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KICS assembly talks. Current series: “KICS Studies – Faith, Mighty Faith”

• Part 24, Part 25, Part 26, Part 27
• See all the talks in this series here.
• See all the KICS assembly talks listed here.

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Recently Featured Sermons

Instructions for servants Pt 2
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 25, 2004
featured on Sun Jun 23, 2024

Instructions for servants Pt1
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 18, 2004
featured on Sun Jun 16, 2024

Fathers & Discipline Pt 3
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 11, 2004
featured on Sun Jun 9, 2024

Fathers & discipline pt 2
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 4, 2004
featured on Sun Jun 2, 2024

Click here to view previous featured sermons

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Recently Preached Sermons

Funeral tribute to Mrs. Ann Foster
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Mon Jun 10, 2024

The righteousness of faith
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Fri May 24, 2024

A glorious light at the end of a long dark tunnel! Pt 2
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun May 12, 2024

View all recently preached sermons

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Older Sermons Recently Added

Funeral service for Miss Edna Weir
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Mon May 12, 2003

Rev. Ivan Foster - My Testimony
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Nov 11, 2008

The day when it is God's turn to answer
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 15, 1995

View all recently added sermons

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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here

AN ANCIENT WARNING OF THE EVILS BESETTING ISRAEL IN THE LAST DAYS AND THE CONSEQUENCES THEY WILL EXPERIENCE FOR THEIR DISOBEDIENCE 

The Lord has long and repeatedly revealed the events involving the people of Israel at the close of this age. Today, in one of my daily readings, I came across such a warning. It was uttered by Moses at the close of his life even as he was handing over the leadership of the nation to Joshua just prior to their crossing over the Jordan and going in to possess the ‘promised land’.

Here are his words on this matter:

“‭For I know‭‭ that after‭ my death‭ ye will utterly‭‭ corrupt‭‭ ‭yourselves‭, and turn aside‭‭ from the way‭ which I have commanded‭‭ you; and evil‭ will befall‭‭ you in the latter‭ days‭; because ye will do‭‭ evil‭ in the sight‭ of the LORD‭, to provoke him to anger‭‭ through the work‭ of your hands‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Deuteronomy 31:29.

There was a warning regarding their behaviour after his death and also in the ‘latter days’. Sadly, Israel had a history of unfaithfulness and disobedience of the Lord no matter what mercies they enjoyed at His hands.

As Christians we must never forget that we have fared no better! That must ever be understood. We can read of the repeated rebellions of God’s ancient people and be critical of them but they were in truth no worse than believers in this age of the Gentiles. A brief consideration of the New Testament will illustrate this truth.

From the failure of the immediate disciples and apostles to remain faithful to the Lord during His earthly ministry to the various churches formed in the Gentile world we see displayed this continued failure to remain stedfast and obedient.

The book, ‘The Acts of the Apostles’, details the erring ways of the early believers as do the various epistles of the apostles, all of which were caused by error and sin entering the ranks of God’s people. The Saviour’s epistles to the seven churches of Asia at the close of the Canon of Scripture, reveals the ongoing deviation from the path of obedience that was evidenced in the first century of this age and which has marked every age since in greater or lesser measures. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-06-26 a 4:40 pm

“Transgender guidance scrapped for NI primary schools”

So ran the recent headline on the BBC Northern Ireland news webpage. It may appear to be a welcome decision by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA). However, it is no such thing.

The thinking behind this decision is out of the same pit that brought about the decision to include the vile notion in the curriculum in the first place.

The report states: “In a statement to BBC News NI, CCEA said that the content ‘was removed as it referenced research which is over 10 years old’.”

The basis of this new notion is ‘new research’ by the same ‘ejits’ who came up with the notion that has now been set aside but not utterly repudiated!

The Holy Scriptures alone are the moral authority for all mankind.

The Shorter Catechism in Question 2 asks: ‘What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?’

The answer given is the orthodox and correct view. ‘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.’

The decision by the CCEA is not a rethinking and rejecting of the perverted notion it originally espoused but a mere tactic in response to objections by many parents to what was first proposed as part of the teaching of recent ‘Relationship and Sex Education’ (RSE) resources . The previous guidance for primary schools stated that it aimed to support “transgender or gender-questioning children”. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-06-21 a 5:09 pm

I issued the first part of this article from the bedside of my wife Ann, after she was admitted to the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen two weeks ago.

One week later she was welcomed into heaven by her beloved Redeemer. And now, a further week later, I send out the second part of the article.

She and I loved to study and discuss those things related to the Saviour’s return and watch world events in the light of Holy Scripture. What a knowledge she must have now! Yet she has learned nothing upon going to heaven that was not set forth in the Bible.

Dear Christian, God would have us understand what lies ahead that we might be assured that the devil and his allies will be utterly defeated and that the Saviour will have the victory.

“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh,” Revelation 19:19-21.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

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SOME THOUGHTS ON THE OPENING VERSES OF THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION

(Part Two)

“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,” Revelation 1:1-3.

THE PROMISED BLESSING THAT COMES FROM A PROPER OBSERVANCE OF WHAT THE BOOK SAYS.

We will be concentrating our thoughts on verse three.

“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.”

I. THE BLESSING PROMISED TO THE STUDENT.

“Blessed is he that readeth.”

1. Here is a blessing promised to any individual who ‘reads’ this book. The Bible was written to be read. It was not intended that it gather dust on a shelf somewhere. Rather, the purpose of giving the books of the Bible was that we might read. The Book of the Revelation was very obviously meant to be read, given its title – ‘Revelation’ – and the blessing here promised to the reader. What a contradiction in terms this would all be if, as all too many ministers have told their flock, it is a book to be avoided since it is very complicated!

This a blatant falsehood. If we read it, taking what is obviously figurative as such and what is literal as literal, it is indeed a “Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass”! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-06-15 a 8:00 am

Last Monday, we as a family had the funeral of Ann, my wife and their mother.

It was a precious time with the Lord’s presence in a most wonderful way.

We had a chance to meet with many who remember Ann with love, and that was a great comfort and the cause of further praise to her Saviour.

Below are links to the video of Ann’s funeral service and also an audio recording of the tribute I sought to pay during the service to the grace of God displayed in Ann’s life.

View a video of the entire service below:

Also, below is Tuesday’s study with the children in Kilskeery Independent Christian School.

May you find all a blessing.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

Posted on 2024-06-12 a 11:09 pm

Posted on 2024-06-08 a 7:54 pm

I prepared this little study some day ago and I send it forth from the hospital bedside of my dear wife Ann whose life is ebbing away.

I have been prompted to send this out at this traumatic time by the memory of her unfailing faithfulness to the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.

She let nothing stand in her way of service to the Saviour!

As a Christian she was faithful in prayer and witness to the Saviour’s glory; as a mother she raised six children who now in this dark hour “arise up, and call her blessed,” (Proverbs 31:28).

As a pioneering Christian school teacher, she sacrificed herself for the care of the pupils under her charge.

As a wife and companion, she was unfailingly courageous in her love and prayerful support of this poor servant of God during traumatic and perilous times here in Ulster.

According to my Bible reading in Isaiah this morning, she will soon “see the king in his beauty”: and “shall behold the land that is very far off,” Isaiah 33:17.

Praise God, I and our children, shall join her in glory to bless the merciful God Who has planned it all in grace and love.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

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SOME THOUGHTS ON THE OPENING VERSES OF THE BOOK OF THE REVELATION

(Part One)

“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,” Revelation 1:1-3.

