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The kettle calling the pot black!

Editor’s note: I have sent this letter to the Editor of the ‘Belfast Newsletter’ this morning.

Editor,

The article headlined : “Sammy Wilson launches broadside at Sinn Fein after MPs support Northern Ireland powersharing legislation” (23rd June 2021) should really have been entitled: “The kettle calling the pot black!”

Surely Sammy hasn’t forgotten that in 2007 his party, the DUP, embraced Sinn Fein with all their lies and deceit, in the infamous ‘power-sharing deal’ which without question lies at the root of today’s disastrous circumstances.

Sadly, there is a stubborn determination on the part of Sammy (a good friend in former times) and the total membership of the DUP, to refuse to acknowledge their grievous error in 2007.

Ulster has been paying for it ever since and, sadly, will continue paying a high price for there is just no sign of any awareness of the follies of the past within the DUP!

So another chapter of tragedy is about to begin!

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
Kilskeery, Co Tyrone.

God is Still Speaking…

A consideration of an article by Mrs Lindsay Robinson, recently given publicity in a number of media outlets which have given the article a favourable reception.

What a person thinks is not always seen in direct, forthright and bold declarations of their views but it is found in an incidental manner. Such is the case in the article under consideration. Mrs Robinson reveals fortuitously just what it is she believes! I will illustrate that by examining some statements she makes taken from her published article.

I think it is true that Mrs Robinson has in the past gone through a trying time of mental stress. We have sympathy for her in that battle. However, it is no answer to such trials to abandon the Word of God and seek answers from extraneous sources.

1. “I don’t have all the answers as to why (church attendance is falling) and I want to clearly acknowledge that in many areas and on many issues the church does good, hopeful and helpful work – supporting foodbanks, community initiatives, holiday schemes and children/youth activities to name a few.”

That is an interesting summary of what Mrs Robinson considers the ‘good, hopeful and helpful work’ done by churches.

I find it interesting because of what she makes no mention of — the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. (more…)

Another significant political event yesterday!

With all the ‘hullabaloo’ yesterday surrounding the chaos within the DUP ranks it would have been easy to miss another very significant ‘political’ event.

Here is how the BBC headlined the event.

Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan becomes NI’s first female top judge

It would appear that this lady has been ‘fast-tracked’ to the top. She was educated at St. Clare’s Primary School and Sacred Heart Grammar School, Newry, County Down and then Queen’s University, Belfast.

She recently presided at the inquest into the killing of 10 people in an Army operation in Ballymurphy in west Belfast in 1971. To many her verdict at that inquest was faulty and showed prejudice.

I wrote an article at the time, entitled “A Suspicious Conclusion About Ballymurphy Deaths”.

Here is part of what we wrote concerning Justice Keegan’s conclusions at that inquest.


The central claim of Mrs Justice Keegan in her findings is most astonishing!

What Mrs Justice Keegan, who is a Roman Catholic Judge, said at the conclusion of her Coroner’s Court findings was: “What is very clear, is that all of the deceased in the series of inquests were entirely innocent of any wrongdoing on the day in question.”

Given the circumstances of the events in Ballymurphy on that day, surely those on the street were essentially guilty of being part of a lawless assembly? Anyone who was “entirely innocent of any wrongdoing” would have hastened from the scene of rioting and murderous disorder. Anyone who persisted in being present upon the streets when the Army was defending itself from IRA snipers firing from many positions, often from behind the ranks of the civilians on the streets, cannot be considered as being “entirely innocent”. Rather, at the very least, they were guilty of recklessly endangering their own lives. It must also be considered that they were aiding and abetting a murderous attack upon the lawful custodians of law and order. (more…)