The resignation of Mrs Arlene Foster as leader of the DUP raises the question of who will replace her?

As a ‘Unionist’ of the ‘old school’ and as a Protestant, I would reckon that the number of likely candidates is small, very small!

What are the qualities of a ‘good leader’? 

For an answer to that I must turn to the Bible.  

THERE WE LEARN THAT RULERS OBTAIN THEIR MANDATE TO GOVERN FROM THE LORD.

From the Bible’s pages we are instructed: “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, [even] all the judges of the earth,” Proverbs 8:15-16.

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God,” Romans 13:1.

As Daniel said long ago, “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what [is] in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him,” Daniel 2:20-22.

The same Daniel said to Belshazzar of Nebuchadnezzar his grandfather: “But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: and he was driven from the sons of men; and his heartwas made like the beasts, and his dwelling [was] with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and [that] he appointeth over it whomsoever he will,” Daniel 5:20-22.

Political power seems to generate arrogance and defiance. It certainly can be said of the DUP, especially since 2007, when they entered into a power-sharing arrangement with those enemies of righteousness, Sinn Fein/IRA. In recent years under Arlene Foster, that defiance accelerated with ever more evidence of an increasing empathy with the sodomite lobby!

Confusion

The DUP has been brought to confusion by a forgetting of this truth! It embraced and endorsed policies that were an offence to God. There needs to be a restoring of God and His truth to their rightful place for any new leader to see any measure of recovery for the party.

There are quite a few Christians within the ranks of the DUP elected politicians in Stormont. They openly have professed faith in Christ and an allegiance to God’s Word. Sadly however, that did not stop them acquiescing to the party pursuing a political line that entailed the approving of many things that were an offence to God.

They accepted the party’s endorsement of a candidate in the last council election who was an open sodomite. DUP councillors have quietly sat on the same council as this person and raised no objections to the direction the party decided upon when such a candidate was chosen and affirmed.

Is it likely then that there will come forth a ‘champion’ who fully endorses the Bible’s teaching on the faith that a leader should manifest? I honestly do not think so.

AGAIN, WE MAY SAY THAT A RULER MUST HAVE INTEGRITY!

Integrity is the possession of that quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. One incident sets forth the utter lack of such among the DUP politicians at Stormont. In 2016 Arlene Foster faced down an internal dissent and obtained an endorsement for pardons for those convicted of sodomy under the old law when such behaviour was a crime. Not one DUP MLA came forward to second Jim Allister’s opposition to the proposal. Therefore it passed.

How those DUP MLAs who profess faith in Christ can hold up their heads is beyond me!

Is it likely that from the ranks of such there will come forth a standard-bearer who could carry the flag of ‘integrity’ without the enemies falling over themselves in laughter!I think not.

I don’t think that Ulster was ever more bereft of stalwarts fitted for the challenges of the day than it is today.

In the political realm, there is only one man who has obtained for himself a degree of honour for his faithful opposition to the sell-out and that is Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice Party.

He is not a member of the DUP, having left it when it entered a coalition arrangement with Sinn Fein/IRA so he is most certainly not in the running for the leadership of that party he has so steadfastly opposed and which has caused him, and those of a like mind as he, so much despair and angst in recent years!

Rev Ivan Foster. Rtd
28th April, 2021.