According to the great chronologist, James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh and sympathiser with Ulster’s persecuted Presbyterians, the Book of the Revelation was written 100 years after the birth of the Saviour. If that is so, it went forth from John’s pen some sixty seven years into the age of the New Testament Church. Given that the age has endured now for some 2024 years, it was given in the very early formative years of the Gentile Church. There is in that a noteworthy consideration!

The Lord would have His people acquainted with the truth concerning the last days and the second advent of Christ from the earliest days of their pilgrimage. Sadly, that is not the state of affairs amongst His people today, nor has it been so in recent history!

The book was written in a time of great persecution under the Roman Caesar, Domitian, (AD 81-96). John suffered in that time of affliction. “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ,” verse 9. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-06-01 a 6:30 pm

Audio sermons

Click here to listen to all the sermons on this website!

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KICS assembly talks. Current series: “KICS Studies – Faith, Mighty Faith”

• Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23
• See all the talks in this series here.
• See all the KICS assembly talks listed here.

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Recently Featured Sermons

Instructions for servants Pt 2
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 25, 2004
featured on Sun Jun 23, 2024

Instructions for servants Pt1
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 18, 2004
featured on Sun Jun 16, 2024

Fathers & Discipline Pt 3
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 11, 2004
featured on Sun Jun 9, 2024

Fathers & discipline pt 2
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 4, 2004
featured on Sun Jun 2, 2024

Click here to view previous featured sermons

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Recently Preached Sermons

The righteousness of faith
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Fri May 24, 2024

A glorious light at the end of a long dark tunnel! Pt 2
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun May 12, 2024

A glorious light at the end of a long dark tunnel! Pt 1
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun May 12, 2024

View all recently preached sermons

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Older Sermons Recently Added

Funeral service for Miss Edna Weir
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Mon May 12, 2003

Rev. Ivan Foster - My Testimony
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Nov 11, 2008

The day when it is God's turn to answer
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jan 15, 1995

View all recently added sermons

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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here

“I will therefore put you in remembrance,” Jude 1:5.

I was made aware of the freshness and the inexhaustible nature of the Word of God as I read Jude’s epistle today (29.5.24) as part of my daily devotion.

The word ‘remembrance’ in verse 5 prompted me to consider something which I had never really considered before. I realised that the word suggested something about the believers to whom Jude was writing that I had not given thought to before.

CRAFTY CREEPERS CAN ONLY GAIN ENTRANCE AMONGST A CHRISTIAN PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY HAVE GROWN CARELESS AND FORGETFUL

1. Jude found it needful to write this epistle. That need was born of more than just the invasion by “certain men” bent on “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,” verses 4-5.

But he found it necessary to write this warning and exhortation to action because it was obvious that carelessness, born of a spirit of forgetfulness, dominated the churches involved. That how the ‘creepers’ were able to get in. This ‘amnesiac’ spirit had bred negligence whereby the enemy was able to penetrate their ranks. Physically, we all know that as the years go by we are ever more prone to forgetfulness. Well, this is also true of our souls as the years go past.  Long ago, Moses warned Israel: “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;” Deuteronomy 4:9. Forgetfulness has ever been a threat to the wellbeing of God’s people. It breeds carelessness which is exploited by the devil! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-30 a 4:58 pm

This article requires a simple but very pertinent question to be asked.

HOW CAN A NURSE SUPPORT AND IDENTIFY WITH AN ORGANISATION GUILTY OF INDISCRIMINATE MURDER AND TERROR, AS SHE DOES WHEN SHE STANDS FOR SINN FEIN, THE POLITICAL WING OF THE IRA, AND THAT IN AN AREA WHICH SUFFERED WELL OVER 100 VICTIMS OF TERRORIST MURDER?

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster.

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Ex-nursing chief set to be Sinn Fein’s Fermanagh-South Tyrone Westminster candidate

Former nursing chief Pat Cullen is set to stand for Sinn Féin in Fermanagh-South Tyrone in the General Election.

The former general secretary and chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is seeking the nomination for the Westminster election.

Sinn Fein has held the seat since 2017 – it was won by just 57 votes in 2019 and is the most marginal in the whole of the UK.

The current MP, Michelle Gildernew, is not seeking re-election, instead seeking election to the European Parliament in the Republic’s Midlands-North West constituency.

Ms Cullen previously held roles in the Public Health Agency and as an adviser for the Department of Health.

It is understood Ms Cullen contacted the RCN on Wednesday morning to inform them of her decision and has stood down with immediate effect.

She said she owed the organisation’s members a “great deal of gratitude”.

“I have been in contact with my employers at the Royal College of Nursing to inform them that I have allowed my name to go forward to a selection convention being held in the constituency this week,” she said.

“This was the hardest decision to make, and we have achieved so much in three very different and difficult years.

“I hope my legacy here will be to have helped the nursing profession use its voice and campaign for change, for ourselves and patients.

“It has been the honour of my life to have served in the RCN and to provide leadership every day to hundreds of thousands of hardworking nurses and healthcare staff who always prioritise the delivery of high-quality care to patients.

“After much consideration, I have decided that now is the right time for me to step forward in to the political arena to champion the issues and opportunities for the community I love, and that is what I am fully determined to do.

“This election is an opportunity to vote for a new and better future,” she added.

Chair of the RCN Council Paul Vaughan said Ms Cullen had been a “tremendous leader” for the profession.

“She has been fearless in rooting out longstanding cultural issues internally and speaking truth to power in the health service and politics alike,” he said.

Ms Cullen was due to appear as keynote speaker at the organisation’s annual congress in Newport, Wales next week.

She has been replaced on an interim basis by Professor Nicola Ranger, who said Ms Cullen had “progressed the profession in so many ways”.

Posted on 2024-05-29 a 10:41 pm

The odious system of Romanism is set forth in this report, sent to me by a friend.

One question springs to mind suggested by the Pope’s remark. It is : ‘Just how much is too much’?

His words clearly indicate that there is within the Roman Catholic ‘Church’ an acceptable level of sodomy’!

That is utterly opposed to the mind and will of God and indicates that Rome is in truth, a system of ‘antichristianity’!

Everyone guilty of that lifestyle is deemed in God’s eyes as ‘an abomination’. “‭Thou shalt not lie‭‭ with mankind‭, as with‭ womankind‭: it ‭is‭ abomination‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Leviticus 18:22.

Paul list this evil as a block to heaven, I Corinthians 6:9-11. It ought to be noted that Paul indicates that such a sin can be pardoned and the guilty delivered by the grace of God.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

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Pope Francis ‘shocks bishops with remark about gay trainee priests’

The pontiff is alleged to have said there was too much ‘frociaggine’, which translates as ‘faggotry’, among those training for the priesthood

‘The Times’ — Monday May 27 2024, 10.15pm,

Corriere della Sera, Italy’s bestselling daily, confirmed the report, citing bishops who said the Pope’s comment was met with incredulity by the audience. They claimed, however, that it was clear that the Pope, who is Argentinian and was speaking in Italian, was unaware of how offensive the word was in Italian.

The question from bishops about homosexual men entering seminaries followed debate on the subject at a meeting of bishops in November in Assisi, where it was agreed to change the rules, La Repubblica reported. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-28 a 6:55 pm

IRA ambush survivor Glen Espie – I share my story in memory of murdered UDR comrades

(‘Belfast Newsletter’ — Published 27th May 2024)

Shot and wounded in separate murder attempts while an off-duty member of the UDR, Glen Espie is a man with an incredible story to tell and it’s one he feels a responsibility to share.

To date, he has given 33 talks on his experiences of returning fire in gun battles with IRA terrorists intent on taking his life, pointing out that during the 22-year history of the UDR, 197 soldiers were murdered as active members and 62 after they had left the regiment.

