“They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it,” Jeremiah 6:14-19.
One of the chapters for reading, June 10th, set down in Robert Murray McCheyne’s Bible reading Calendar
In this day of repeated scandals and mounting criticism heaped upon the National Health Service, there are those who pose as ‘physicians’, who carry a much greater burden of failure and guilt!
It is one thing to fall short in the care of the PHYSICAL wellbeing of the nation, but it is an immeasurably greater failing to mislead and neglect the SPIRITUAL wellbeing of it.
That is the failing of those who would claim to be ‘spiritual physicians’ here in Ulster.
Ever since the so-called, ‘Good Friday Agreement’ was signed by politicians here in 1998, it has been heralded as the birth of ‘peace’ in Northern Ireland by the deceitful in church and state.
In truth, the fruit of this agreement has been the establishing of the allies and supporters of IRA terrorism in positions of power.
Example
An example of the character of those exalted to power as a direct result of the endorsement of the GFA, may be seen in the comments of Sinn Féin’s ‘President’, Mary Lou McDonald.
She made this comment on her ‘Facebook’ on Tuesday past — “On this day in 1981, Joe McDonnell gave his life on hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh. A courageous son of Belfast, his sacrifice remains a beacon in the struggle for the freedom and unity of Ireland. Joe McDonnell will never be forgotten.”
Right!
She is right in one matter! He will never be forgotten. His crimes will be dealt with by the Lord one day and since he died as a result of his politically motivated suicide, it may be assumed that he died in defiance of God and His Law and he will therefore be damned for his many crimes and wickednesses — as will ALL who die without Christ.
The Saviour’s Words
The Saviour Himself warned us all of this truth.
“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.
The sentiments of Mary Lou McDonald regarding this murderer, are truly representative of the thinking and rational of those who rule in Stormont’s Parliament Buildings!
Sinn Fein is comprised of those who admire terrorism and terrorists and who, have and do, openly support their murderous criminal actions. There have been frequent reports of their words at graveside ceremonies, eulogising the exploits of the dead murderers and terrorists of the IRA.
Result
This is the FRUIT, the PEACE of the ‘Good Friday Agreement! Those who plagued and tortured the innocent in Ulster for decades have declared a ‘peace’, a cessation of terrorism, because they have been rewarded, as a result of the GFA, with the positions of power they terrorised and slaughtered in order to obtain !
Ecumenical ‘false prophets’ have long sought to persuade all of the population here, and further abroad, that the GFA is a gift from God, the outcome of their ‘prayers and labours’!
DUP Pipe Dream
The DUP appeared to oppose the GFA at the first but today, with its power-sharing deal with Sinn Fein/IRA, is a main implementer of it.
The DUP claimed that it would ‘control’ the Republicans it was sharing power with BUT, the fact that it is now in a subservient position with Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill occupying the ‘Office of First Minister’, shows that the pipe dream that they had regarding dominance, has proved to be just that!
This morning’s reading from Jeremiah presented to me the fact that today’s ‘religious liars’ are but the latest generation of deceivers, raised up by the devil to further his depraved aims and objectives.
Display and Expose
Jeremiah was instructed of God to clearly display what the false prophets of his day were seeking to do.
“They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace,” Jeremiah 6:14.
There can be no true peace if the murderer has gained a victory and sits in power. That is not peace, that is SUBJUGATION!
That is what the GFA has brought to Northern Ireland, sold to the gullible populace by the false prophets, as PEACE!
Mark of this Age
What Jeremiah said of the people of his generation may truly be said of today’s generation.
“Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken,” 6:17.
Defiance of God and His truth is the chief mark of this age. It is not just the mark of the unconverted but all too many professing Christians have shown the same spirit, when faced with the way that the Lord would have us go in.
“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein,” 6:16.
1951
Since 1951 there has been a voice raised in Ulster, calling God’s people out of the ecumenical churches, churches given over, ever more so, to that warned of by Paul.
“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; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained,” 1 Timothy 4:1-6.
There have been ‘good ministers’, who have sought to “put the brethren in remembrance of these things”, but they have been largely ignored, even as was Jeremiah.
The Free Presbyterian Church, which in the past was to the fore in preaching the call to separation from today’s departure from God’s truth, has been showing clear signs of compromise, of a ‘going soft’, on the corruption of ecumenical apostasy. Its voice is almost silent and its protests against the latter-day rebellion have virtually ceased to be.
Such SILENCE is but a LOUD repetition of the cry of the defiers of old: “We will not walk therein”!
Dire Results
When the path which is ordained of God to bring “rest”, is rejected and the path of man’s own devising is chosen, there are dire consequences.
Jeremiah had the onerous task of warning his people of these consequences.
“But they said, We will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it,” 6:17-19.
Peace, happiness and security are not born of defiance of God and the embracing of lies! No, but rather, “ . . . therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD,” verse 15.
Jeremiah, followed the Lord’s instructions and example, and repeatedly cried out warnings and protests against the folly of God’s people.
I say, he followed the Lord’s example, and he did!
“Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not,” Jeremiah 11:6-8.
Likewise, in Ulster, there have been repeated warnings of the dangerous path that many Christians seem determined to follow.
But God’s patience and longsuffering has an end! Jeremiah was given the solemn task of pronouncing God’s judgment on the defiantly wayward.
“And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim. Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee. Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?” Jeremiah 7:13-19.
I have underlined two sections. One is a command given to Jeremiah to stop praying for rebellious Judah and the other highlights how that even the children have been taught to rebel against God.
The children would not have been engaged in gathering wood for the fires to sacrifice to the “queen of heaven” had they not been taught and instructed to do so.
The Equivalent Today
The equivalent of that may be seen at work within the ranks of Free Presbyterianism. Despite repeated warnings, over many years now, of the utter corruption taught in the state schools and also the provision of Christian schools within our ranks, there has been a rejecting, by many Free Presbyterian parents, of the clear exposure of the evil ‘normalising’ and ‘approving’ of abortion, sodomy, and the abominable perversions that are found under the ever lengthening epithet, ‘LGBTQQIP2SAA’, that is pressed upon schoolchildren, from primary school upward!
Minority
Only a small minority of Free Presbyterian parents avail themselves of the benefits of a Christian education for their children. The majority either ignore or refuse to believe that their children are being subjected to these evils, even though it is now the law of the land that they be so taught!
Just how long can we expect the Lord to patiently wait for a recognising of and rebelling over, the sin that is embraced by many of His people?
Since that sin, which is but one facet of the departure from God and His truth found within our ranks, has been embraced since 1979 when the first Free Presbyterian Christian school was opened, and the warnings were loudly proclaimed, then God’s reaction to that defiance cannot be far off if there is no heeding of the warning.
Rev Ivan Foster (rtd)
11th July 2025