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KICS assembly talks. Current series: “KICS Studies – Analysing Acts”

• School is out for the summer holidays. No talks will be posted this month.
• See all the talks in this series here.
• See all the KICS assembly talks listed here.

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Recently Featured Sermons

The Return of Christ, Pt 40
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Thu Feb 5, 2015
featured on Sun Jul 26, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 39
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Feb 3, 2015
featured on Sun Jul 19, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 38
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Thu Jan 29, 2015
featured on Sun Jul 12, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 37
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Jan 27, 2015
featured on Sun Jul 5, 2026

Click here to view previous featured sermons

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Recently Preached Sermons

Clear prophecies of revival in the last days
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Wed Jul 29, 2026

Preaching the Gospel, even when mistreated by the world
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jul 19, 2026

Consideration of the principle which underlies the reaction of God to the devil's activities
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jul 19, 2026

View all recently preached sermons

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Older Sermons Recently Added

Testimony of Rev. John Wylie
preached by Rev. John Wylie on Tue Jan 1, 1985

Reminiscences on her 70th birthday
preached by Mrs. Ann Foster on Sat Oct 22, 2016

Barbed arrows repulsed
preached by Rev. Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley on Sun May 25, 1969

View all recently added sermons

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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here

“And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire,” Jeremiah 21:8-10.

“‭But the nations‭ that bring‭‭ their neck‭ under the yoke‭ of the king‭ of Babylon‭, and serve‭‭ him, those will I let remain still‭‭ in their own land‭, saith‭ the LORD‭; and they shall till‭‭ it, and dwell‭‭ therein.‭ ‭I spake‭‭ also to Zedekiah‭ king‭ of Judah‭ according to all these words‭, saying‭‭, Bring‭‭ your necks‭ under the yoke‭ of the king‭ of Babylon‭, and serve‭‭ him and his people‭, and live‭‭,” Jeremiah 27:11-12.

King Zedekiah has sent messengers unto Jeremiah, Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest (not the same Pashur who was judged of God for his abuse of Jeremiah, 20:1-6). The request they made of the prophet was, “Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us,” Jeremiah 21:2.

We may date this encounter with Jeremiah about one year before the fall of Jerusalem in BC 588!

Jeremiah had been preaching for some 40 years by this time, preaching what he had begun to preach as a young man, even the message given him by the Lord.

“But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak,” Jeremiah 1:7.

What that message was is stated for us in the same chapter 1.

“And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north. Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands. Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee,” Jeremiah 1:13-19.

So, after all the years of preaching the same message and issuing forth, in the plainest of terms, and suffering much affliction for so doing, the last of the wicked kings upon the throne of Judah STILL doesn’t understand the message of God! He is still blindly hoping that the Lord will come to their aid! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-08-01 a 6:00 am

Audio sermons

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

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KICS assembly talks. Current series: “KICS Studies – Analysing Acts”

• School is out for the summer holidays. No talks will be posted this month.
• See all the talks in this series here.
• See all the KICS assembly talks listed here.

---

Recently Featured Sermons

The Return of Christ, Pt 40
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Thu Feb 5, 2015
featured on Sun Jul 26, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 39
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Feb 3, 2015
featured on Sun Jul 19, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 38
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Thu Jan 29, 2015
featured on Sun Jul 12, 2026

The Return of Christ, Pt 37
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Tue Jan 27, 2015
featured on Sun Jul 5, 2026

Click here to view previous featured sermons

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Recently Preached Sermons

Clear prophecies of revival in the last days
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Wed Jul 29, 2026

Preaching the Gospel, even when mistreated by the world
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jul 19, 2026

Consideration of the principle which underlies the reaction of God to the devil's activities
preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Sun Jul 19, 2026

View all recently preached sermons

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Older Sermons Recently Added

Testimony of Rev. John Wylie
preached by Rev. John Wylie on Tue Jan 1, 1985

Reminiscences on her 70th birthday
preached by Mrs. Ann Foster on Sat Oct 22, 2016

Barbed arrows repulsed
preached by Rev. Dr. Ian R. K. Paisley on Sun May 25, 1969

View all recently added sermons

---

Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here

A series of sermons titled “CAN WE EXPECT A BREATH OF REVIVAL AMIDST THE APOSTASY OF THESE LAST DAYS? “, preached at Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church beginning on Sunday morning, July 19, 2026 by Rev. Ivan Foster (Rtd).

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon below:

Posted on 2026-07-29 a 10:19 pm

There is hardly an opening prayer offered in a Bible-believing Sabbath service that does NOT contain an offering of thanks for the freedom we enjoy here in Northern Ireland to gather in God’s house to worship Him in accordance with His Word.

However, I suggest that few give thought to the sad truth that that freedom and others, which the Gospel of Christ has brought to our land, are slipping away under the corruption and error promoted by wicked men in an ever more increasingly rebellious world.

A recent article in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ highlighted one of the latest evidences of the threat to the Gospel in today’s society.

PSNI does not deny cleric’s claims that openly carrying a Bible in Northern Ireland hospitals could be criminal

It comes from the Government’s measures to protect those who wish to kill the unborn by abortion.

An Independent Methodist minister, Pastor Jonathan Campbell of Newbuildings Independent Methodist Church, in Co. Londonderry, has raised the question of the possibility of a minister committing a criminal offence by openly carrying a Bible in any hospital covered by an abortion protest buffer zone.

That is a zone which surrounds any hospital where abortions are carried out and within which any action that can be construed as a Christian protest against abortion – such as carrying a Bible – is deemed a criminal act!

Pastor Campbell said he is deeply concerned about the possibility.

The response of the Police Service of Northern Ireland ought to concern every Christian.

The ‘Newsletter’ reports: ‘The issue arose after police gave the Policing Board guidance on how the Safe Access Zone legislation applies at hospitals with abortion clinics.’

‘At a recent Policing Board meeting, member Patrick Nelson asked police how the legislation affected routine chaplaincy work, including praying with patients, reading scripture with them, carrying Bibles, pastoral ministry and visible religious practice. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-27 a 6:00 am

“Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble,” Jeremiah 11:14. (BC 608)

“Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good,” Jeremiah 14:11. (BC 601)

“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,” Jeremiah 7:16. (BC 600)

A few days ago I read the last of these verses as part of my daily reading. As I read them I remembered that this was not the first time that Jeremiah had received this command from the Lord. According to Ussher’s chronology, what is written in  chapter 7 is dated about 600 BC, chapter 11, 608 BC and chapter 14 is likely dated about 601 BC.

I have listed them above in chronological order. As is the case in many places in Holy Scripture, the chapters do not always appear in chronological order.

First command

In chapter 11:14, the events of which came first in these series of verses, Jeremiah is given  his first command to stop praying for the people. “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.”

I believe, as is ever the case with the Lord, His tone is somewhat gentler in this the earliest issuing of the warning against Judah, of that which He would bring upon them for their sin.

The next command is given some seven years after, again according to Ussher’s chronology. This time there is a specific forbidding to pray for the “good” of the people.

“Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good,” 14:10-11. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-25 a 6:00 am

This message was preached in June 1985, 41 years ago. It is a reminder of the chicanery of the British Government and the authorities here in Northern Ireland and the betrayal of our Protestant and constitutional heritage that has long been at work.

I might point out that in the message recorded here I mention Revelation 17 and the identify of the ‘woman’, that features in that chapter, as ‘Roman Catholicism’. Since preaching that message, through further studies of God’s Word, I have come to believe that Romanism is indeed the main ‘present-day’ embodiment of the evils personified in the ‘woman’, but I believe that the final manifestation of all things evil will be, as the Bible repeatedly says, a resurgent ‘Babylonianism ’.

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster

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“Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?”  Psalm 94:20.

The annual band parade in Castlewellan was banned because of a hastily arranged mass in the chapel, made so as to clash with the parade and thus give an excuse to the authorities to ban that parade. The parade was rearranged for last Thursday, June 27th. At no time did the local police wish to ban the parade. The banning was a political decision. The announcement of the ban was made in the early hours of Thursday morning in order to create the greatest possible confusion and to hinder the making of any alternative plans.

I issued a call for men to come to Castlewellan and that call was responded to despite the cancellation of buses that had been booked to carry supporters and bands to the parade and extensive police roadblocks stopping any approach to Castlewellan.

When I made to approach Castlewellan from Newcastle, just over one mile, I was told by the police that I could neither drive nor walk there. I insisted that I had a right to walk to Castlewellan and was arrested for ‘disorderly conduct’. I was released from police custody in Newcastle RUC police barracks at about 12:15 am on Friday morning.

During the evening the police were defied and Castlewellan was paraded.

The blame lies entirely with those who made the decision — Hermon, head of the RUC and Hurd, the Secretary of State for NI! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-23 a 6:00 am

AND YOU THOUGHT THINGS COULD NOT GET WORSE!!

The DUP leader, Gavin Robinson told the ‘London Evening Standard’ when speaking to reporters at CS Lewis Square in east Belfast, that he had “many exchanges” with the Rhondda and Ogmore MP, Sir Chris Bryant, described him as “good fun”.

What a ludicrous description of a man described by the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ as a a former ‘gay’ Anglican priest!

It is clear that the DUP and its leadership has lost all contact with the moral code of God’s Law!!

Sincerely in Christ’s name,

Ivan Foster
21st July 2026

Posted on 2026-07-21 a 6:06 pm

“‭And‭ they departed‭‭‭ from‭ the presence‭ of the council‭, rejoicing‭‭ that‭ they were counted worthy‭‭ to suffer shame‭‭ for‭ his‭ name‭.‭ ‭And‭ daily‭‭ in‭ the temple‭, and‭ in every‭ house‭, they ceased‭‭ not‭ to teach‭‭ and‭ preach‭‭ Jesus‭ Christ‭,” Acts 5:41-42.

An open air meeting took place in the common area of Kilskeery after the Sunday evening service. These are generally held during the summer and early fall months when the weather is conducive.

This meeting was conducted by Rev. Ivan Foster (Rtd).

Posted on 2026-07-19 a 10:10 pm

A series of sermons titled “CAN WE EXPECT A BREATH OF REVIVAL AMIDST THE APOSTASY OF THESE LAST DAYS? “, preached at Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church beginning on Sunday morning, July 19, 2026 by Rev. Ivan Foster (Rtd).

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon below:

Posted on 2026-07-19 a 9:51 pm

A series of sermons titled “CAN WE EXPECT A BREATH OF REVIVAL AMIDST THE APOSTASY OF THESE LAST DAYS? “, preached at Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church beginning on Sunday morning, July 19, 2026 by Rev. Ivan Foster (Rtd).

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon below:

Posted on 2026-07-19 a 9:50 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter VII (Final Part)

Ecumenism … or … What is the Choice?

‘But there is really no alternative to the Ecumenical Movement, nothing else that has power to gather all the scattered, fragmented and dispirited forces of Christianity into a shape which gives us hope for the future, nothing that has the same chance of winning the allegiance of what is best in all forms of Christianity, nothing that can so well appeal to or so well use whatever there is of Christian intellect today. To oppose the Ecumenical Movement seems to me to opt for suicide.’ (Bishop’s Lecture 3.)

The Bishop claims that only ecumenism can unite the ‘best in all forms of Christianity’. I want to give you a look at what the Bishop calls the best of Christianity. We shall look at the statements of some of the world’s leading ecumenists. We will allow the reader to gauge for himself whether or not Ecumenism is Christianity at its best.

Mary a prostitute. . . Jesus an illegitimate 

Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, former President of the Methodist Conference, in his book, The Christian Agnostic, suggests that the Virgin Mary became a prostitute of the priests and the pregnancy that resulted is described in the Gospels as the Virgin Birth. Dr. Weatherhead goes as far as to suggest that Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, fathered Jesus Christ, while Mary was a temple prostitute. We quote: ‘We are told that, though old, Zacharias was not impotent, for he made his wife Elisabeth pregnant though she was past the normal time of childbearing… We are then told that Mary entered the house of Zacharias (Luke 1:39-40), stayed there three months, and then returned to her own house (Luke 1:56). In such a ‘sacred marriage’ as I have described, a stay of three months was required in the house of the priest, or in the sacred precincts, to make sure that pregnancy was established’. (See pages 61-63.)

Jesus of German blood

Dr. Nels Ferre, an American ecumenist, vies with Weatherhead in his depraved lunacies. He puts forward the following lecherous suggestion: ‘Mary, we remember, was found pregnant before her engagement to mild Joseph. Nazareth was held by a Roman garrison where the soldiers were German mercenaries. Jesus is also reported throughout a continuous part of the history of art, it is claimed, to have been a blonde. This is supposedly unnatural for the Mediterranean countries where this same tradition started and was continued. Hence Jesus must have been the child of a German soldier’!

Telling lies to God 

Dr. Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, is quoted in the Daily Mail, 2-10-61, as saying: ‘I believe it is quite in order for a person to stand up in church and recite the Creed, even if he has scruples about the Virgin Birth, provided he believes in the Pattern of Faith as a whole’. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-18 a 6:00 am

“And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem,” Jeremiah 11:9.

The old adage, ‘Birds of a feather flock together’, came back to me as I read the above verse on Wednesday, 15th July.

The meaning is simple for those that perhaps have never heard this saying.

The idiom simply means that people who are similar in their interests, beliefs and ambitions, tend to associate and spend time with one another in order to promote that which they have in common.

There was just such a gathering in the days in which Jeremiah ministered to a disobedient and defiant Judah.

1. The meaning of the word ‘conspiracy’. It is the word that the Lord uses of this union of enemies! The word means ‘a treasonable, unlawful alliance’. That is how the Lord saw this amalgam, who were gathered together to oppose Him, His laws and His servant, Jeremiah.

2. The cause that united them. “They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers,” verse 10.

They wanted to return to the ways of sin from which the Lord had delivered the nation!