“I trust in telling my story that I can bring to the audience what many of my murdered comrades experienced,” he said.“I am trying to tell the young people of today what service in the regiment was about and the daily threat these members were exposed to in serving their country and holding the line to stop Northern Ireland exploding into all out civil war.”

Glen is a long-serving member of East Tyrone Royal Black District Chapter No 5. He joined Gravesend RBP 65 in 1972 – “upholding a family tradition of my father and grandfather (both named Brice) and uncles being members” – and is immensely proud of the institution’s tradition and culture.Glen, 67, is married to Marion – “my rock” – and has a son, Glen, and daughter, Sharon.

He set out the background to the first attempt on his life, in March 1978.

He was 21, with a day job as a plumber with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and serving in the UDR’s Cookstown-based ‘G’ Company, after joining in January 1975.

Although serving part-time, it was “a 24/7 total commitment”, said Glen.

“You were never off duty as far as the terrorist was concerned, and you were an easy target for them to ambush at home.

“You had to be aware that they would know of your route and timings; they would know when you started and when you finished.” Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-27 a 7:08 pm

Though few in power wish to listen.

A Dutch politician speaks out on the growing menace of indiscriminate immigration in Europe and in so doing underlines the growing lawlessness which is but the fulfillment of prophecy.

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“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away,”

2 Timothy 3:1-5.

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Eva Vlaardingerbrock

Posted on 2024-05-27 a 7:00 pm

Last Friday evening, 24 May 2024, Rev. Ivan Foster (rtd) addressed the monthly meeting of the Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony.

His subject was “The Righteousness of Faith.”

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon:

 

 

Posted on 2024-05-26 a 10:24 pm

The following is a summary of a BBC article on the publishing of the report of ‘The Infected Blood Inquiry’.

* The infected blood scandal inquiry has published its final report – concluding that the treatment disaster could and should have been largely avoided

* The report says that patients were knowingly exposed to “unacceptable risks”

* The five-year investigation also accuses doctors, the government and NHS of trying to cover-up what happened

* “Now the country knows, and the world knows, there was a deliberate attempt to lie and conceal”, campaigner Clive Smith says at a media briefing

* More than 30,000 people were infected with HIV and hepatitis C from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated blood products and transfusions – about 3,000 have since died

* Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to issue an apology later on today.

Under the headline:

NHS AND GOVERNMENT COVERED UP INFECTED BLOOD SCANDAL

the BBC coverage of the scandal contained these words:

“Authorities covered up the infected blood scandal after knowingly exposing victims to unacceptable risks, a long-awaited report, external says.

The five-year investigation accused doctors, government and the NHS of letting patients catch HIV and hepatitis.

More than 30,000 people were infected from 1970 to 1991 by contaminated blood products and transfusions.

About 3,000 have since died and more deaths will follow.

The Infected Blood Inquiry said victims had been failed “not once but repeatedly” by doctors, the NHS, government and others responsible for their safety. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-24 a 11:11 pm

Two articles from the ‘Belfast Newsletter of Monday, 20th May. 2024.

The following two articles reminded me of the famous response of Lord Nelson to the signal from his commander in chief, Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, to ‘disengage’ during the battle of Copenhagen. Nelson’s response was to say to his flag captain, who had reported the Admiral’s signal, ’You know, Foley, having only one eye it’s my right to be blind sometimes.’ Then he put his telescope to his blind right eye, said, ‘I really do not see the signal,’ and carried on fighting with his own signal, ‘Engage the enemy more closely flying.

His deliberate act of ‘blind disobedience’ to a coward signal, resulted in a most admirable victory.

The present ‘self-inflicted blindness’ of the DUP to that which is plain to everyone else, friend and for — that their arrangement with the British Government to end the  Irish Sea border has always been a sham and they have been taken for fools by London! No admirable victory will come of this ‘blindness’. The next election in Ulster I feel may well prove this to be so!

Read the two articles carefully.

Owen Polley: The DUP’s interpretation of the deal over the Irish Sea border is being shown up repeatedly in the most embarrassing ways

It was a week of contrasts last week for the DUP.

Writing in today’s News Letter, DUP deputy leader Gavin Robinson says his party’s agreement with the government ‘goes further than ever before to undo the damage of the NI Protocol’. He adds: ‘The arrangements we have secured not only restore but safeguard Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and its internal market’ Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-21 a 9:23 pm

“The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant,” Psalm 25:14.

“Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding: he revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him,” Daniel 2:20-22.

There has been something of a controversy of late in the columns of the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ regarding the future of Northern Ireland as part of a united Ireland. It was sparked by the comments of one, Mr Wallace Thompson, a retired civil servant and who it is said was a foundation member of the DUP. Mr Thompson is a professing Christian who terms himself a staunch witness to the truth of God.

He has, on a number of occasions, put forth the view that there will be a united Ireland in the not too distant future. For saying this he claims he has been called a ‘Lundy’, a reference to a well known figure, who during the time of the Siege of Derry (1689), was the first Governor of the City (during the siege) but who sought its surrender to the forces of the Romanist King James II. He was expelled by the citizens and the cause of King William III prevailed.

To be termed  a ‘Lundy’ is the basest sobriquet that can be directed toward a Protestant here in Ulster. Mr Wallace Thompson rejects such a name as a slander. He says of himself: ‘I supported Terence O’Neill for a period in the mid-1960’s but, once the civil rights movement began, I feared the worst. Ian Paisley was giving voice to my concerns and fears, and I became a Paisley man, both in political and spiritual terms. I remain so to this day.’ ‘In relation to allegations of some people that I am a Lundy  . . . some of those denouncing me now said the very same things when I supported the DUP decision to share power with Sinn Fein in 2007.’

There can be no doubt that a majority of Unionists will reject what Wallace Thompson says on the subject of a ‘united Ireland’ but how many of them know anything about what the Bible teaches regarding the future of these islands?

I think it fair to say that Mr Thompson argues that a united Ireland is drawing on when one reads the direction that local political developments are taking and also the very obvious evidence of London ‘abandoning’ the cause of the Unionists of Northern Ireland.

I personally would find little to object to in such a surmising!

However, I take issue with Mr Thompson’s proposition for the simple reason that as a professing Christian he leaves God and His Word out of the case he presents. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-21 a 9:15 pm

This is a most welcome ‘Belfast Newsletter’ Editorial on the subject of the shift in ‘Abortion’ law here in Northern Ireland.

Stormont is rightly termed ‘cowardly’ for superintending such changes. Those who profess faith in Christ are to be particularly censured for their failure to mount a protest against such evil.

Political status and wages come before standing for the sanctity of life it would appear. Surely such remaining part of the legislative body which legalises the murder of the unborn make those who do so share in the guilt of that heinous crime!

Ivan Foster.

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Editorial: Cowardly Stormont goes from an almost total ban on abortion to making it legal on demand, then placing sweeping restrictions on protests against such terminations

By Editorial

Published 17th May 2024, 00:15 BST

When same-sex marriage came into Northern Ireland, we were assured that churches would not be forced to bless such relationships.

While that principle remains largely intact, it has already been challenged and undermined within a few years of such marriages becoming legal so as to suggest that such a religious exemption is by no means guaranteed in the medium term (although radical activists who would merrily force Christian institutions to endorse such relationships would not dare to do the same with Islam).

When it comes to the horror of abortion, things are moving similarly quickly. Remember how only a few years ago we were told that legal reform was all about facilitating terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormality and other exceptionally rare situations? Then in no time abortion on demand was on the statute books in Northern Ireland, a position that is legally far slacker than England and Wales, where there are stricter (albeit largely theoretical) rules before a pregnancy can be carried out.

