“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, [there] ye may be also,” John 14:3.
Everyone has a future, though not necessarily as good and as happy as that set forth in the verse above!
Having dismissed the truth of God, mankind generally entertains optimistic notions of what the future holds for it. Believing as he does that he holds the future in his own hands and being convinced of the wonderful capabilities he possesses, man has bright hopes for what lies ahead, irrespective of his present or past circumstances.
He may have encountered financial ruin but business is going to pick up. A pandemic may have ravaged the nation’s health and its financial resources but tomorrow the clouds will lift and it will be all sunshine. The voters may have turned away from the party and are protesting on the streets but things are going to change, just you wait and see.
However, those ‘bluebirds’ looked for in the past have not yet been sighted over the white cliffs of Dover, though their sighting was promised some 80 years ago.
Well, yes, that was just a song designed to lift the spirits of the people in the midst of war but the optimism of mankind has generally ever been as vacuous as the hope of seeing bluebirds over Dover’s white cliffs!
FOUNDATION
Mankind’s hopefulness is based upon his own rationale. It takes no account whatsoever of what the Lord has to say on life’s affairs. Man sees the future through a telescope of his own constructing. When he peers through it he sees a brightness and a prosperity which he has painted upon the lens and fondly assumes that this is what the future holds for him.
The myth-making and the myth-believing may be seen in the worthlessness of the phrase which epitomised man’s optimism in the post 1914-1918 war years. The First World War was a ‘war to end all wars’ it was loudly proclaimed until Hitler ‘blitzed’ it to rubble!! How vain and empty was that wishful notion!
There is a hope which is not as an insubstantial vapour which vanishes away when its realisation is sought! It is the hope that is born of “the God of hope”, Romans 15:13. Such a hope is “sure and stedfast”, Hebrews 6:19.
Such a hope far exceeds anything man may envisage. Man’s hopes are born of his own imagination, exceedingly limited as it is. The hope that is born of God is set forth by John the apostle. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure,” 1 John 3:1-3.
This definition of the glorious future of the child of God is echoed by Paul.
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.
SOURCE OF SUCH A HOPE
This hope springs from faith in God’s Word. It has no other foundation or source. “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began,” Titus 1:1-2.
This “sure and stedfast” hope is built upon the promise of Him Who cannot lie. Thus Abraham, when called upon to believe that a most unnatural event would take place, the birth of a son to him and his wife when they were both very aged, unhesitatingly believed God. Indeed, Abraham is described as one ‘as good as dead,” Hebrews 11:12. Yet, for all that “he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God,” Romans 4:20.
Abraham’s ‘unstaggering’ faith sprang from the fact that what God said, Abraham considered true and faithful and utterly dependable!
EMPTY HOPE
Now, it is sadly true that there is a vast multitude in this world who have a ‘hope’ that is not born of faith in God’s Word. Rather, it is a fond dependence on their religious works, moral attainments and the assumption that they are guilty of nothing that will keep them out of the dwellings of eternal bliss.
That is a hope shared by those who would call themselves Christian, but who are not, those who are Roman Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and countless other religions invented by man!
This false ‘hope’ they all hold to with ‘unshakable’ tenacity and respond to any questioning of it often with ferocity!
That tragically sad situation is destined to end in the horrific realisation that will come with death. The death of the body will bring death to that false hope and the immeasurably awful dawning awareness of their lost estate in the everlasting burnings of which the Bible speaks and about which they cared to give no heed!
“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Isaiah 33:14.
SUBJECT
But back to our subject. What is the future for the DUP?
I have sought to highlight the universal tendency to grasp at the straw of false hopes in the religious realm. Well, such grasping is all too common on the political stage as well.
Following the dramatic and very unexpected fall of Mrs Arlene Foster as leader of the DUP, there is in progress the process whereby a successor will be chosen.
Two men have thrown their hats into the ring, Mr Edwin Poots and Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.
They have been setting forth their hopes for the party, for Ulster and for YOU! They are most ambitious indeed.
Mr Poots is reported as aiming to “restore the party's fortunes and rebuild unionism”. He plans to expose “republican propaganda and populism.” He intends “building a better future for everyone in the union”. He “also wants to see the unionist cause explained across the world in places such as London, Brussels and North America.”
He is nothing if not ambitious!
Sir Jeffrey likewise has wonderful plans up his sleeve!
He says he wants to build a “shared future for Northern Ireland where everyone, regardless of their background, has a part to play in showing the world what we are capable of”. The MP also said the next century would be built on “the politics of persuasion” and that would need “positive leadership, strategy and values”.
Now isn’t that all most wonderful! Either of these men, if elected, will bring in a period of ‘utopia’, the likes of which we have never seen before!
And if you believe that you must also count ‘Alice in Wonderland’ as one of the world’s leading historical tomes!!!
ONE SIMPLE QUESTION
Surely we have but to ask these men one simple question in order to explode the nonsense they would have us believe.
“Why have you not used these wonderful skills and abilities, with which you are going to accomplish these wonders, for the good and the advancement of the Unionist electorate before now?”
These men, collectively have been in politics for some 50 years, and what have they done to deliver Ulster from IRA terrorism and Westminster’s betrayal?
Both supported and still support the treacherous political coalition with Sinn Fein/IRA which has resulted in terrorists in government and in the political driving seat in Stormont. They have reaped rich salaries while presiding over a regime more disastrous than ever could have been imagined when Ulster’s Unionist population swallowed the shameful lies that brought about its endorsement of the DUP’s power-sharing deal with Sinn Fein/IRA.
They speak of “a better future for everyone” and a “shared future for Northern Ireland where everyone, regardless of their background, has a part to play in showing the world what we are capable of.”
And while they are performing these miracles they will also mix light with darkness and oil with water and turn lead into gold!!
To believe their shameful nonsense is to consider them greater than the magicians of Egypt who could, at least, with the devil’s help, turn their rods into serpents, Exodus 7:12. Of course, the magicians’ rods/serpents were eaten by Moses’ rod/serpent.
Maybe Messrs Poots and Donaldson should bear that in mind!
Both these men are professing Christians but I see nothing of the wisdom that comes from faith in God’s Word in all that they promise. Never do you hear politicians say: ‘I will seek to do this if it be God’s will’ or any statement remotely like it. Instead, they speak in the same tenor as did Nebuchaddnezzar of old in his foolish pride. “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” Daniel 4:30.
The DUP has for many years built its political programme on a wicked lie. They deceived many in Ulster into believing that a partnership with Sinn Fein/IRA would lead to a better future. That was criminal in the magnitude of its deceitfulness!
The Lord has said that: “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” 2 Corinthians 6:14-16.
There can be no success come out of that which is forbidden of God. It is to seek to build a permanent structure on a foundation of sand.
“And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it,” Matthew 7:26-27.
These two men, at best are planning to build on sand. Beware of believing them or seeking to take up occupation in that which they plan to erect.
God will bring it down!
Rev Ivan Foster.
5th May 2021.