What they were pursuing was “the imagination of their evil heart,” verse 6.

Such desires have ever surfaced in opposition to ‘continuing on’ in obedience to God on “the old paths, where is the good way,” Jeremiah 6:16.

The reaction to such a revealing of God’s purpose for His people in that day and a calling on these men to obey, was to respond most defiantly, “We will not walk therein.” Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-16 a 4:56 pm

A sermon preached by Rev Ivan Foster in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church on 7th June 1987.

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

In the midst of apparent defeat, God continues to work!

The information in the first verse reminds us that the Lord may permit the enemy to the remove the ordinances He has instituted and even the visible evidence of His presence amongst His people if there is a turning away from Him as there was in the days of Eli.

Such a defeat and set back for the people of God is viewed as a great victory over the Lord. In that we have a strong reason to avoid ‘backsliding’ because of the dishonour it brings to the name of the Lord.

The defeat of Israel at the hands of the Philistines was the direct result of her sin and rebellion rather than any superiority of the Philistines’ skills of war. Sin had cost them the Lord’s blessing and brought about their consequent defeat.

While the Philistines attributed their victory to their god, ‘Dagon’, the Lord soon demonstrated the folly of that notion!

The incident is illustrative of what takes place at conversion.

I. CHRIST COMING INTO THE SOUL OF THE BELIEVER IS MARKED BY AN OVERTHROWING OF  THEIR FORMER ‘GOD’.

Here is the nature of the work of God in the heart of the converted sinner.

1. Before conversion the soul is a ‘house of Dagon’! The devil is “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,” Ephesians 2:2. The devil is the ‘god of this world’! “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them,” 2 Corinthians 4:4.

2. When Christ enters the heart through faith, the power of the devil is broken. Immediately the Lord begins to work in our hearts and lives. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-14 a 6:42 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter VI

An Answer to the Bishop’s slander of the Reformation

It is on the subject of the Reformation that the Bishop once more gives us a display of his Jesuitry and cunning. We quote from  his second lecture: “Now I want to look briefly at a period of change in Christianity which will probably be better known to the audience: the Reformation  of the 16th century. We usually think of this as the period above all others of change in the Church and in Christianity”. We shall return for a moment to the Bishop’s discussion of the various changes, but firstly let us settle one question. Did Christianity and the Church change at the Reformation? Do not drink the Bishop’s proffered cup, for the keen eye will detect the taint of poison. The Reformation was a “time of change”, but the changes did not take place in the Church or in Christianity. By the “Church” I mean the unchanging and unchangeable religion of the Word of God.

The Bishop’s inventions

As we rake through the rubble of the Bishop’s collapsed intellectualism we constantly come across this one persistent falsehood. Varied may be its disguises, but its nature never changes. Dr. Hanson labours assiduously throughout these lectures to make “CHANGES” acceptable to his audience, and his readers. To do this he invents periods of change in the Church. The date and background for his “changes” are not chosen at random, but carefully. He first of all suggested that the 2nd century was a time of change, and so of course it was, but the changes were political and philosophical, not doctrinal. Empires may fall, philosophical theories perish, but the religion of God’s Word is unaffected in its intrinsic nature. Jesus said “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my word shall never pass away”.

Now again Dr. Hanson seeks to introduce another of these periods of change. Again he has carefully chosen his time and background. No one will deny that the 16th century saw many changes. BUT WE CONTEST HIS STATEMENT THAT THE CHANGES TOOK PLACE IN THE CHURCH AND IN CHRISTIANITY. The changes were men and women leaving the CHURCH OF ROME in their tens of thousands, and by the work of the Holy Spirit made members of the CHURCH OF GOD – “The church of the first-born, which are written in heaven” (Heb. 12:23). It was not changes in Christianity that took place, but men changing their God, changing from the God of popish Rome to the LIVING GOD OF THE BIBLE. There was no more a change in Christianity during the Reformation than there was when Paul preached in Thessalonica and “many turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess, 1 : 9-10). The Reformation saw a MULTIPLICATION OF BELIEVERS, but NOT an ALTERATION OF BELIEF. With this fundamental fact in mind we shall examine the rest of the Bishop’s statement.

One of the results of the Reformation, he tells us, was that “it left a Church divided into fragments, some of them sharply opposed to the others”. Here the Romanist comes to the fore of Dr. Hanson’s character. “It left a Church divided”. This was the chant of super-ecumenist Pope John, which has been taken up by the like-minded deceivers. We need to remember that it was the false and idolatrous Church of Rome that was shattered. Dr. Hanson is insinuating that Martin Luther committed the sin of schism, i.e., withdrawing from God’s people. Martin Luther did not sin. He obeyed a Divine principle and SEPARATED FROM DARKNESS. The harm done by Martin Luther’s action can be likened unto the disturbance in the tomb of Lazarus when he rose from the dead, or to the bursting open of the graves by the dead raised at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-11 a 6:00 am

This is one of today’s headlines in the Belfast Telegraph.

Jeffrey Donaldson moved in with gay DUP colleague – despite public anti-LGBT stance

This headline indicates how far the DUP has departed from what it formerly stood for.

It is clear that the DUP accepts perverts into membership as well as highlighting again the shameful perversity of its former leader – Donaldson.

Here is a quote from the article:

“Convicted paedophile Jeffrey Donaldson moved in with a gay DUP colleague during a rocky time in his marriage – despite his public anti-LGBT stance.

The Sunday World first planned to publish this story 15 years ago – but refrained from doing so after Donaldson presented a manufactured pack of lies, which included a bogus claim of imminent suicide.

The individual who opened his home to the aspiring unionist politician was also an elected representative for the Democratic Unionist Party.

He has not been identified here at this time because of the sensitive nature of his current employment.”

How can any Christian hold membership in and financially and electorally support this evilly duplicitous party?

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

Friday 10th July 2026

Posted on 2026-07-10 a 1:15 pm

“Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. . . A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; he prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Jeremiah 5:1, 30-31.

So begins and ends a chapter from which I recall preaching in Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church, some 59 years ago.

Back then, the application of these words were not as pertinent as it is today.

The wickedness which brought judgment upon the nation to which Jeremiah ministers, was on the horizon of Ulster, as it were, but the terrible forebodings set forth by the prophets are on our doorstep now!

The other 28 verses of this chapter set forth the sins of the nation and the consequences of ignoring God’s merciful warnings.

I. THERE WAS A PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE LORD BUT THE LORD DECLARED IT FALSE.

“And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely,” verse 2.

There is a like deceit abroad today among God’s people. “Jehovah lives” is the confession of many but His law is increasingly set aside.

We in the Free Presbyterian Church are NOT in the place or following the path of our forefathers seventy five years ago.

The ecclesiastical separation established back then is no longer adhered to and such breaches are sanctioned by our Presbytery! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-09 a 2:36 pm

Matthew 8:11-12

The danger of casting away our privileges is ever with us!

The spirit of the ‘Prodigal Son’ abides in every Christian and if not crucified will lead to an abandoning of the ‘Father’s House’ and a hastening to the ‘far country’ of worldliness and the abandoning of God’s Word.

