgotten by nominal Protestant church-goers, thanks chiefly to the death-dealing plague of modernistic and ecumenical lies from the pulpits of the main churches. However, there remains in this Province a remnant of the old religion of the Bible and it exercises an influence still, to some degree, on the thinking of our society. It is for this reason that our enemies speak of Ulster being ‘dragged kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century’! Ulster has not ‘moved with the times’ because of the roots that have gone down deep into our ethnic persona.

The mere ‘whiff’ of that old Protestant perfume’ is enough to still send our enemies into convulsions of hatred and bigotry. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-25 a 8:15 pm


If there was a united Ireland tomorrow (Pt 1) -- What should Christians do?

Ulster Protestants, especially those of previous generations, feared a united Ireland! Their fears were well based and succinctly expressed in the slogan of our forefathers in the early years of the last century when they mustered together to resist by every legitimate means the imposition of a Dublin-led 32-county Irish state, with Protestant Ulster being thus forced out of the United Kingdom and deprived of their British citizenship.

That slogan was ‘FOR GOD AND ULSTER’.

The place given to the Roman Catholic Church in the 1937 Constitution’ of the 26-county ‘Irish Free State’, which became the Republic of Ireland in 1937, illustrates that the prominence given to Popery was exactly that which our forefathers recognised would be so.

For them, the issue was essentially a religious one. Again they adopted a slogan to give expression to opposition. ‘HOME RULE IS ROME RULE’. What they feared became a central feature of the Dublin-ruled 26 counties.

At the partition of Ireland in 1922, 92.6% of the south’s population were Roman Catholic while 7.4% were Protestant. By the 1960s, the Protestant population had fallen by half, mostly due to the enforced emigration of those Protestants terrorised out of their homes and properties by the IRA in the early years of Irish independence. Most, if not all, moved into Northern Ireland.

Roman Catholicism was given an undefined “special position” on the basis of being the church of the majority. As an act of ‘window dressing’ in the 1970s, that “special position” provision was removed from the Constitution. The decision was ratified by a referendum which had a %50 turn out with 721,033 saying YES and 133,430 saying NO.

During the 1950s the Catholic Integrist group Maria Duce, led by Irish Catholic priest Denis Fahey, launched a campaign to amend the original “special position”of the Constitution of Ireland.

Fahey argued that the status given to the Roman Catholic Church was insufficient and that the Constitution should recognise the Catholic Church as being divinely ordained and separate from ‘man-made’ religions. The campaign succeeded in securing some support but made little progress. It did show the position that Rome thought should be hers.

The decision to amend the Constitution and remove the “special position” of Rome, was mere window dressing promoted by the ’spirit’ of Ecumenism then rampant in the mainline churches. That ‘spirit’ being pro-Romanism, was very much pro-united Ireland!

It is still very much so!! Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-23 a 4:45 pm


The moral morass

It is the duty of God’s ‘watchmen’ to sound the alarm loud and clear and repeatedly in these wicked days!

We can get used to the sounds and sights of sin around us. Just as a people adjust to the mayhem of war, and adapt and continue on with life as best they can, as was seen during the ‘Blitz’ in London and many other cities during the Second World War. So there is a very real danger of Christians, living amidst the ‘Satanic Blitz’ now talking place world wide, becoming impervious to current developments.

Today’s local news provides us with a number of examples of the changing face of our land. The following headline is but one example of the increasing emergence of the sinful community of ‘Sodom’ in our midst and it being embraced by the blinded populace of today.

Northern Ireland Census 2021 results: Number of LGB+ adults included for first time

It is imperative for God’s servants to keep sounding an alarm lest we become indifferent to the evil all around.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster


THE MORAL MORASS INTO WHICH APOSTATE PROTESTANTISM AND POPERY

HAVE BROUGHT THE UNITED KINGDOM

The daily news highlights this harrowing truth every day! Here are but three of the last examples of the disintegration of the moral, ethical and social fabric of the United Kingdom.

1. LIES, FABRICATION AND UTTER CONDEMNATION

Such is what faced the Unionist people over the issue of the ‘Windsor Framework’!

The shameful ‘sham and fraud’ that is the ‘Windsor Framework’, is blatantly obvious to all. Better if it were called the ‘Windsor Fabrication’ for it is a deceit from beginning to end. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-21 a 8:07 pm


Christian lecturer sacked over tweet

Saturday’s edition of ‘The Telegraph’ carried an article headlined: “Christian lecturer sacked over ‘homosexuality is invading the church’ tweet.

The sacking took place in ‘Cliff College’, a Methodist institution. It is not surprising that the College ‘big wigs’ should object to a ‘tweet’ which said: ‘homosexuality is invading the church’.