Not only have we moved to abortion on demand in the first third of a pregnancy, we have made it hard to so much as protest outside a clinic where such a revolting procedure is taking place. Two people have just been in court for such protests in Coleraine.

These anti protest laws demand such long distances between protest and clinic as to render almost useless the right of the demonstrator to make a point that might in fact be heard.

Intimidation of people entering clinics should of course be prohibited. But it is cowardly of Stormont to go from being a parliament where there was a big majority against any liberalisation of abortion laws at all to one that won’t even let people make public the reasonable view that terminating a pregnancy is the calculated snuffing out of an emerging human being.

Posted on 2024-05-17 a 5:27 pm

On Saturday, 11th May, 2024 at 8pm around 40 believers assembled outside the Bannville Hotel in Banbridge to oppose the flagrant violation of God’s law that was due to take place by the so-called “Pleasure Boys” group from England.

There was a large media presence to capture footage of our witness and we endeavoured to exalt Jesus Christ and expose the vices of darkness with the Spirit’s help.

A section of the supporters who gathered with Rev Henderson to protest at the lewd show that so many were happy to brazenly be seen entering the hotel where it took place.

This photograph appeared in the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ but I have  edited it for the newspaper superimposed some of the ‘lewd fellows of the baser sort’ (Acts 17:5) upon it.

We had a tremendous evening of gospel opportunity with even the proprietor of the Hotel coming outside and having a very keen ear for the gospel and all that we had to say about the event itself. Please pray for the many souls that were genuinely interested in what was said.

We were also asked for an interview with a local podcast that has a studio in a different area of the Bannville Hotel to comment on why we were protesting. Revs. Henderson and Smith spoke on the podcast for 30 or so minutes against the event that was taking place, the sanctity of marriage and the gospel of saving grace. Please pray that these means of sharing the gospel would be blessed by the Holy Spirit of God.

On Monday morning, we were encouraged to learn that an article in the Northern Ireland World published the story that the Armagh, Banbridge & Craigavon Council stepped in and said that “no nudity” was permitted. This was a tremendous victory as the sin-loving attendees had only come and paid for such obscenity and were reportedly left “disappointed”.

We count this as a victory to encourage our souls. We are told by the Saviour to be salt and light in this world. By the stand we make for Christ, we can see things done for God.

Rev. Daniel I. Henderson

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I will only add that those “disappointed” by the restriction place upon the scandalous exhibition will find that an eternal  disappointment awaits them when the stand before God to give an account of their open, shameless support for what  amounted to an outrageous attack upon public decency.

What dreadful changes have come into Ulster with the decline of gospel knowledge and the fear of the Lord that ecumenical apostasy has brought upon us.

Here is a link to a video taken during the protest.

Video of Free Presbyterian protest

Post script: 

The Lord frustrates the enemy as they seek to mock the gospel witness protest but end up simply advertising the very thing they sought to ridicule. Apparently some 127,000 have viewed this video and it has been forwarded on to others some 4000 time!

 

The Editor
Monday, 13th May, 2024

Posted on 2024-05-13 a 11:38 pm

These two sermons were preached yesterday in Coragarry Free Presbyterian Church, Co. Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland.

“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Matthew 24:3.

The subject of both were “A glorious light at the end of a long dark tunnel!”

Read sermon notes here

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Read sermon notes here

Posted on 2024-05-13 a 10:51 pm

Dr.Edward Cooke

Master of Philosophy, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics

One policy area that differentiates the UUP and DUP sitting in the NI Executive at Stormont from the TUV (sitting in ‘opposition’ in the NI Assembly) is their respective positions on the funding, monitoring and regulation of NI third-level education sector.  An examination of how the DUP and UUP administer the third-education sector, not only indicates differences between them as unionist parties sitting in government for two decades from the TUV, it also highlights (as a case study) a growing credibility problem that incrementally, year-after-year, impacts on the declining number of NI unionist voters, voting in Stormont Assembly elections.  Essentially, if a political administration and system of government loses credibility, people cannot be enticed to vote for it.  If the political representatives elected are incapable of satisfying the philosophical foundations and long-established principles of representative government, the democratic system will collapse.  This historical fact is something that all NI political parties appear to have forgotten.  Our inept NI unionist politicians ever dutiful to their party political leaders put at risk what remains of our liberal democracy.

Within GB over the last year, all the political partes have acknowledged that there are existential funding and sustainability problems in the GB university sectors.  The dilemma for all the political parties is how best to tackle historical problems given the political importance of the sector and the rising cost of third-level education.  As yet, no political party is publicly prepared to admit that the UK university sector has grown too-large and needs to be culled in order to allow for public investment in the (badly neglected) UK further education sector.  The recent UK media disclosures of ‘back-door entry routes’, (or in other words, structured discrimination) into UK universities has galvanised Westminster, but not Stormont, into action.  Stormont’s intransigence, or cowardice, to act in this policy matter, is similar to Stormont’s indecision during the 2020 Covid-19 crisis when NI lockdown policy was decided on only after Westminster had acted! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-11 a 11:26 pm

Jewish leaders demand newly-elected Green councillor who hailed election as a ‘win for Gaza’ and shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ is suspended – as party officials launch probe after he claimed Palestinians had a right to ‘fight back’ in wake of Hamas attacks

So ran the headline in a national daily newspaper today. The ugly grimace of the ‘Green Councillor’ at the centre of this controversy was pictured snarling out the Islamic catchphrase, so often used by terrorists with the intention of intimidation, ‘Allahu Akbar’. The words mean ‘god is the greatest’. The god referred to is the Islamic idol, known as ‘Allah’ and not the God of the Bible, Jehovah.

We have thus the situation developing in the nation of those who come to the United Kingdom for reasons of bettering themselves from under the privations of an Islamic state but with the real agenda of destroying what remains of the Protestant heritage which has been enjoyed for centuries in this land.

In the early days of the New Testament Church, the enemies of righteousness were compelled to disguise themselves and their intentions and this is made plain by the warning of Jude in his epistle. “‭T‭here are certain‭ men‭ crept in unawares‭‭, who‭ were before‭‭ of old‭ ordained‭‭ to‭ this‭ condemnation‭, ungodly men‭, turning‭‭ the grace‭ of our‭ God‭ into‭ lasciviousness‭, and‭ denying‭‭ the only‭ Lord‭ God‭, and‭ our‭ Lord‭ Jesus‭ Christ‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Jude 1:4.

However, those bent on destroying the remnants of gospel liberty left us in the United Kingdom, be they political or religious activists, need no disguise. They can come in with ‘trumpets blaring’, as do the Islamic councillors recently elected in England and who make no secret of their intention of imposing their perverted religious and political views on the nation.

These individuals care nothing for the culture or heritage of the land to which they have come. They are intent upon changing this nation, destroying this nation by imposing their own heathen notions upon it and reducing it to the impoverished state of the land from which they sought to escape.

What blindness and idiocy this indicates! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-10 a 9:23 pm

THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE SAVIOUR’S RETURN FOR THE WORLD AND FOR THE NATION OF ISRAEL

Please read Psalms 46 and 47.

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Upon reading these two Psalms on May 3rd, as part of my daily devotional Bible readings, my heart rejoiced afresh to read of God’s revelation of events that will take place at the end of the age when the Saviour returns.

Many commentators have attempted to apply these two Psalms to events in Israel’s past. That is not so. C H Spurgeon, in his ‘Treasury of David’ commentary has the following comment on verse 7 of Psalm 47:

‘For God is the King of all the earth’.  The Jews of our Saviour’s time resented this truth, but had their hearts been right they would have rejoiced in it.  They would have kept their God to themselves, and not even have allowed the Gentile dogs to eat the crumbs from under his table.  Alas! how selfishness turns honey into wormwood.  Jehovah is not the God of the Jews only, all the nations of the earth are, through the Messiah, yet to own him Lord.’ (The Treasury of David). He obviously saw a reference to the ‘future’ in these Psalms.