Read sermon notes here

 

This is what the Saviour warns of in those well known words: “And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” Matthew 8:11-12.

This message was first preached at the Lord’s Day evening service in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church on 29th June 1986, by the minister, Rev Ivan Foster.

The Centurion, whose request to Christ brought forth these words from the Saviour, was a Gentile, a Roman soldier brought up in the darkness of heathendom.

His posting to Israel had been a blessing in disguise. You can imagine how his wife and family, if he had such, reacted to the news of his transfer. Now, however, they sing of the merciful providence that planned it so.

His approach to Christ and his forthright display of faith became the means of delivering a timely warning to a nation, Israel, greatly privileged and in danger of throwing their privileges away.

It has a very present and pertinent application to the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster for it is evident that there are those in pulpit and pew who are seeking a change from the path that the Lord led our founding fathers to in 1951, to new paths which are in conformity to the thinking of this world.

Such a departure will only lead to that crowded path, which the Saviour said “leadeth to destruction.”

Posted on 2026-07-07 a 6:00 am

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter V

The Second Coming of Christ – Were the early Christians mistaken?

To further his claim that Christianity has changed, the Bishop tries to imbue his audience with the idea that the early Christians and apostolic writers believed that the Lord Jesus Christ was going to return at a very early date. When this did not happen he says that there was a change of thinking concerning the Second Coming of Christ. To knock this argument down all we have to do is pour a little of the “water of the Word” upon the Bishop’s sandy foundation and his little house of false reasoning will sink out of view. The question then is this: Did the early Christians believe that Christ was to return in their day and were they encouraged to believe this by the writers of the New Testament? Our answer is “No”, but of course the Bishop’s would be “Yes”.

In his second lecture he states: “But the greatest difference of all facing the Church of the 2nd century has yet to be mentioned. By the year 150 it had become unmistakably clear to everybody that the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ was not likely to take place in the immediate future . . . St. Paul’s letters are, of course, the earliest books of the New Testament. From every one of the letters which we can with confidence attribute to him (he never misses a chance to spread doubt, does he?) we gain a strong impression that he expects the arrival of Christ in his lifetime or immediately afterward. The earliest of the Gospels, that of Mark, shows the same intense expectation of an almost immediate arrival of Christ. It is only in Mark that we find the words attributed to Jesus: “There be some of those standing by who shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God coming in power” (Mark 9 : 1). Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-04 a 6:00 am

“And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth,” Exodus 9:16. 

Preached by Rev. Ivan Foster on Lord’s Day, March 2 1986.

Here is, at least to some small measure, the faith and hope of Free Presbyterians some 40 years ago.

Is something of the same message preached today in our pulpits? The denouncing of ecumenical treachery and betrayal of God’s truth; the same protest against the political compromising in the face of  Romanism’s, ecclesiastical and political, resurgence?

Or are there many of our pulpits silent on such matters and are there ministers who seek fellowship with those, described in our Presbytery’s statement, entitled: ‘OUR STAND ON SEPARATION’, as ‘brethren who maintain fellowship with those who deny the faith.’

If this is so, what a dishonouring of the God who has been so merciful to us as a denomination and what a judgment we will most surely face if there is not a repenting and turning back again to the ‘Old Paths’ of Scriptural obedience!

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Thursday 2nd July 2026

Posted on 2026-07-02 a 6:00 am

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side,” Isaiah 60:1-4.

One thing is ever a source of displeasure when I turn to a chapter like Isaiah 60! It is the notes that most publishers of the Holy Scriptures have placed above the chapter in an attempt to supposedly help the reader understand its contents.

However, when it comes to prophetic chapters, the notes are too often erroneous and most misleading!

In my Bible the notes above Isaiah 60 read:—

1. The glorious access of the Gentiles into the church.
15. The blessings of the church after affliction.

These words are utterly wrong. This chapter is not about what happened after the crucifixion of Christ and the Gospel outreach which followed Pentecost. No, it is dealing with the conversion and the restoration of Israel to God’s favour and blessing at the second coming of Christ and what follows that glorious event amongst the Gentile nations.

Not the Church

Some verses plainly indicate that it is not the church but Israel that is referred to.

“And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee,” Isaiah 60:10.

The redeemed people of God, the church, has never been subject to wrath! Chastening yes, but WRATH, no!

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons,” Hebrews 12:6-8.

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent,” Revelation 3:19.

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” Romans 8:1.

Judgment

However, God’s wrath has rested upon Israel ever since they rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah. That which they had experienced in a measure under the Babylonian captivity has been their experience to a much greater degree since their rebellion and rejection of their Messiah.

“And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword. According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them,” Ezekiel 39:23-24.

Those words were written around 587 BC, and were a foretaste of that which would follow their even greater wickedness in the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah.

Since AD 70, and the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple and the scattering of the nation, the Jew has been an outcast until this day. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-07-01 a 6:00 am

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KICS assembly talks. Current series: “KICS Studies – Analysing Acts”

• Part 36, Part 37, Part 38, Part 39
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Watch Kilskeery Free Presbyterian services live online here

Notes of a message preached in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church — September 26th, 1982.

“And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the LORD smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the LORD, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the LORD came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them. They smote also the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep and camels in abundance, and returned to Jerusalem,” 2 Chronicles 14:9-15.

My purpose in recalling the events of 1912 is three-fold.

1. As an Ulster man I am proud of and thankful for the actions of my forefathers and I would have all to remember their daring.

2. As a Christian I am encouraged when I recall the mighty deliverance that the Lord wrought in those times of political betrayal.

3. As a citizen I believe a perusal of those far off events will shed light upon the troubled path we are called upon to tread today.

The year 1912 was a year of political activity and much anxiety amongst the Protestants of Ulster.

Since the introduction by the Liberal Prime Minister, William Gladstone, of the First Home Rule Bill of 1886, which aimed to establish an Irish legislature in Dublin, Ulster Protestants had been voicing their opposition under the slogan, ‘Home Rule is Rome Rule’. The Bill was defeated in the House of Commons and heavily split the Liberal Party.

The Second Home Rule Bill in 1893 was also introduced by Gladstone. It successfully passed the House of Commons but was overwhelmingly vetoed by the House of Lords.

The Third Home Rule Bill of 1912–1914 was introduced by Prime Minister H. H. Asquith, another Liberal Party leader. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-29 a 6:00 am

A word for the Free Presbyterian Church at this present time!

“Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.

Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.

The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; in transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey:

And the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment,” Isaiah 59:1-15.

