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Here is how one newspaper headlined a report of a recent display of downright ignorance, irreverence and blasphemy by the ‘Archbishop of York’. This was no spokesman for the ‘anti-Bible league’ but the second most senior cleric in the Church of England.

Archbishop of York Rev Stephen Cottrell says that starting the Lord’s Prayer with ‘Our Father’ is problematic

What he says beggars belief for its illogical and unjustifiable ‘reasoning’.

He says that ‘victims of abusive parents’ would find this a problem. Surely the whole desire of the victim of an abusive father would be that he had had a loving father, just like our heavenly Father, rather than the cruel parent he suffered under.

It is impossible to fathom the depths of this man’s folly! If this is what it is like at the top of Episcopalianism, one can only imagine what its core is like!

Our Heavenly Father is one to Whom we ought to delight in coming to Him and having the privilege of calling Him ‘Father’. Of course, many who recite the prayer the Archbishop refers to, have no right to call God their Father. Millions upon millions, myself included for a time before my conversion, go through the process of repeating these sacred words and yet have no actual knowledge of or living relationship with God!

The Lord Jesus said: “If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me,” John 8:42.

God is not the ‘Father’ of those who do not believe in and who do not love Christ as their Saviour. (more…)

A tribute to Miss Edna Weir, 1937 – 2003.

Given by Rev. Ivan Foster at her funeral service in Bethel Free Presbyterian Church, 12th May 2003.

“I truly count it a privilege to pay this tribute to Edna and to exalt the grace of God in her life. Edna was a dear Christian, beloved of many, especially in this area of our land. I must state that anything I say about Edna will, in truth, fall far short of an adequate tribute to her labours in the cause of Christ, the main reason for that being that few know the full extent of her labours for Christ, and the degree of dedication and love that reigned in her heart.

Edna was converted when she was 17 under the ministry of Rev. Tom Butler in Darling Street Methodist Church, Enniskillen. She was immediately involved

in Sunday School work both in Lisbellaw Methodist Church and in Gola Methodist Hall. She felt the call of God to prepare herself for the work of God and attended Emmaus Bible College in Hollywood in the mid-sixties.

Upon returning home to Lisbellaw, she joined Lisbellaw Free Presbyterian Church. It was typical of Edna that once she saw an issue that required her to take a stand for the Saviour, then she, irrespective of the price that had to be paid or the reproach borne, would obey her Saviour. She felt that there was a departure from the old ways of the gospel taking place and that she should stand with those who were resisting such trends and seeking to preach the old gospel message.

It was about 1971 that she took charge of the children’s work in our Lisbellaw church. She, along with her faithful helper, her sister Barbara, diligently rounded up the children of the area and brought them to the meetings. Many of you here today were among those she reached. It was in the mid-70s apparently on the way to the opening of Coragarry Free Presbyterian Church, when a bus party travelled up from Bethel, that I asked Edna if she would consider taking on the work of a full-time evangelist in the congregation. As a result of her readiness to take on the work, at very little remuneration it should be said, Bethel Children’s Crusade was born. (more…)

(This message was given at the first meeting of 2000 of the Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony in London.)

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44).

When it comes to the study of prophecy, this subject is a very elementary one, yet it is a subject to which many give little thought. Many Christians have a general view of the return of Christ, that it is going to happen, but they are not well versed on what the Bible has to say about that glorious event. That ought not to be. It is a subject with which God’s people should be well acquainted.

It is clear from the Word of God that the Christians in the days of the apostles were very well taught about the return of Christ. Indeed, when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, he said he needed hardly to write on this subject as they knew about it perfectly (1 Thessalonians 5:2). It could be thought that those early believers would have had to learn so many subjects; that they were to be taught in doctrine of which they never had the slightest knowledge before the gospel came to them. Paul would have had to deal with the doctrine of God, His Person, His power, the mystery of the Trinity, and the inspiration of God’s Word. Although there was so much to teach, the apostle found time to tell those early believers about the second coming of the Lord and of the end times. Many ministers today would speak as if Paul had so much else to proclaim, that teaching about the return of Christ and the doctrine of eschatology could be left to a later generation.

If Paul felt it necessary to explain prophetic facts 2000 years ago, it seems logical that there is an even greater necessity upon God’s servants at the present time to deal with this important subject. There never has been a generation nearer to the Lord’s return than the present one. We are closer to the end times than anyone has been, and you do not have to be a genius to work out that if there is one generation that has ever walked the face of this earth that ought to know about the return of Christ, what it means, and what circumstances will be prevailing when He comes, it is this generation. But I would venture to suggest that there might never have been a generation of God’s people so ignorant of these matters as the present one. Satan is the author of ignorance. He hath blinded minds, and the ignorance that prevails so widely today is of the devil.

God’s people should know that if the devil does not want them to see a thing, it certainly is something they should understand. And if the devil would seek to keep us from giving thought to what the Bible says about the return of Christ, you can be sure that it is an important subject to study. (more…)