Three verses

Three verses in particular indicate that it is future events that are spoken of here.

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth,”Psalm 46:10.

“For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth,” Psalm 47:2.

“For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding,” Psalm 47:7.

These verses refer to that event set forth in Revelation 11:15.

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

It may be argued that the Lord is presently ‘King’ over all the earth. That is correct in a sense but it pleases God in His wisdom to ALLOW sinful man to live in defiance of His rule. BUT there is a day coming when the Lord will take to Himself the power and authority that are His and bring mankind UNDER His rule!

I. THE TIME OF THE EVENTS HERE REVEALED

There is a number of indications of when the events spoken of take place!

This is set down very clearly.

1. It is at a time of great and unusual terrestrial and celestial occurrences. The Psalm 46 particularly refers to most unusual occurrences in the natural world.

“Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah,” Psalm 46:2-3.

The saviour referred to such phenomena as taking place just prior to His return in glory and great power. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-08 a 4:57 pm

Posted on 2024-05-05 a 11:34 pm

Posted on 2024-05-05 a 2:10 am

Posted on 2024-05-03 a 6:20 pm

“I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD,”  Psalm 40:1-3.

The word ‘patiently’ in the verse is one that refers to a ‘looking with expectancy and a lying quietly waiting’. Prayer often entails a ‘waiting’. Over against that, we must remember that the Lord has said: “before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear,” Isaiah 65:24. The commentator, John Gill has rightly said of these words: “That is, their desires shall be anticipated, God will see their needs, and He will impart to them the blessings which they need. He will not wait to be applied to for the blessing. How many such blessings do all His people receive at the hand of God! How ready is He to anticipate our needs! How watchful is He of our necessities; and how rich His benevolence in providing for us!”

General Rule

I think that we can say that such speedy answers are the exception to the general rule. “Waiting” is a time of preparation for the believer. Their desire for God’s blessing is heightened during the waiting. An awareness of their need is pressed in upon those praying and they are made to recognise their own helplessness and utter dependence on God’s mercy.

Swift answers come to those who are in a right state of heart and mind to receive mercy.

This is illustrated in the account of the death and resurrection of Lazarus, John 13:3-7. “Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.”

That two day wait was for a purpose. There was a readying of Martha and Mary.

The verses I have quoted from Isaiah 65 come from a passage which relates to the future changes that God will bring about amongst His ancient people, Israel. At the end of this age, the remnant of Israel, humbled, broken and distressed by the events they endured during the ‘great tribulation’, will be visited by the grace of God and in a miraculous manner, they will be converted.

“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 12:10.

And again, “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children,” Isaiah 66:8.

It is in this context that prayer is so swiftly answered. Those seeking the Lord’s blessing are so brought into union with the Lord and at one with God that they are thinking as one mind!

As the thought of a request is formed the answer to it is on its way.

Peter

I think the events featuring Peter walking on the stormy sea illustrates this. “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” Matthew 14:30-31. Peter’s sinking down into the sea instantly brought him to a place of the awareness of his helplessness and danger and he cried with an unusual urgency and ‘immediately’ the Lord answered his prayer.

But to return to our subject: the blessings of patiently waiting on God.

I. THE LORD INCLINES TOWARD THE ONE PRAYING

“I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me . . .”.

The word means the Lord stretches out and bows down to hear the prayers of His people.

1. How faint and feeble are our prayers. The Lord underscores this by inclining toward us in order to hear our weak cries. As the approach of death robs a person of a strong voice so sin strangles our ability to ‘cry aloud’ in prayer. Sometimes our prayers are reduced to mere groanings. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,” Romans 8:26. So weak are we that it is only by the help of the Holy Spirit that we are able even to groan!

2. The Lord is most attentive to hear our prayers. It is said of Samuel that “The LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground,” 1 Samuel 3:19. That is a reference to Samuel’s preaching. I believe that in like manner the Lord will not allow one word of our poor prayers to fall to the ground and lie unheard!

3. How precious to the Lord is even the weakest cry of the saint. Can we not see an eager response by the Lord and a reaching down so as not to miss one word of His child’s cry for help! In another place David prayed: “Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy,” Psalm 86:1. How often the Lord shows His love to us by hearing our feeblest cry!

 II. THE LORD HEARS OUR PRAYERS

“He inclined unto me and heard my cry.” Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-05-01 a 1:00 am

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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here

“ . . . . thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived,” Revelation 18:23.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime issued a report in 2023 on the subject of drugs.

Here are some extracts from that report.

“New data put the global estimate of people who inject drugs in 2021 at 13.2 million, 18 per cent higher than previously estimated. Globally, over 296 million people used drugs in 2021, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous decade. The number of people who suffer from drug use disorders, meanwhile, has skyrocketed to 39.5 million, a 45 per cent increase over 10 years.

The Report features a special chapter on drug trafficking and crimes that affect the environment in the Amazon Basin, as well as sections on clinical trials involving psychedelics and medical use of cannabis; drug use in humanitarian settings; innovations in drug treatment and other services; and drugs and conflict.

The World Drug Report 2023 also highlights how social and economic inequalities drive – and are driven by – drug challenges; the environmental devastation and human rights abuses caused by illicit drug economies; and the rising dominance of synthetic drugs.

The demand for treating drug-related disorders remains largely unmet, according to the report. Only one in five people suffering from drug-related disorders were in treatment for drug use in 2021, with widening disparities in access to treatment across regions.

Illicit drug economies (are) accelerating conflicts, human rights abuses, and environmental devastation.

The drug economy in the Amazon Basin is exacerbating additional criminal activities – such as illegal logging, illegal mining, illegal land occupation, wildlife trafficking and more – damaging the environment of the world’s largest rainforest. Indigenous peoples and other minorities are suffering the consequences of this crime convergence, including displacement, mercury poisoning, and exposure to violence, among others. Environmental defenders are sometimes specifically targeted by traffickers and armed groups.

While the war in Ukraine has displaced traditional cocaine and heroin routes, there are signs that the conflict could trigger an expansion of the manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs, given the existing know-how and the large markets for synthetic drugs developing in the region.

In the Sahel, (hot semi-arid climate that stretches across the southernmost latitudes of North Africa – Editor) the illicit drug trade finances non-state armed and insurgency groups, while in Haiti, drug traffickers take advantage of porous borders to bolster their businesses, fuellSing the country’s multiplying crises.”

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Long before men realised the growing curse that drug addiction was becoming, the Lord told us that such substance abuse would become an ‘industry’ in the last days, the means of deceiving and blinding the inhabitants of the earth to the eternal truth of God and the everlasting damnation that the rejection of the gospel will bring.

In our text above we have mention made of ‘merchants’, ‘great men’, ‘sorceries’ and ‘deception’. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-29 a 5:15 pm

“That our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace,” Psalm 144:12.

Here in the island of Ireland, we are all familiar with granite. It is seen in large displays such as our Mountains of Mourne and in  the Irish Republic there is the extensive range of the Wicklow mountains. Smaller samples of this stone are seen in graveyards, marking the graves of the departed.

It is described as ‘an igneous rock consisting mainly of quartz, mica and feldspar. It is extremely durable, as it is not easily chipped or damaged by heat. Hundreds of colours can be found naturally, which makes granite a perfect design element to homes or businesses.’

Frequently it is used in the making of an ornamental stone to mark the building of a church and it is ‘ceremonially’ laid by a guest at a ‘stone-laying’ service, so familiar to Free Presbyterians.

