“And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them,” Acts 16:9-10.

Acts chapter 16 is filled with the glories of the wondrous grace of God toward sinners. It is famous for the record of the conversion of a hardened sinner, the jailer of Philippi.

Is it not most amazing the lengths to which the Lord will go to awaken a lost soul?

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed,” Acts 16:25-26.

Folly

This wonderful event is quickly followed by a display of sinful man’s utterly foolish notion of what is the best thing to do in a time of crisis!

“And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled,” verse 27.

Paul’s response to the most unwise action of the jailer embodies the core of the purpose of the gospel. (more…)

The isolation of Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom has reached a new level, or as Jim Allister MP, rightly puts it, a humiliating stage.

‘Day of humiliation’ for UK as Irish Sea Border Control Post opened in Larne – Jim Allister

So runs the headline in the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ of July 28th, 2025.

That which Irish Republicanism, the Roman Catholic Church and the anti-Protestant members of the British parliament, both Conservative and Labour, have long sought — the expulsion of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, is all but accomplished!

‘​The division of the United Kingdom under the Windsor Framework has been ‘cemented in’ by the opening of a new border control post at Larne, Jim Allister has said.’

‘​On Monday, a new piece of Irish Sea Border infrastructure became operational at the County Antrim port – with Belfast due to have its facility put in place early next month.

‘​The division of the United Kingdom under the Windsor Framework has been ‘cemented in’ by the opening of a new border control post at Larne, Jim Allister has said.

​On Monday, a new piece of Irish Sea Border infrastructure became operational at the County Antrim port – with Belfast due to have its facility put in place early next month.

The Border Control Posts (BCPs) are a requirement of the post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and EU – and are designed to allow the EU to monitor what products are entering Northern Ireland, which is treated as a part of the European single market.’

‘As the All-Ireland Internal Market for Goods is defined by laws made by Dublin, and the rest of the EU, which are then simply imposed upon us, these Border Control Posts serve a wholly ignoble purpose. They are there to protect the ‘integrity’ of the consequence of our disenfranchisement and secure the disruption of our best economic interests as we are forcibly alienated from the greater part of what has been our home economy for goods for more than two hundred years.’

This amounts to an ‘expelling’ of Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and it has to be said that the DUP aided and abetted this act of treachery! The DUP entered an agreement with the Conservative Government in 2024 by which a power-sharing executive, led by Sinn Fein/IRA was restored and out of that agreement sprang the ‘Windsor Framework’ and the ‘hiving off’ of Northern Ireland from mainland UK! (more…)