On Tuesday, 5th April, it will be fifty-eight 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 my testimony as it was given five years ago in a gospel mission in Ballinamallard, just two miles away from Kilskeery. The mission was conducted by retired preachers, Rev Larry Power, a Free Presbyterian minister and Pastor Alvin Mullan, a retired Baptist pastor. Unknown to them, the date they asked me to testify on was the 53rd anniversary of my first time in Ravenhill Free Presbyterian Church, just one week after I called upon the Lord. The 5th and 12th April will forever live in my memory.
I trust you are blessed by my telling of the Lord’s great mercy to this sinner.
Sincerely in Christ,
Ivan Foster.
This news report serves to highlight the dominance of evil at the heart of our nation.