The stone referred to in our text is not named but if we think of a granite stone we will easily understand the spiritual point that is to be observed in this verse.

Consider:

I. POLISHING BRINGS OUT THE INWARD BEAUTY OF GRANITE

This father is requesting of the Lord that daughters might experience the moving of His grace in her life whereby she may show forth a beauty that He alone can produce in a life. “Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness,” 1 Chronicles 16:29. This world does not consider ‘holiness’ beautiful but the Lord does. It is that ‘beauty’ this father desires in daughters.

1. Not all rocks or stones can be polished. Were some rocks subjected to polishing they would merely crumble away. There is no richness in their composition that can be brought forth by polishing.

2. There are rocks which can be polished. Not all men and women consist of that which may be polished and made beautiful. By nature we are merely ‘clay’. But the marvellous grace of God transforms a sinner who believes the gospel and he/she becomes a ‘new creation’. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,” 2 Corinthians 5:17. From the ‘clay of depravity’ the sinner is transformed and becomes one of the precious stones built into the spiritual temple of God. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-26 a 3:00 am

The following headline appeared on the local BBC news site on Monday 22nd April, 2024.

 Joe McCann: Attorney general orders fresh inquest into Official IRA man’s death

The shooting of Joe McCann, fifty-two years ago this month, has been at the centre of an ongoing campaign by Republicans to have his death declared as murder.

This latest chapter in that controversy has stirred afresh for me memories of events some 58 years ago when providence placed me in the company of Joe McCann every day for three months.

I have written about that time before and this latest development prompts me to mount again the article I wrote back in 2016.

I am once again moved to ponder the merciful providence of God that brings men under the sound of the gospel and the all too common reaction of sinners to that mercy!

Below is the 2016 article I wrote on Joe McCann.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster
24th April, 2024

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Joe McCann, IRA gunman, and his three months under the gospel

by Rev Ivan Foster

The death of IRA man, Joe McCann, is once again in the news. Attempts are being made to put on trial those soldiers who were involved in the firefight when Joe McCann was shot by paratroopers. McCann (24) was commander of the Official IRA’s third Belfast battalion. In February 1972, McCann was involved in the attempted assassination of Ulster Unionist politician John Taylor. He was regarded by the security forces as a dangerous terrorist. McCann was shot by soldiers in disputed circumstances in Joy Street in the Markets area, close to his home, on April 15, 1972. One of the men, Soldier C, is a grandfather from Hampshire, England, who served with distinction for 23 years. “How can this be justice?” he asked. “It is a disgrace. I was doing my duty in Northern Ireland, trying to protect the public and keep the peace. Now I am being thrown to the wolves.”

I had a close association with Joe in the Crumlin Road Jail for three months in 1966. Most Free Presbyterians will, I hope, know that Dr Ian Paisley, Rev John Wylie and I, a second year student at the Free Presbyterian Theological Hall, spent 90 days in prison as a result of being prosecuted for our part in a protest against the ecumenism of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland on 6th June 1966. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-24 a 4:32 pm

The folly of the DUP in going back in to Stormont and, by so doing, re-activating the means whereby the enemies of righteousness that are the political parties in Ulster (with the exception of the one member of the Traditional Unionist View party, Jim Allister, who sits there) were able to push their evil agenda for the future generation in Ulster, was clearly demonstrated yesterday in a debate on a motion calling on the Education Minister to support ‘compulsory, standardised, inclusive, high-quality, evidence-based and age-appropriate relationships and sexuality education’ (RSE) in schools.

The motion was passed by the Assembly. The DUP may have opposed the motion — though it must be noted that there appears to have been no reference to God’s Word and the moral standards of behaviour and lifestyle which He has ordained and thereby there was a failing to set forth the true and only real basis of opposition to the evil supported by the motion.

In truth, despite their feeble opposition, the DUP made such a debate and such a decision possible in the Assembly by their RETURNING to Stormont and that on the basis of their deceitful claim that they had won the argument on the implementing of a border in the Irish sea (the reason for their withdrawal) which excluded Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom!

We are still excluded from the UK and the DUP won no victory at all despite their repeated claims of such! A recent report in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ had the following statement: “Consignments of fresh seafood are being either impounded or sent back to Scotland at Belfast port thanks to the Protocol.”

So much for the DUP’s victory. What a party of lies and chicanery it is! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-23 a 9:24 pm

“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat,” 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

The Word of God presents a plan for life that is perfectly complete and ahead of the shifting sands of man’s social innovations and novelties.

The headline: “Benefits to be axed after a year on the dole to stop it becoming a ‘lifestyle choice’, Prime Minister announces” is but the declaring of a long-required response, though falling far short of what is needed, in the face of a social ill whereby schemers and scammers are provided with a comfortable ‘workless’ lifestyle by the Government at the expense of those who do work and pay taxes!

‘Skiving’ is nothing new. The excuses given range from the ‘cunningly ingenuous’ to the ‘lame brained’.

One trade union official, Paul Embery, is reported as offering the following stupid reason why some are right not seek work and instead live at the expense of others. “Many Britons are dissuaded from working due to its “mundane drudgery”. (See here)

There used to be a programme on the BBC radio, many years ago, called ‘Workers Playtime’.  It was transmitted by the BBC between 1941 and 1964. It was intended originally as a morale-booster for industrial workers during World War II.

Now it seems that ‘playtime without any work’ is what many demand!

Another such BBC radio programme was ‘Music While You Work’. It was a daytime radio programme of continuous music broadcast in the United Kingdom twice daily on workdays from 23 June 1940 until 29 September 1967.

Both of these broadcasting ventures were in order to aid workers often engaged in the most tedious of labours, especially during wartime and the subsequent demanding years of scarcity.

However, today sees the increasing notion that is held by some that they have a right to live and be entitled to a totally frivolous life at the expense of their neighbours!

From the words of our text it is obvious that it is not a new notion. The maxim that Paul quotes is founded upon an obvious truth   and is in accordance with the great law under which our Creator has placed us. “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return,” Genesis 3:19.

That law in the circumstances was benevolent, and it should be our aim to carry it out in reference to ourselves and to others. The law here laid down by the apostle extends to all who are able to work for a living but who will not do it, and binds us not to contribute to their support if they will not labour for it.

What Paul was instituting was a rule whereby the local Church should not offer support to those who could but would not work and earn a living. Instead they were happy to live off the ‘charity’ of others. That which the apostle so succinctly states as a law originating with God is poorly imitated by politicians in an effort to save public money at a time of austerity. The prime minister and those who support him are not moved by a desire to institute biblical morality! No, most likely unwittingly they are recognising the simple logical common sense of that which has its origins in heaven!

SUCCEED

Sadly, I do not think it will prove successful. The attitude of heart and mind that produces such selfish laziness is born within each person. It is an instinct of our depraved nature. Paul was teaching those who were but until recently, Grecian heathens. There was not the welfare provisions of today from which they could sponge. However, that did not stop some sitting all day in the sunshine at a street corner and begging of passers by. Most likely there were those who ‘advertised’ their needs either by mimicking illness or injury or exaggerating any physical complaint they may have had.

I will never forget my experience in downtown Nairobi when beggars of every form swarmed around me and those I was with. I later learned that oftentimes some of the dreadful injuries and deformities were evidently self-inflicted in order to promote pity on the part of those passing by!

I would have thought that employment was an easier route to obtaining food and clothing! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-22 a 2:00 am

A recent newspaper report stated that “The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said the current law in England and Northern Ireland has created ‘grey areas,’ which mean there is sometimes a defence to physical punishment.”

