Letter: Northern Ireland needs new political leaders with energy and a new vision to emerge from the grassroots
A letter from Clive Maxwell:
We are living in serious times where truth has been turned on its head and those in positions of leadership are complicit. None more so than our politicians.
We continue to vote for them, not out of respect, we have nowhere else to go!
They, in their turn, in their weakness, continue to sink deeper into the mess they have created, and drag us down with them.
In times like this you look to the churches for a message to lift our spirits and brighten the gloom, but they are in hiding.
They are certainly not serious about contending for the faith, and going over the top to attack the enemy lines.
They stay in their bunkers and preach to the converted; doctrinally sound and morally weak, they retreat when they should be going to war.
We used to have a Church that would have given a lead but they have lowered their colours and vanished into the undergrowth.
The churches have beaten their swords into ploughshares. We saw an example of that at ‘gay pride’.
A few brave souls turned up to witness, but the churches were posted missing; they remind me of Lot compromising in Sodom. He was despised and viewed with contempt.
If Christians were soldiers they would be court marshalled for a serious dereliction of duty and cowardice in the face of the enemy.
I salute all those who, against all the odds, are struggling to promote our faith, our history, and our culture.
I refer to independent groups of believers who, disillusioned with all the established churches, have stepped outside the camp and are up for the battle of truth, the young bandsmen valiantly trying to preserve our culture, sometimes facing the censure of upstarts in their own community, who in their ignorance look on with contempt.
We continue to be led by people who have demonstrated a distinct lack of leadership in the past, and led us into a mess.
We defer to these people and afford them a respect they haven’t earned.
Do we seriously believe that these same leaders, who should be viewed with contempt, have the vision and the capacity to lead us to higher ground?
That is a mountain too steep to climb.
I charge all those in Church and state who retired early, prematurely old, and now waiting for a telegram from the King, “you have passed your sell by date, and gone off, stay active and meditate.”
We need new leaders, with a new vision, to emerge from the grassroots, and the energy to lead us forward.
Pray, God, they’re out there, and up for it.
Clive Maxwell, Bleary