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

Saturday 27th June 2026

Posted on 2026-06-27 a 3:15 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter IV 

The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible

In his first lecture the Bishop seeks, as he tells us, to “clear the ground”. What the Bishop means by this is later revealed. He is out to remove from the people’s minds all “obstacles” to the introduction of his own doctrines. He commences this clearing operation with characteristic subtlety. He wanted to make it clear, we are told, that he “did not believe Christianity to be an entirely fluid thing wholly subject to changes in intellectual fashion, a matter of subjective opinion with no unchanging or eternal element in it”. Having thus reassured us with this statement he continues: “But” – and HERE COMES THE POISONED BARB – he was giving these lectures “in order to point out that Christianity in one sense always had changed, must be expected to go changing, and was manifestly changing at the present time”. He goes on to say: “What we think is good old Christianity, the genuine, original, unchanging faith -our faith, of course – almost certainly is not what the first Christians believed”. The Bishop tells the truth here – quite unintentionally, of course. HIS CHRISTIANITY IS NOT THE FAITH OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS. What the Bishop is maintaining, of course, is that Christianity should NOT be expected to be the same as that of the early believers. There is nothing wrong with us believing something that they disbelieved or disbelieving what they believed. We can simplify the whole matter by saying the Bishop believes that Christians today are not tied to the Bible as the early Christians were.

Thus the clearing begins. He goes on now to finish the task by declaring: “Another important assumption which will govern these lectures is that the hypothesis that the Bible is accurate and exact and without mistakes in every sense in every part is an IMPOSSIBLE ONE”. So, step by step Dr. Hanson levers his audience away from the Bible. He seeks to destroy any tendency on the part of his audience to return to the Bible by stating that it is not without mistakes and errors. He gives us his opinion of the Bible. “THE DOCUMENTS OF THE BIBLE HAVE THE SAME HISTORICAL AUTHORITY AS SIMILAR DOCUMENTS OF THEIR TIME, NO MORE AND NO LESS.” There you have it. The site is clear now for the building of the Bishop’s edifice, a building that will consist of falsehoods and lies, deceptions and delusions, and which will fail its occupants on the great day of God’s wrath.

“Judgement also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it” (Isaiah 28 : 17-18). Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-27 a 6:00 am

I downloaded the following document from a Free Presbyterian Church website yesterday.

I wish to set before the Moderator and the Clerk of our Presbytery and the readership of ‘The Burning Bush’, two points from the ‘Statement on Ecclesiastical Separation’ as issued by our Presbytery, and to ask some questions which arise with regards recent procedures sanctioned by the Presbytery.

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FPC Position on Ecclesiastical Separation

Statement from the Free Presbyterian Church in Ulster General Presbytery

OUR STAND ON SEPARATION

The Scriptures lay before Christ’s Church the will of God pertaining to the doctrine of separation. With regard to this doctrine the following points are made clear in God’s Word. (It is important to underline that the points outlined below that present the Biblical teaching on separation, constitute a summary of what the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster has stated, believed and preached during its entire history).

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The following is a notice of an amendment I submitted to the Presbytery back in 1998, in the days when Dr Paisley was Moderator.

“October 1998 Notice of Motion

Rev I Foster proposed the following notice of motion: Reaffirmation of our stand on separation from Ecumenism.

“That this Presbytery reaffirms its opposition to the modern Ecumenical Movement and reiterates its call to God’s people to separate from all forms of fellowship with this end-time apostasy.

Furthermore,  in keeping with our position on Ecumenism, the Presbytery calls upon all ministers, elders and members of committees, irrespective of their civic duties, to refrain from attendance at or participation in any ecumenical community service, especially those that have followed in the wake of recent terrorist bombings since such gatherings have clearly become an effective means of advancing and strengthening the cause of ecumenism and must not, therefore, have any form of endorsement from Free Presbyterians”.

Rev Foster stated he did not feel that as a denomination we were tottering on the edge of compromise. However, he reminded members that in scripture we often read of God’s people reaffirming their position. He said, “In the wake of recent bombings tremendous pressure had been exerted by Ecumenical churches on the Protestant people, especially those who hold civic office.”

He stated he felt it was wrong for Free Presbyterians to attend Ecumenical services no matter where they were held. Priests of Rome he said were brought onto platforms and accepted as ministers of Christ. He felt there was need to raise a banner high for all to see and for sessions to take note that they are to be guardians of our stand.

He asked that if agreed the motion should be carried in our magazines and as we are approaching Reformation Sunday ministers preach on the issue.

Clarification was sought as to what constituted an ecumenical civic service. The question of participation in Remembrance services and services of the Loyal Orders was raised. The Moderator stated he considered it was one organised by the clergy of the town for the purpose of promoting ecumenism. He said that with that interpretation put on the motion he would support it. Upon being seconded by Rev. T. Baxter the motion was adopted. It was agreed that an advert reaffirming our opposition to Romanism and Ecumenism should be placed in the newspaper.’ Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-26 a 6:04 pm

Moments after sending out my last email, entitled –  ‘A VERY PUBLIC REBUKE!’ – I received the following Facebook photograph.

Rev Ron Johnstone cannot argue, as he has in the past, that he was not sharing the platform with a ‘disobedient evangelical minister’. One who defies God’s Word and remains within the ecumenical apostasy. On this occasion it was Methodist minister, Rev Maurice Laverty.

I need not ask if he obeyed the requirement of the ordination oath the swore to uphold.

I will, nevertheless, remind him of it with an important emphasis.

Will you maintain with all the strength God shall give you the position on Biblical separation from apostasy as taken by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster in 1951 at the time of its secession from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland?

As God helps you will you expose and resist the continued apostasy from Christ manifested within Irish Presbyterianism, METHODISM, Episcopalianism and other visible church bodies; exhorting God’s people to obey the teaching and commandment of 1 Timothy 6: 3-5?’

Thus the slide accelerates and those engaged in it are emboldened by the failure to uphold the distinctives of the Free Presbyterian Church by its Presbytery.

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
23rd June 2026

Posted on 2026-06-23 a 5:18 pm

Matthew 3:7-12.

The Lord Jesus said of John the Baptist what we should ever remember.

“And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he,” Matthew 11:7-11.

With such a matchless commendation of John, I dare say we can make him an example in preaching that we may safely follow!

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” Matt 3:7.

1. Please notice that these men thus rebuked professed faith and repentance. “Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,” verses 5-7.

Sadly, many who act in this very proper way do so hypocritically. They lack the evidence in their lives that indicates true faith and repentance.

John, under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, was made aware of this and called for evidence to be produced by them. “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance,” verse 8.

2. He rebuked them in a very public fashion. The Pharisees and Sadducees were engaged in a very PUBLIC act so John rebuked them in keeping with the environment in which the Pharisees and Sadducees were acting!

Private acts, if sinful, will be rebuked privately for they have not been observed by others and there is therefore no requirement that the mind and will of God be declared to any observers, regarding this private sin.

In the case of John rebuking the Pharisees and Sadducees, he was rebuking their very public show of repentance WITHOUT any evidence of it being genuine, therefore he must let the observers know God’s mind on what was happening.

Paul

This is in keeping with Paul’s directive to Timothy. “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear,” 1 Timothy 5:20. Without a pubic rebuke observers might think that the behaviour being reprimanded was acceptable. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-23 a 5:12 pm

This ‘professing’ Christian has shamed the Gospel he claimed to embrace and has brought great dishonour upon Ulster.

