Choose you this day

‘Choose you this day’ With the elections of May 5th coming ever closer, the concept of choice is uppermost on the mind of the electorate; while the choice for some will be based upon tradition or habit, for others, it will be a matter of conviction or conscience. From an evangelical Protestant prospective, I want to highlight a situation that is sweeping through Ulster like an odourless poisonous gas. For generations, the diverse political establishment here, has been associated with Christianity; irrespective, as to what end of the political spectrum may be considered, the one dominant factor was that, the moral and ethical outlook was predicated to the Word of God. Ever since the St Andrews Agreement, the subtle wind of change has been blowing through the electorate; little by little the focus has been turning away from once held Christian values and principles, towards Secularism. While this phenomenon is evident on a global scale, it becomes more apparent at home here because of our strong religious heritage; whether that is Protestant or Roman Catholic. Nowhere is that change more remarkable than in the Protestant and Unionist tradition; there appears to be a greater impetus in compromising or even rejecting Biblical Christian principles and values so as to guarantee political progress. The Reformed Faith position is being discredited and destroyed by some Unionist politicians, just for political expediency; they appear to have no difficulty in abandoning Christian principles in order to choose Secularist ones. Remarkably, the front runners in this situation are the DUP, backed by the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster; they have chosen the path of ‘Sharing’ as an alternative to that of ‘Separation’. Now it is time for the people to ‘chose’; in the days of Joshua, the people had to consciously choose whether they should be identified with the Lord God of heaven, or be identified with the Secularism of their day. ‘And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve ….. but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.’ Rev Mervyn Cotton