"How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land?" Psalm 137:4. The people of God have often been taken into captivity by their enemies without ever leaving their native soil. That truth is fully illustrated for us in the book of Judges, when the forces of foreign invaders enforced their ways upon God's people. Indeed, whenever a believer backslides they have, in every sense of the word, become captives of the enemy, Romans 7:23; 2 Timothy 3:6; Ps 142:7; Rom 8:2; 2 Tim 2:25-26. Today in NI, we are facing an invasion which will result in God's people coming more and more under captivity. There will be a removal of that environment which, if it did not positively encourage holiness, did not strenuously hinder those pursuing it. As in all captivities there is a growing suppression of the ways and aspirations of the captives and a promoting of the lifestyle embraced by the captors. Daniel 1:4 is an example of this. In NI we will see a progressive development of a lifestyle alien to the child of God. It is already seen in the promotion of sodomy by the Stormont government. The ways of the gospel are being increasingly stigmatised and the standards of the Bible abandoned. Our text dramatically depicts the emotions of those who find themselves living under such an ungodly regime. Our psalm highlights one of the consequences of such a situation developing . . . the loss of the Lord's song.