In Joshua 14:6-13 we read these words:
“Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the LORD said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadeshbarnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadeshbarnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the LORD my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the LORD my God. And now, behold, the LORD hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the LORD spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance.”
In a time when the carnal and worldly notions and views of men crowded out simple faith in the promise of God and the way that God’s people should go, Joshua and Caleb stood up and defied such foolish and blasphemous thinking.
The incident is recorded in Numbers 14:2-9.
“And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones.”
That spirit of ‘returning to Egypt’ has ever pursued the people of God. It is evident in ‘Hebron Free Presbyterian Church in Ballymoney.
(Copy of a video sent to me of ‘Hebron Hub’)
In a video the leaders of that congregation glory in the ‘entertainment suite’ they have opened in the church building.
It is but a short time ago they closed a Christian school there. Now it is replaced by this ‘Egyptian element’ which they seem to believe will aid in the evangelising of young people who have no interest in attending gospel meetings!
Failed Tactic
Were they to consider how that the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Methodist Church in Ireland and churches world wide have tried this method of ‘evangelising, they would soon realise it does not work!
Furthermore, the introduction of such methods have led on to greater and greater departures from true Biblical evangelistic methodology and finally to apostasy! Turning aside from the ‘Old Paths’ causes one to step onto the ‘slippery slope’ of man’s thinking and that can only lead downward.
Were the Minister and Session of Ballymoney Free Presbyterian Church to remember the stand taken by the Free Presbyterian Church 75 years ago, and the early protests against ‘Pea Soup suppers’, as Dr Ian Paisley termed such worldly measures used to advance the influence and impact of ecumenical denominations, they would realise that they are adopting the very measures that the Free Presbyterian Church, including the Ballymoney pulpit in former days, railed against and denounced!
What then does that say of this latest development?
It is of the same spirit as that seeking to “return into Egypt” that deceived the majority of the people of Israel.
The employment of ‘entertainment suites’ as a means of evangelism have not worked, will not work and is but is an indication of a belief that ‘worldly thinking’ is wiser than God’s!
The Lord Jesus said: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die,” John 12:32-33.
Not so say the wise men of Ballymoney! ‘Snooker, table tennis and lifting weights will prove more attractive than the simple preaching of the cross’!
I have no doubt that there are ministers, elders and members of the Free Presbyterian Church who are dismayed at the actions of Ballymoney.
However, that is not enough. Sharing our dismay and displeasure quietly with friends will not have any impact upon this trend of adopting worldly music and activities that might be attractive to the ungodly.
I read in Nehemiah 2, part of my Bible reading yesterday, of Nehemiah arriving in the city of Jerusalem, which he had described to king Artaxerxes, as reported to him by one he calls “one of his brethren, “the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.”
He went out to inspect the ruins which in one place was so rubble-strewn, that he writes: “Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass,” 2:14.
Having inspected the dreadful state of the walls of Jerusalem, he calls the leaders of the people together.
“Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach,” 2:17.
As I read it I noted the words, “Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.”
And yet, seeing the ruination all around they had done nothing to begin repairing the walls! Nehemiah arrived some 70 years (a significant period, in this seventy fifth anniversary of the founding of our denomination) after the opening of the rebuilt temple in the days of Ezra.
So for a period of about 70 years they had walked through the rubble of the walls and attended worship in the rebuilt temple but tolerated that rubbish and ruin and never considered setting about the rebuilding of the broken down walls which were such a shame and dishonour to the name of Jehovah!
Where we are!
To a lesser degree, Free Presbyterians today seem ready to ‘see’ the departure and failures to obey God’s Word within our denomination and to simply ignore them or quietly complain but put up with them.
We have had the violation of a minister’s ordination oath by dancing; we have had an encouragement to adopt the prayer of the Romanist ‘saint’, Thomas Aquinas, an Italian Dominican friar and priest, in the ‘Vision’ church magazine, — something which was most inadequately ‘apologised for by the Editor; we have had ‘gospel mission sharing’ with ministers who are part of the ecumenical movement — and many other breaches of the line of separation set down by our founding forefathers.
The crumbling and fallen walls have been seen by Free Presbyterians who have picked their way through these signs of decay but have chosen to effectively ignore what they know to be so.
‘Going back to Egypt’ may not be the desire of those who do this, but they are quietly being carried along with the crowd unless they do as Joshua and Caleb did, and cry out in protest and refuse to countenance such a decision!
It is time for a crying out against trends set by some, irrespective of their standing or the office they may hold!
We need to act as did Paul when he heard that wrong had been done. “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed,” Galatians 2:11.
Given the prevailing spirit amongst us today, there are very few who dare to act so.
But ‘act so’ we must if the Free Presbyterian Church is to be saved from the path of compromise, backsliding and copying the world which will eventually bring us to where it brought the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the other ecumenical churches.
It is time for a decision to be made akin to that made by the leaders in Jerusalem who heard the call of Nehemiah. “And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work,” 2:17.
May those troubled and grieved by recent trends act and pray for just such a response amongst our ranks.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
13th January 2026