Cliff College, belonging as it does to the Methodist denomination in England, has been a centre of theological liberalism and ecumenism for a very long time. I can recall Dr Ian Paisley denouncing its theological views back in the 1960s!

This latest incident shows that there is no recovery from apostasy, it can only grow worse!

Methodism in these islands has been involved in and committed to ‘Ecumenism’ since the formation of ‘The World Council of Churches’, of which it was a foundation member in 1948.

That infamous and nefarious religious organisation has, as its objective, the ‘reversing of the Reformation’ as one Lutheran delegate declared at its inauguration.

For nearly a century, there have been evidences of Methodism seeking to ‘reverse’ the teaching of the Bible, never mind attacking the work of God wrought during the Protestant Reformation.

I have to ask what any professing Christian is doing in a college which furiously reacts to the very obvious truth that sodomy is invading the professing ‘Christian’ churches? It is daily reported that there has been an endorsement of, a sanctioning of, indeed a ‘sanctifying’ of sodomy within the churches. Most of them allow such wickedness within their ranks and claim it to be approved of by God. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-20 a 2:51 am


The truth about Patrick

THE FOOTSTEPS OF PATRICK

A brief account of the work of God in Ireland over the last 1500 years by Rev. Ivan Foster.

The Gospel of Christ came to Ireland over 1500 years ago. Despite many attempts by Satan and his agents, God has been pleased to maintain His truth in this land. Following its first planting, the Gospel was carried by men whose hearts the Lord had touched into many neighbouring countries: Scotland, England, Wales, France, Germany, Switzerland and further. God has been pleased, in some measure, to do again in these latter days what He did in those distant days. May the land, now associated with terror and strife, become known again by the title it was then given, “The land of Saints and Scholars.”


Ireland before the 17th century plantation

The text of a lecture given at Bangor Free Presbyterian Young People’s meeting by Rev.Ivan Foster

A knowledge of the history of Ireland is a very beneficial and precious thing and that for a number of reasons.

1. History displays the merciful dealings of God with our forefathers.

2. Such a knowledge will do much to expose the lie of Rome that has bred the spirit of Irish nationalism based upon the myth of a pure Irish race that has ever been fervently Roman Catholic.

3. It will go far toward removing the feeling of insecurity and of guiltiness at being in Ulster that many Ulster Protestants suffer from as a result of Rome’s persistent lie.


PATRICK, THE APOSTLE OF IRELAND

The story of his life as told by himself

Providence has preserved for us two documents written by Patrick. Both of these documents, Patrick’s Confession and Patrick’s Letter, are accepted as genuine by both Protestant and Roman Catholic historians. Patrick wrote in Latin, the language of the scholar of his day.

Patrick’s testimony was reprinted in a series of articles in the monthly magazine of Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church,“THE BURNING BUSH”.

Posted on 2023-03-17 a 2:22 am


Joe Biden to visit Northern Ireland!!??

Gerry Adams, IRA fugitive Rita O’Hare, and Joe Biden, 2017

The BBC Northern Ireland news website carries the following headline today:

Good Friday Agreement: PM to invite Joe Biden to NI for 25th anniversary

If you don’t already know about the blinkered, biased opinion of Joe Biden of all things British, here are a few helpful hints about which I was reminded by a reader of ‘The Burning Bush’.


The late Robert Boyer of the Altoona Mirror wrote back in 1985 of Biden’s attempts to shield terrorists:

“The four men for whom the Senators (all Roman Catholics) seek safety here are charged abroad with planting bombs in public places, killing and taking hostages. The U.S. courts now protect them because their heinous acts were ‘political’, so they claim.

If Kerr and Dodd and Biden and their friends succeed, then we would have no legal recourse at all if, for instance, the killers of Robert Stethem, the U S sailor murdered in June by hijackers, were to seek sanctuary in a foreign country, claiming safety because Stethem was a member of the military service, and thus the killers’ crime was ‘political’.

Altoona Mirror , December 2 1985 p.4A,

Quoted in Paisley’s Struggle For Ulster by Dr Ronald Cooke.


 Joe Biden’s anti-British Comments in Jerusalem – reported in the Daily Express, July 2022.

“THE 46TH US PRESIDENT WAS LEFT RED-FACED AFTER HE COMPARED ISRAEL’S CONTEMPORARY TREATMENT TOWARDS PALESTINE WITH THAT OF BRITAIN’S HISTORIC ATTITUDE TOWARDS CATHOLICS IN IRELAND.”

He said: “The background of my family is Irish American. And we have a long history not fundamentally unlike the Palestinian people, with Great Britain and their attitude toward Irish Catholics over the years for 400 years.”