The general view of ‘medical big-wigs’ is that it is perfectly moral and proper to kill unborn babies and it is very right to assist adolescents in their  pursuit of the evil and perverted desire to change their gender. However, they reject God’s teaching on the right discipline of children.

This is a day of calling “evil good, and good evil”, of putting “darkness for light, and light for darkness” and putting “bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter”! (Isaiah 5:20).

This embracing of the ‘new morality’, which is in truth the ‘old immorality’, is the undercurrent which has brought forth the dreadful harvest of murders, abuse, rapes and violations that daily are reported in the news.

Despite the claims of possessing a ‘superior wisdom’ on the part of those who are the ‘influencers’ of the nation, they utterly fail to see the correlation between the new standards and the increase in immorality.

There is an undeniable and irrefutable logic to the simple truth of Galatians 6:7-8.

“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.”

That has been believed and embraced, at least in its intrinsic wisdom, even by the heathen!

The Saviour emphasised this truth. “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit,” Matthew 7:16-18.

When there is an overwhelming ‘crop’ of evil being reaped by a nation simple logic would tell us that that nation is sowing the seeds that have brought forth this harvest of criminality, fraud and iniquity!

That logic was displayed in the parable of ‘the wheat and the tares’.

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this,” Matthew 13:24-28.

There is ‘an enemy’ at work in our nation and that enemy is the depraved thinking of religious and political leaders which has overthrown the simple acceptance of the Law of God of which it has been wisely said: “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes,” Psalm 19:8. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-19 a 2:00 am

On Saturday morning the news of the passing of Mr Ernie Monteith of Tullyrush, Beragh, was brought to me. It stilled my heart and mind as I immediately recognised that one who had played a major part in the formation of Omagh Free Presbyterian Church had gone to his eternal reward.

Born in 1926, the same years as Ian Paisley, he had almost reached the 100 year mile-stone.

I first met Ernie when he came on occasions with family members to the Free Presbyterian Church meetings in Lisbellaw. The witness there had begun in February 1967. Ernie and His wife Mollie, who went to be with the Lord last February, had long been unhappy with the increasing ‘false ecumenism’ of their church, the Church of Ireland. Being fervent believers they were enthusiastic supporters of the witness and protests against the modernism and apostasy of the mainline denominations by Dr Ian Paisley.

Ernie, of his own volition and encouraged by Dr Paisley, bought the site on the A5, Beltany Road, presently occupied by Omagh Free Presbyterian Church, and arrangements were made for Dr Paisley (who had agreed) to come and conduct a gospel mission on the site in a large tent which seated many hundreds.

The tent was burned by republicans subsequent to the mission but not before the ‘the fire of God’ fell upon the meetings in it.

PRAYER

In preparation for that mission, prayer meetings were organised in the Monteith farmhouse at Tullyrush and Rev John Long and I led those meetings. Concerned Christians from the area assembled there for some weeks before the mission in the late Autumn of 1968 and I have the happiest of memories of the meetings in the Monteith home; the wonderful gospel mission when some 180 souls were saved; the subsequent formation of a congregation and the weekly church prayer meetings held temporarily in the old band hall in the car park behind High Street in Omagh. Whenever I meet any of the older members of Omagh, mention is made of those meetings in the ‘Band Hall’!

On 15th December 1968, having been placed by Presbytery as minister in charge, I constituted the new Church in Omagh Orange Hall.

NEW CHURCH

A large wooden portable hall was erected on the church site in June 1969 and it  met the needs of the congregation until a permanent building was completed. It was opened by Dr Paisley on Saturday 24th April 1976.

From the Omagh witness there sprang the churches in Castlederg and Sixmilecross.

Ernie was elected an elder in the infancy of the congregation and served as Clerk of Session for many years and only a few years ago stepped down from his duties as an elder.

Following those days in 1968, my family and I were in the Monteith home on many occasions and our boys have many memories of the activities they happily engaged in on Uncle ‘Narnie’s’ farm, for he always found time to show them around and have them engage in some of the tasks of a farm, the tractor rides and the foddering and  rounding up of cattle and sheep and moving them to fresh pasture. My wife Ann and I have never forgotten the many kindnesses shown to us by Mollie and Ernie and never will.

I had a last time of fellowship with him at the end of January and he was well able to recall the turbulent and contentious days at the commencement of the Omagh congregation.

He certainly ‘fought a good fight and kept the faith’. He has undoubtedly laid up for himself “a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge”, shall give him at that day, 2 Timothy 4:8.

To all of the wide Monteith family we offer our sincere sympathy on the passing of their loved one of whom all in our family circle had the deepest respect and regard.

 

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

The funeral for Mr Monteith took place in Omagh Free Presbyterian Church on Monday 15th April and the service may be viewed here.

Funeral for Mr Monteith

Posted on 2024-04-15 a 10:00 pm

“‭Therefore‭‭, brethren‭, stand fast‭‭, and‭ hold‭‭ the traditions‭ which‭ ye have been taught‭‭, whether‭ by‭ word‭, or‭‭ our‭ epistle‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬  2 Thessalonians 2:15.

The word ‘therefore’ indicates that Paul is here drawing a conclusion from that which he has stated in the earlier verses of this chapter.

2 Thessalonians chapter 2 is one of the most detailed regarding the person of the Antichrist and the prestige with which he will be viewed by unconverted men and also his perdition in shame.

SECRET RAPTURE

Be that as it may, it is a chapter, the plain teaching of which, is very sadly ignored. Were it read and believed the notion of a ‘secret rapture’ of the saints of God would be universally abandoned.

The opening verses makes it clear that there will be no return of Christ for His saints until after the revealing of the Antichrist.

“‭Now‭ we beseech‭‭ you‭, brethren‭, by‭ the coming‭ of our‭ Lord‭ Jesus‭ Christ‭, and‭ ‭by‭ our‭ gathering together‭ unto‭ him‭,‭ ‭That‭ ye‭ be‭‭ not‭ soon‭ shaken‭‭ in‭ mind‭, or‭ be troubled‭‭, neither‭ by‭ spirit‭, nor‭ by‭ word‭, nor‭ by‭ letter‭ as‭ from‭ us‭, as‭ that‭ the day‭ of Christ‭ is at hand‭‭.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ ‭Let‭‭ no‭ man‭ deceive‭‭ you‭ by‭ any‭ means‭: for‭ ‭that day shall not come‭, except‭ there come‭‭ a falling away‭ first‭, and‭ that man‭ of sin‭ be revealed‭‭, the son‭ of perdition‭; w‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ho‭ opposeth‭‭ and‭ exalteth‭‭ himself above‭ all‭ that is called‭‭ God‭, or‭ that is worshipped‭; so‭ that he‭ as‭ God‭ sitteth‭‭ in‭ the temple‭ of God‭, shewing‭‭ himself‭ that‭ he is‭‭ God‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬ 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

There was a common notion amongst some of the early believers that the Saviour could come in their day. But Paul is countering that by saying that the Saviour will not return until AFTER ‘a falling away‭ first‬’, or an ‘apostasy’. Furthermore, he says that the Saviour will return after the revealing or ‘unveiling’ of the ‘‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭man‭ of sin‭ . . .‭‭ the son‭ of perdition‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬’, the Antichrist.

Therefore the ‘timetable’ of the second coming is set down for all to see. It will come AFTER the rise and the revealing of the Antichrist. The revealing of the Antichrist will IMMEDIATELY initiate the ‘great tribulation’. The Saviour makes that plain!