BBC News: Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson guilty of child sex abuse charges including one count of rape

He added to his crimes by denying he was guilty and thus forcing his victims to relive the torments and shame he had put them through and, furthermore, calling them liars in court.

News Letter: Ex-MP Jeffrey Donaldson repeatedly denied abuse during two days in witness box

His name will forever be linked to wicked infamy!

His contemptible behaviour is indicative of the fruit of the apostasy that has blighted our land through the evicting of God’s Word from the pulpits of the main churches and the replacing of it with ecumenical and liberal fantasies that have become the religion of all-too many in Ulster!

“This‭ know‭‭ also‭, that‭ in‭ the last‭ days‭ perilous‭ times‭ shall come‭‭.‭‭For‭ men‭ shall be‭‭ lovers of their own selves‭, . . . lovers of pleasures‭ more‭ than‭ lovers of God‭;‭‭having‭‭ a form‭ of godliness‭, but‭ denying‭‭ the power‭ thereof‭ . . ,” 2 Timothy 3:1-2, 4-5.

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)

Posted on 2026-06-22 a 6:53 pm

“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die,” Revelation 3:2.

The role and duty of those in the position of leadership within the Church of Christ are clearly set forth throughout Holy Scripture, and nowhere more succinctly than in the words set down by Moses.

“Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment,” Deuteronomy 16:18.

The outcome of the special Presbytery in Dungannon, 20th June, convened to hear the report of the ‘Commission of Inquiry’ set up after  Revs R Johnstone and M Lecky were permitted to make statements of complaint before the Presbytery against Rev David Linden and myself on May 1st, has left a lot of questions unanswered and probably aroused many more!!

From the very beginning of the process, fairness and proper procedure were set aside and it was indicated, for any with eyes to see, that there was something very wrong within our ranks!

The whole episode has highlighted for many Free Presbyterians that there has been a drift away from the position, principles and philosophy of the witness and stand of our church as it was first formed, by God’s grace, in 1951.

It appears that there are those amongst our ministers and elders who are opposed to the command of Scripture to denounce sin, but who are prepared to misuse and misapply Holy Scripture to support their position.

Yet such denunciation of sin and backsliding is what the Free Presbyterian Church was brought into existence to do, irrespective of who is the guilty party.

Was it not the custom for the following verses to be read out, if not preached upon, at every minister’s ordination?

It would appear that of late few have heeded the words or noted their significance!

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables,” 2 Timothy 4:1-4.

On the day of my ordination, some fifty-eight years ago, Dr Ian Paisley preached on Jeremiah chapter 1.

There you find a definition of that prophet’s call and it embraces every minister’s calling, as was pressed home upon my soul that night!

“But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant,” Jeremiah 1:7-10.

Paul echoed these sentiments:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled,” 2 Corinthians 10:3-6.

NO CHARGES

Whatever some might have desired as the outcome of this Commission, it would appear that no disciplinary proceedings will be taken against myself and Rev Linden.

It must be stated that there never were any grounds for proceeding against us since what we did was fully supported by the Word of God. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-22 a 6:00 am

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

 

Chapter III

 

The Authenticity of the Books of the Bible

Like all enemies of truth before him the Bishop of Clogher first of all sets the sights of his scholastic pea-shooter against the Word of God. The Word of God is the great barrier to all such as Dr. Hanson who wish to abolish fundamental Christianity.

Here is what he says concerning Paul’s pastoral epistles, i.e., epistles to Timothy and Titus: “… the pastoral epistles (which I assume to be written not by Paul but by somebody living early in the second century)”. (Lecture 2, paragraph 3.) He also attacks the authenticity of John’s Gospel. “St. John’s Gospel, which was certainly not written by John the Apostle, though it may have originated from a place where traditions about John were treasured.” (Lecture 2, paragraph 4.) Referring to the Second Epistle of Peter, he pontificates with great audacity: “Which is not, of course, by St. Peter.” (Lecture 2, paragraph 3.) Thus the Bishop has left us with a New Testament containing at least five forgeries. If the Bishop can substantiate his assertions he has of course very good reasons for changing doctrines based upon forged epistles. BUT HE DOES NOT AND CANNOT SUBSTANTIATE HIS CLAIMS.

Before we refute the errors of Dr. Hanson perhaps we would consider the supposition: “What if the Bishop is right and these epistles are forgeries?” Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-20 a 6:00 am

I recently heard, what I consider a very astute and accurate statement which had been made by an elder of many years standing as his summary of the change that has taken place within the Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church.

He said: ‘In earlier times, a minister or an elder would stand up with his Bible in his hand to make his point during a debate. That rarely happens now!’

That to me indicates a lesser knowledge of the Bible amongst many of our Presbytery members and/or there is no basis to be found in the Bible for that which is being supported!

The present controversy that surrounds Rev David Linden and myself, with regards the actions of Rev Marcus Lecky and Rev Ron Johnstone, give proof of the ‘Bible-less’ arguments prevalent today.

I pointed out in an article entitled: Response to Rev R Johnstone’s Presbytery statement against me that in the statement against me that he was allowed to make in Presbytery, which the Officer Bearers permitted without me being informed that the statement was going to be made, contrary to rule 10.5 of the ‘Book of Church Order’, and in  his email response to my original article,  Unambiguous witness or an uncertain sound — which?, Rev Ron Johnstone did not make one reference to the Bible in defence of his mingling with evangelical ministers in the ecumenical churches.

Again this absence to any reference to God’s Word was sadly seen in Rev Lecky’s upholding of ‘Contemporary Christian Music’.

My article, in response to it was published in ‘The Burning Bush’  and was entitled: Why no Bible references???

Even when this was pointed out, neither man seemed able to produce a defence from God’s Word. That says a lot! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-17 a 6:00 am

“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest,” Revelation 15:1-4.

Chapter 15 of the Book of the Revelation was one of the chapters for reading on Saturday 13th June, as set down in M‘Cheyne’s Bible Reading Calendar.

I frequently mention my use of this wonderful aid to regular and methodical reading of God’s Word in order to commend it to the readers of ‘The Burning Bush’. I believe it to be without  parallel!

My thoughts were transported to heaven as I read the chapter and particularly the verses which head this article. My washing machine was tumbling my weekly wash as I sat and read the verses and somewhat like my clothes in the machine, thoughts began to tumble about in my mind as I mused upon what is stated in the verses!

Contrast

What a contrast there is revealed here, between the events on this earth and that which is taking place in heaven! The earth is about to encounter the full and final manifestations of God’s wrath against man’s sin and rebellion. Seven angels are given “seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever,” verse 7. In those vials was “filled up the wrath of God,” verse 1.

The ‘vials’ were shallow saucer-like vessels and I am inclined to think of them being dipped in the ‘lake of fire’ (20:15) and their contents pour out upon the nations following Antichrist. The vials being shallow indicates that the fulness of God’s wrath is not being poured out but only a foretaste of that which is to come!

How little mankind today knows of what lies ‘just round the corner’ for this world, especially that area which comprises the territory of the AntiChrist who will be manifested in final days of this age, the lands of the old Roman Empire!