Daily Express, 13 Feb 2022. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-13 a 6:37 pm


A time for looking up

This study is an enlarging of a message preached at a special season of prayer, held this morning in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church.

In the light of the approaching anniversary of the new and wicked abortion laws, imposed upon us by Westminster, the Presbytery has called for a special season of prayer to seek the Lord for His blessing upon His people and a spirit of repentance to be granted across our land. A protest against the evil abortion laws is planned for later on March 25th.

I wish to emphasise that the liberalising of the abortion laws and the imposing of them upon us here in Ulster is but part of the increasing spread of the defiance of God and His law which we are told by Scripture will engulf the peoples of the world as the return of Christ draws near.

We must therefore constantly pray in the light of what God’s Word tells us is taking place today. Ill-informed prayer is prayer robbed of much of its power. It may be likened unto shooting in the dark. There is little hope of hitting the target!

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster



Click here to read the sermon notes

 

Posted on 2023-03-11 a 6:56 pm


Rev. Andy Foster Wednesday prayer meeting message



Click here to read the sermon notes


Posted on 2023-03-10 a 10:44 pm


Two letters on the 'Windsor Framework’

I am reproducing two letters which appear in the columns of the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ today.

I would suggest they highlight the utter chicanery of the British Prime Minister and those involved in the portrayal of the so-called ‘Windsor Framework’ as a resolving of the constitutional treachery of the ‘Protocol’. That deceitful arrangement with the EC effectively detached us constitutionally and commercially from the rest of the United Kingdom and lumped us in under EEC regulations with the Irish Republic. The ‘Windsor Framework’ in no way alters that, despite the vociferous assertions of Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister.

Furthermore, the ‘political maneuvering’ by the DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, and his like-minded cronies within the party, is but another example of the deceitful mind-set of that party. From a party that once had as its slogan, ‘The Truth Will Set You Free’, they have become a bunch of double-dealers who speak nothing but treachery out of both sides of their mouth.

The BBC News NI political editor, Enda McClafferty, in an article entitled: Brexit: Peter Robinson returns as DUP faces crossroads draws a parallel between the present political dilemma for the DUP and ‘the moment when the party signed the St Andrews Agreement to join Sinn Féin and other parties in a power-sharing executive.’

That was the moment that set the DUP on the final leg of its journey of self-destruction and the betrayal of its pro-union supporters.

I believe that it is about to take the final step, under Donaldson’s leadership, on that path of the sell-out of the Unionists and Protestants in Ulster.

Please also see this article just published:

Protocol / Windsor Framework latest: Citizens in Great Britain would not accept what is being demanded of Northern Ireland says Lord Frost

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster


Jim Allister: Ruth Dudley Edwards has ignored two points of vital importance in her column in support of the Windsor Framework

A letter from Jim Allister KC: Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-08 a 4:46 pm


Dagon falls upon his face!

The late Polish pope John Paul II (pictured in 1982) knew about child abuse in Poland’s Catholic church years before becoming pontiff and helped cover it up, a new report has claimed

This report from today’s ‘Daily Mail’ brought to mind the words of David at the death of king Saul and his son Jonathan. “How are the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19) but then I thought that such words were too flattering for this papal reprobate!

Instead, there came to my mind the account in the Bible of the fate of the Philistine idol, the fish-god, Dagon, as it fell down broken when the Philistines put the Ark of the Covenant, which they had stolen from the Israelites, in the temple of Dagon.

“When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.”  1 Samuel 5:2-4.

Pope John Paul II, pope from 1978 until 2005, is spoken of in hushed tones by Roman Catholic devotees. Wikipedia states of him that:

“John Paul II’s cause for canonisation commenced one month after his death with the traditional five-year waiting period waived. On 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed venerable by his successor, Benedict XVI, and was beatified on 1 May 2011 (Divine Mercy Sunday) after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints attributed one miracle to his intercession, the healing of a French nun called Marie Simon Pierre from Parkinson’s disease.

A second miracle was approved on 2 July 2013, and confirmed by Pope Francis two days later. John Paul II was canonised on 27 April 2014 (again Divine Mercy Sunday), together with John XXIII. On 11 September 2014, Pope Francis added these two feast days to the worldwide General Roman Calendar of saints. While saints’ feast days are traditionally celebrated on the anniversary of their deaths, that of John Paul II (22 October) is celebrated on the anniversary of his papal inauguration. Posthumously, he has been referred to by some Catholics as “Pope St. John Paul the Great”, although the title has no official recognition.”