“‭When‭ ye therefore‭ shall see‭‭ the abomination‭ of desolation‭, spoken of‭‭ by‭ Daniel‭ the prophet‭, stand‭‭‭‭‭ in‭ the holy‭ place‭, (whoso readeth‭‭, let him understand‭‭:)‭ ‭then‭ let them which be in‭ Judaea‭ flee‭‭ into‭ the mountains‭:‭ ‭let him which is on‭ the housetop‭ not‭ come down‭‭ to take‭‭ any thing‭ out of‭ his‭ house‭:‭‭ neither‭ let him which is in‭ the field‭ return‭‭ back‭ to take‭‭ his‭ clothes‭.‭ ‭And‭ woe‭ unto them that are‭‭ with‭ child‭, and‭ to them that give suck‭‭ in‭ those‭ days‭!‭ ‭But‭ pray ye‭‭ that‭‭ your‭ flight‭ be‭‭ not‭ in the winter‭, neither‭ on‭ the sabbath day‭:‭ ‭For‭ then‭ shall be‭‭ great‭ tribulation‭, such as‭ was‭‭ not‭ since‭ the beginning‭ of the world‭ to this‭ time‭, no‭, nor ever‭ shall be‭‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Matthew 24:15-21.

Note the total urgency that must be shown once the Antichrist identifies himself by the erection of ‘‭‭‭‭‭the abomination‭ of desolation‬‬‬‬‬‬’ in ‘‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭the holy‭ place‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬’, which will be the temple the Jews will one day soon build in Jerusalem. The ‘‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭great‭ tribulation‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬’ will begin immediately that happens and there is not even time to snatch up a discarded item of clothing or gather together a few things from the home before fleeing to the hills.

PLANNING

For the ‘‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭‭great‭ tribulation‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬’ to be set in motion and become effective as the Saviour indicates, it must be well and secretly planned by the Antichrist for quite some time before! Within living memory, the world has been given a foretaste of that of which the Saviour speaks.

In 1934 in Germany, there took place what was called ‘The Night of the Long Knives’. It was also called the ‘Röhm purge’ or ‘Operation Hummingbird’. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-12 a 5:58 pm

This is the fourth article I have written on the subject of how Israel will find itself hated and isolated at the end of this age and that in a manner never known before. (See: The Book of Esther – Part 1, The Book of Esther – Part 2, and Allies abandoning and Enemies Encircling — Jacob’s day of trouble draws on!  To these I could add yet another: The latter-day universal abandonment of Israel recently hinted at!!)

Despite two millennia of ‘antisemitism’ since Israel’s rejection and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, a more dreadful spirit of hatred and persecution against the ancient people of God is yet to be manifested.

These few headlines, of which there are many more, highlight the increasing opposition.

The world turns on Israel after World Central Kitchen slaughter: International fury grows, with UK possibly axing arms deals as IDF is accused of war crimes and aid worker death toll exceeds that of any other conflict

STEPHEN GLOVER: I’m a supporter of Israel, but there comes a point when the killing wreaked on innocent people outweighs the original sin

Israel meets the requirements for a just war in Gaza, but it’s losing the propaganda battle, says Jacob Rees-Mogg 

Denmark: NGOs sue the Danish state to stop arms exports to Israel

‘Morally Unacceptable’: Senior Tory Says UK Must Stop Arms Sales To Israel

UN to take up Pakistan’s resolution on banning arms sales to Israel

Biden warns Netanyahu that US will change policy on Gaza unless Israel protects civilians

Israel has not done itself any favours of late in the Gaza conflict. There have been reported incidents which the most supportive of her sympathisers would not seek to justify. As Jacob Rees-Mogg says, they have been outpointed by Hamas and its allies in the ‘propaganda war’!

Again, that is a familiar factor to us here in Ulster for Sinn Fein/IRA, thanks to its many allies in the media, outscored Unionism and the British Government in the past and still does! Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-06 a 1:01 am

On Friday, 5th April, it will be sixty years since I called upon the Lord for His mercy and salvation. I cried out of darkness and much spiritual ignorance, hardly knowing what it was I needed or sought but moved to seek the Lord by the returning to my mind of words spoken to me by a young lassie, Hazel, while I was travelling by a train with a companion, Albert, from Belfast to Portrush in Co. Antrim on ‘Good Friday’, March 27th 1964.

What the young lassie had said to me as we emerged from the train in Portrush station, following a very acrimonious (on my part) discussion in which she and her companions sought to witness of our need of Christ to Albert and me, was to quote Genesis 6:3. “And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man.”

I was totally unaware of where the quotation came from and I was utterly dismissive of the words of Hazel and truly never gave them another thought until the evening of April 5th in Albert’s home in Lowwood Park, Belfast. But in an instance, the Lord made known to me something of the meaning of those words and I was driven to call upon Him for mercy.

Here is a recording of my testimony given in a gospel mission in Ballinamallard, back in April 2017.

 

Posted on 2024-04-05 a 2:00 am

LATEST | Petrol bombs thrown at media during dissident parade in Derry as involvement of children branded ‘reprehensible’

Many who lived through the republican riots of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, will know that the tactics the Hamas terrorist have used in Gaza in recent days are but those we saw almost daily in republican areas in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein/IRA have changed in tactics and placed an emphasis on political activity. They have been forced to do this because they were not winning ‘the war’. They have not renounced violence but demonstrate its intrinsic place in the Irish Republican’s thesis by celebrating the terrorist ‘exploits’ of recent years annually. There have been those disappointed republicans who wish to see terrorism continued and they cursed Sinn Fein and have tried to muster support for a restarting of the terror campaign.

At the ‘Dissident Republican’ annual celebration in Londonderry to mark the ‘Easter Rising’ in Dublin in 1916, the chief feature was petrol bombing by juveniles. This has ever been the standard manifestation of lawlessness and murder that is inherent in the spirit of Irish Republicanism. It also was but a display of the practice of the IRA and Hamas of sending youngsters forward to attack the security forces knowing that they will find it difficult to reply to these acts of terrorism by adolescents without  becoming targets of the left-wing media pundits and their campaign to attack any resistance to lawlessness and anarchy as being an attempt to shoot unarmed and innocent juveniles!

Youths carrying crates of petrol bombs in the Creggan area of Derry after an illegal dissident republican parade

The tolerating of such lawless displays by the government and society generally and the cloaking of the insurgency  by unscrupulous members of the press, is but confirmation that there is a manifesting around us of that prophesied in Psalm 2.

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” verses 1-3. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-03 a 5:21 pm

“‭And‭ as‭‭ it is appointed‭‭ unto men‭ once‭ to die‭‭, but‭ after‭ this‭ the judgment‭,‭”‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ Hebrews 9:27.

But‭ after‭ this‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ . . . WHAT ???????

The following headline jumped out at me when I went to look at the latest news headlines on Thursday past.

Could assisted dying be coming to Scotland?

It is a report of a member of the Scottish Parliament, one Liam McArthur, who has tabled a bill whereby, if it becomes law in Scotland, terminally-ill people will be offered assistance to end their lives!

The report continues: “Supporters of the legislation say it would ease suffering.

Opponents worry that some terminally-ill people could feel under pressure to end their lives.

The Assisted Dying Bill is drafted by the Lib Dem MSP, Liam McArthur, who expects it to be debated this autumn.

The bill was published on Thursday and will potentially be voted on next year.

The Scottish government says ministers and SNP backbenchers will not be instructed how to vote, as the matter is an issue of individual conscience.

First Minister Humza Yousaf, who is a Muslim, has indicated that he is likely to vote against the bill, which is also opposed by the Church of Scotland, the Catholic Church in Scotland, and the Scottish Association of Mosques.

Under the proposals, patients could only request medical assistance to end their life if they had a terminal illness and had been ruled mentally fit to make the decision by two doctors. Click to read more…

Posted on 2024-04-01 a 2:00 am