Christian, it is your privilege to KNOW and UNDERSTAND what lies ahead, for it is revealed to us in great detail in that wonderful BOOK, so sadly neglected by Christians, the BIBLE!

I. WHAT JOHN SAW AND WAS INSTRUCTED TO SHARE WITH US, WE SHOULD CONTEMPLATE AS EARTH’S TROUBLES INCREASE DAILY!

1. Like John, every true servant of God should relate what is revealed here to his flock! This blessed book begins with these words: “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,” 1:1-3.

This book is a REVELATION, a revealing, a manifestation of that which the Lord would have us know! The devil would have us believe that it is an ‘unknowable’ tangle of verses containing ‘uninterpretable’ scenes which has led to the confusion of Christians!

That is the devil’s lie, sadly peddled by very foolish believers and even more foolish, ministers of the Gospel! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-16 a 2:15 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

 

The rage of the Bishop against the rock of Holy Scripture

Chapter II

The Bishop’s Yardstick

Before we consider the conclusions (or should we say confusions) the Bishop comes to, we would do well to consider the principles by which he made his judgments. We quote from his first lecture. ‘Next, I want to give an account of the criteria (standard by which he will decided what is good and what is bad) which I am going to use in these lectures…The first pole is the faith of the individual believer and of the Church…The other criterion which I shall use is… the verdict of historical and theological scholarship.’ The Bishop then is guided by what is acceptable to the Church today and what is acceptable to the theological scholars of today and yesterday. But does it not matter what the Bible says we should believe? NOT TO THE BISHOP. You see, we (in this new and changed world of the Bishop’s making) are going to be given from the Bible that which has first of all passed the test of the theologians of ecumenism. In other words the Bishop would place us in the yoke of bondage which Luther and an enlightened Europe cast off at the Reformation. THE BISHOP WOULD HAVE US ACCEPT THE POPISH DOCTRINE OF SUBMISSION TO THE CHURCH AND NOT TO THE WORD OF GOD ON MATTERS OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. The cry of Fermanagh Protestants to the Bishop and his fellow-Romanisers is a long and loud ‘NO POPERY’!

Broken vow

Dr. Hanson swore at his ordination that his standard of faith was the Word of God. He has only recently changed his mind, because he swore the oath in the spring of 1970. Such is the hypocrisy and dishonesty of ecumenists. God’s Word says, ‘To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.’ (Isaiah 8:20.) The Bishop has put the cart before the horse. We do not judge the Bible by the scholars, but the scholars by the Bible. It is God’s Word by which we judge the words of men. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-13 a 6:00 am

Much has been said by way of condemnation by both church men and politicians with regard to the recent riots in Belfast and in some other areas.

It would appear that the very serious public disorder was sparked off by a murderous Sudanese migrant, who appears to have unlawfully entered Northern Ireland from the Irish Republic. He travelled from the north African country to Paris and then on to Dublin, before catching a bus to Belfast in February 2023.

The border between that separates the Republic from this part of the United Kingdom is exceedingly ‘porous’! It is now acknowledged that the knife-attack suspect Hadi Alodid, was granted asylum under a ‘fast-track’ scheme.

Hadi Alodid attacked a local man, a Mr Stephen Ogilvie, in North Belfast with a knife and caused him serious injuries. The victim has been reported as suffering serious injuries  in the attack and being blinded in one eye. It appears that the migrant was attempting to ‘behead’ his victim!

Had it not been for the intervention of some bystanders and the beating the attacker off from his victim, it seems likely that the local man would have been murdered.

Treacherous policy

The lack of border security, a deliberate policy on the part of the British Government in London, which is bent on pushing Northern Ireland into a ‘United Ireland’ under Dublin, played a large part in causing the riots.

But the root cause goes deeper.

Mr Jim Allister, party leader of ‘Traditional Unionist Values’,  referring to the attack in Parliament said: ‘What I want to know, and what I know that my constituents want to hear, is what will be done to stop the importation of an alien culture that thinks it is appropriate to try to behead someone within the United Kingdom.” (Read report here). Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-12 a 6:00 am

On Wednesday evening in Kilskeery Free Presbyterian Church prayer meeting, the minister, Rev Samuel Fitton brought a challenging word to us all from Haggai chapter 1.

That message may be listened to with profit by accessing the church website on Facebook.

As a preacher, it is impossible for me to look at a passage of God’s Word without seeing an application of it to the circumstances that prevail around us.

1. Please notice that the call for a ‘considering of their ways’ was directed to the leaders of the work of God in that day.

“In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,” verse 1.

These men, the governor of Judah and the high priest, had for some seventeen or eighteen years been presiding over a ‘dying work and witness’!

Doubtless, both attended to some duties attached to their offices. I cannot but think that Joshua, the high priest never missed a service, but all that time the work of God was dying under their hands!

2. They had to have the careless ways of the people drawn to their attention by the Lord!

“Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built,” verse 2.

The leaders were blind and deaf and indifferent to the spirit that presided amongst the people. The neglect of God’s house was surely most obvious! It surely could not have gone on for some ‘seventeen or eighteen years after the proclamation of Cyrus for the Jews to return to their own land’ as has been pointed out by the learned, Bishop Ussher. And yet the leaders did nothing! Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-11 a 9:40 pm

Deuteronomy chapter 13

This chapter was part of the Bible reading schedule for today as set down in Robert Murray M‘Cheyne’s Bible Reading Calendar.

The date of the warnings issued in this chapter is just prior to  Israel’s crossing of the Jordon and entering the ‘Promised Land’.

The Lord is frequently given to repeating Himself. He repeated the promise of His blessing upon them, reminding them of His mercy and grace toward their fathers and the generations which followed. They will be brought into the ‘land flowing with milk and honey’. He also repeats His warning about disobedience and straying from His Word. Both of these matters God’s people are prone to forget, especially the latter matter.

Of course, it was not just the Israelites who tended to forget the command that God has issued to us all: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” Exodus 20:3.

The history of the people of God in this New Testament era is just as marked by departure and spiritual delinquency as was any generation of the Old Testament saints.

The professing people of God in the Old Testament ended their era with a total rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah.

Peter made that plain to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.

“The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses,” Acts 3:13-15.

That age ended in the same manner as will this present age! ‘Christendom’ as the body of professing Christians today are often labelled, will end up rejecting Christ to the same degree as did the Jewish race back in the early years of this epoch.

The spirit of apostasy that gripped and dominated Israel and resulted in the crucifixion of the Saviour, will in like manner grip the ‘professing church of Christ’ in the last days and the Lord Jesus, as He is revealed in Holy Scripture, will be utterly repudiated. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-10 a 6:00 am

On Saturday 6th June in Kilskeery FPC, the 60th Anniversary of the 1966 protest and imprisonment was marked with a special meeting where one of the imprisoned ministers, Rev. Ivan Foster spoke about these matters, and how the Lord used it for the furtherance of the Gospel in Northern Ireland.

