Article

The following is taken from the official Stormont Assembly Hansard report of Monday 21st February 2022.

Various Assembly members spoke on the subject of the sudden death of Mr Christopher Stalford. MLA.

Scroll down to almost the end of this report for the comments I refer to.

I was interested in the statement made by Mr Easton, who was a DUP member until last year and now sits as an Independent Unionist. The link to his statement was sent to me by a friend.

Here is what Mr Easton said. I will highlight those parts that I would like Christians to particularly note.

“I wish to pass on my deepest condolences to Laura and the four children and to the Democratic Unionist Party. Christopher was born to be a politician. All of us knew how passionate he was about South Belfast and the people whom he represented. He was a wonderful individual. He had a mischievous side to him as well, which I will touch on in a wee second. He was articulate, intelligent, humorous and loyal to the DUP, his friends, the Orange Order and Ulster. He was a loyal Ulsterman. He also had his faith, which was very important to him.

I knew Christopher for over 20 years. When Peter Weir joined the DUP, I came to know Christopher, because he worked for Peter in the office. One side to Christopher that you maybe did not see was his mischievous side. One day when we were out canvassing for Peter for the 2003 Assembly election, it was pouring with rain, and Christopher and I had been left to cover an area on our own. Christopher turned round to me and said, ‘Stuff this. Let’s go and get a pint of Guinness’, so we went and got a pint of Guinness and put the world to rights. Unfortunately, Peter, that happened a few times, so I apologise to you. [Laughter.] Christopher was a wonderful character and an eccentric. He was somebody who, if you were walking past his room, would have called you in, sat you down and chatted away to you. He was a wonderful man, and we will all really miss him. For me, the most important thing to remember about Christopher is that he had his Christian faith. That is why I know, with some comfort, that one day I will meet him again.” (more…)

“And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God:

KNOWEST THOU NOT YET THAT EGYPT IS DESTROYED?”

Exodus 10:7.

I thought of the above text as I contemplated what, I believe, will be the final outcome of Vladimir Putin’s wicked and cruel attack upon Ukraine. Pride, obstinacy and greed blind men to the inevitable consequences of their folly. So it was with Pharaoh in the days before his destruction under God’s judgment at the Red Sea. His foolish heart still anticipated a destroying of Israel as he pursued God’s people into the miraculously open Red Sea. But the way of escape for the Hebrews was the way of destruction for the Egyptians!

“And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them,” Exodus 14:27-28.

The latest estimates of Putin’s mental processes go so far as to suggest he is paranoid! It is reported that he has put Russian nuclear deterrent forces on high alert as the furious leader hits out at the West. As one headline puts it: “Fears ‘paranoid’ Putin has lost his mind as leader limits contact to inner circle”. Anyone with a knowledge of the history of the close of WW II, will know that is how Hitler ended his days — in his bunker in Berlin! Things are just not going as the tyrant planned. He has even entered ‘peace talks’ with Ukraine. That is not a sign that he is any longer confident of victory! (more…)

Has not the Lord brought confusion upon the ‘camp’ of Unionism because of its duplicity and denial of the ‘old paths’ that were once followed in Ulster!

It appears that the DUP is led by a man who would wish himself just about anywhere else!

His denials of talks with the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Doug Beattie, with a view to him forsaking the DUP and rejoining the party which he left some years ago, have been challenged by the leader of the UUP, the man with whom he held the talks!!

Here is how the matter is stated in the ‘Belfast Telegraph’.

---

Doug Beattie insists DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson did meet about switching to Ulster Unionists

“Doug Beattie has said he is in no doubt that talks with the DUP leader were about Sir Jeffrey Donaldson joining the party – and he has evidence to prove it. (more…)