In truth, these bestowals of unctuous and flattering ‘honours’, posthumously conferred upon him, have made not a tittle of difference to his eternal abode. Like all who claimed to be popes before him, he died a lost sinner, trusting in the unbiblical rituals and ceremonies of the counterfeit ‘church’ which he headed and is therefore in hell. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-06 a 11:14 pm


“Protestants are now hounded out of politics, as Kate Forbes has shown”

Kate Forbes

The headline of a recent ‘Daily Telegraph’, which was drawn to my attention, ran as follows:

“Protestants are now hounded out of politics, as Kate Forbes has shown”.

The headline itself is most unusual and demands a reading of the article. For that reason we are circulating it amongst our readership.

I would wish however to make a few comments on it.

It can never be right for a Christian to ally themselves with an organisation or political party so blatantly anti-Bible as is the Scottish Nationalist Party. (SNP).


Signing The Deed of Demission, 1843

One cannot be in such a group without canvassing for people to support its views and that is very, very wrong for any Christian. In that Kate Forbes is wrong and in disobedience to God’s Word  and very much out of step with the godly founders in the 18th century of her ‘Free Church of Scotland’: men such as  Thomas Chalmers, Robert Candlish,  John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan and the Bonar brothers, Andrew and Horatio.

However well Kate Forbes may have spoken out against the core policies of the SNP, she cannot justify her membership of that party. There comes a time when a protest only becomes effective AFTER a person has separated from that protested against. There is little point in shouting ‘FIRE’ and remaining within the conflagration!

She is quoted as saying she would have ‘respected and defended the democratic choice that was made’, that is, the SNP’s decision to support ‘same-sex’ marriage. That is the equivalent of saying that she would have defended the decision, made by the majority of Jews, to crucify Christ. What is right morally is not decided by the vote of a majority but by the Word of God. It alone, as the Shorter Catechism her church still teaches, states in its answer to its second question. “Q 2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?

A: The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.”

Kate Forbes is very wrong and so is the writer of this article who seems to consider her position on this issue very commendable. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-03 a 2:56 am


‘PURIM’ -- Not just a day for Jewish remembrance and rejoicing!

“‭And ‭that‭ these days‭ ‭should be‭ remembered‭‭ and kept‭‭ throughout‭ every generation‭, every‭ family‭, every‭ province‭, and every‭ city‭; ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬and ‭that‭ these days‭ of Purim‭ should not fail‭‭ from among‭ the Jews‭, nor the memorial‭ of them perish‭‭ from their seed‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Esther 9:28.

The true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has, in truth, more reason to remember this day of thanksgiving than does the average Jew today. The events remembered and celebrated took place in the year BC 510, according to the trustworthy calculations of the godly and strongly Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, James Ussher (4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656). This holy man, who aided our persecuted Presbyterian forefathers and favoured Presbyterian church polity, compiled a history of the world, “The Annals of the World”. His learning was widely admired and to this day great store is laid upon his chronology of the events of history since the creation.

Esther Denouncing Haman (1888) by Ernest Normand

Accepting Ussher’s date, the first’ Purim’ took place over two and a half millennia ago! This year ‘Purim’ will be celebrated by the Jewish people on 6th March. The celebration has become, in character, something like the so-called ‘Christmas’ celebrations amongst those who have but a ‘nodding acquaintance’ with the things of God.

Since the Lord Jesus Christ is rejected amongst most Jews, there is no true recognition of the One Who wrought the wonderful deliverance of the Jewish nation all those years ago.

One of the strange features of the Book of Esther is the absence of any mention of ‘God’ in the book, though the hand and providence of God may be most clearly seen in it! I take that absence as a providential foreshadowing of the absence of any mention of the true God in today’s celebrations of Purim.

The Lord Jesus Christ is indeed THE KING OF ISRAEL! It was His Kingly intervention all those years ago that preserved the Jewish people from the attempt by their enemies, led by Haman‭ the son‭ of Hammedatha‭ the Agagite‬‬‬ (Esther 9:24). It was He Who had watched over Abraham and all his descendants and is watching still, though now, in this time of retribution for their rejection and crucifixion of the Saviour, He watches to preserve them from utter destruction and will keep them until that day, in the near future, when He will reveal Himself unto them in saving mercy and grace, at His second coming. Zechariah, amongst many prophets, writes of that wonderful event.

“‭And it shall come to pass in that day‭, ‭that‭ I will seek‭‭ to destroy‭‭ all the nations‭ that come‭‭ against Jerusalem‭.‭ ‭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 12:9-10.

In truth ‘Purim’ celebrates what was in fact a portent of that glorious day for which every believer awaits with joyful anticipation. Click to read more…

Posted on 2023-03-01 a 4:43 pm