On Monday 6th June 1966, the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster, Dr. Ian R.K. Paisley led a protest to the General Assembly Buildings in Belfast.

As the protestors marched, a cordon was placed across the road by the police which resulted in the march being brought to a halt outside the entrance to Assembly Buildings. Shortly after, a number of individuals were arrested and brought to court charged with unlawful assembly.

Consequently, three Free Presbyterian ministers, Dr. Ian Paisley, Rev. John Wylie & Rev. Ivan Foster were imprisoned in Crumlin Road jail for 3 months.

Both during and after that period of imprisonment, the Lord came down and the Free Presbyterian Church flourished with many new congregations being constituted. Between 1966-1970, approximately 17 new congregations were added to the 13 already in existence which took the Free Presbyterian Church into every County in Ulster for the first time.

Read sermon notes here

 

View a video of this sermon below:

Here is a link to an old news film of the march which begins with scenes from the Cromac Square riot by republicans and police injured in the riot and then the march and gathering outside of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, General Assembly.

1966 Protest March

Note: this video link will not work outside of locations in Great Britain!

Posted on 2026-06-06 a 11:30 pm

AN ANSWER TO FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED IN ENNISKILLEN CATHEDRAL BY THE BISHOP OF CLOGHER RICHARD HANSON

by

REV. IVAN FOSTER

Minister of Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church

Published as a booklet in 1970

 

Chapter 1 – The Unchangeable Character of Christianity

Before examining the text of these lectures we shall examine the title:  “CHANGING CHRISTIANITY IN A CHANGING WORLD”. Its suggestion as before stated, is that Christianity must change with the times. But is this so? We say no.

I. My first reason for rejecting a changed Christianity is that the needs of the world (i.e. mankind) have not changed.

Solomon, the wise man, said: “There is no new thing under the sun”. The scoffer points to the men who recently walked on the moon and cries: “There is something new”. No doubt this is man in new surroundings and new circumstances, but—and this is what Solomon meant —it is old-fashioned man who is on the moon. Th men who trod the earth in the dawn of creation and those who trod the moon’s surface in recent times are exactly the same SPIRITUALLY and MORALLY. Six thousand years may have brought man many technological advances, but he has not advanced one inch toward God or holiness. The sins of the world today were those of the world at the time of the Roman Empire, and correspond with those of the Babylonian Empire. The awful virus of depravity can be traced to its source—Adam’s transgression. ‘By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners’ (Romans 5:19).

In his unrighteous state before God man has remained and will remain utterly alienated from God. However, the grace of God has decreed that this state of affairs can be remedied and that only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The preaching of the Gospel is the spreading of this good news. The resultant religion that stems from faith in the Gospel is Christianity. Christianity is the religion based upon and agreeable to the Holy Scriptures. The position of the reformed theologian can be summed up in the words of the statement which the Bishop swore he believed.

‘Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain sufficiently all doctrine required of necessity for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?’ (Consecration of a Bishop, Book of Common Prayer.)

In answer to this the Bishop should have been honest and said, ‘No’, since he believes that the Bible does not give us sufficient doctrine and we must add to and alter it. Of course the Bishop was posing as a reformed and Protestant Bishop, and since this is what the Reformers believed—namely that the Bible contains all the doctrines necessary for our salvation through Jesus Christ—he said, ‘I am persuaded…’ Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-05 a 6:00 am

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees,” Isaiah 35:1-3.

I read these verses with the mindset that ‘The Lord says what He means and means what He says!’

I consider these words to be a literal setting forth of what the Lord purposes to do one day for Israel and in the midst of mankind. I recall my brother in law, the late Dr John. Douglas, responding to a Christian who held to an ‘A-millennial’ view of prophecy, that if he is wrong in taking God  to mean what it says, then he will explain to the Lord on that great day of standing before Him to give an account of our ways and doings, ‘Lord I simply believed what you said, rather than trusting in any notion of man as to what you meant!’

It came home to that A-millennialist, that there was simple and honest logic behind Dr Douglas’s understanding of Scripture!

Metaphorical

A-millennialism is essentially a dismissing of a considering  of the wording of prophecy as being literal but rather it is to be understood as figurative and metaphorical.

Such a notion gives licence to man’s fertile imagination and produces the most ludicrous notions as to what God’s Word means! The ‘prophetic’ exegesis of those who hold to this notion, demonstrates a likeness to the famous Heinz ’57 varieties’ advertising slogan of some years ago! It is a case of making God’s Word to say whatever you would like it to say!

When we stay with a literal understanding of God’s Word, except where He makes it clear that He is using parabolic language, then that is wise, irrespective of the empty scoffing of foolish men!

What is stated in this chapter is entirely in keeping with other portions of God’s Word.

Isaiah 11 is just such a chapter as is 2:1-4; 9:6-7; 60:1-22; 65:17-25; Micah 4:1-8; Zechariah 14, and I must, of course, add Revelation 20:1-10.

We are told very specifically by Peter that: “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed,” Acts 3:24-25.

To return to Isaiah 35, one of the chapters I read today (3rd June), what wonders are here outlined as being what the Lord plans to do on the earth and amongst mankind.

IN THIS CHAPTER IS EMPHASISED GOD’S PLAN FOR HIS ANCIENT PEOPLE ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD IN GENERAL

1. It is very wrong to believe that the Lord has abandoned and is finished with the nation of Israel! Paul makes that clear in his writing to the church at Rome. “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew,” Romans 11:1-2.

He then goes on, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to detail God’s future purpose for that ancient people. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-04 a 6:00 am

A few comments on a most appropriate psalm for the people of God today.

Psalm 85 is one of the four chapters of God’s Word allocated in McCheyne’s Bible Reading calendar for reading and study on Saturday 31st May.

As I read it, I found it so appropriate and relevant to the circumstances prevailing in many places amongst the people of God, not least here in Northern Ireland.

I jotted down some observations as I read the Psalm and then felt that I should share them with our ‘Burning Bush’ readers.

So here they are, (a little enlarged) for whatever they are worth, and I trust the Psalm will bless you as it has blessed me — aye and much more!

1. «To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.» LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

‘It is the prayer of a patriot for his afflicted country, in which he pleads the Lord’s former mercies, and by faith foresees brighter days,’ C H Spurgeon.

As it was with Jacob, the nation of Israel, so it has ever been with the New Testament Church! How frequently the Lord has had to ‘bring us back’ from captivity! His bringing us back from captivity is a wonderful evidence of ‘favour’! The word means ’to take pleasure in’. What a favour is that!

2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

What a ‘bringing back’ it has ever been! There is ‘forgiveness’ for our many sins which CAUSED our captivity. In our folly we abandoned the Lord and became slaves of that which oppressed us.

3. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

How we need to ever remember what backsliding and departure from ‘the Old Paths’ bring upon us! ‘Wrath and fierce anger’!

Sadly, God’s people repeatedly forget this truth and only learn it afresh when they begin to reap that sad harvest! “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,” Galatians 6:7-8. Click to read more…

Posted on 2026-06-01 a 6:00 am