SF man must now attend his tribunal

How could such a committed and brutal terrorist apparently become an elder statesman?

The answer however is quite simple and is found where the answers to all life’s question lie, in the Bible.

For over 20 years Martin McGuinness supported, and participated in, an IRA campaign that time and again plumbed the very depths of depravity.

Bishop Edward Daly was quoted as describing the murder of Patsy Gillespie in 1990 as ‘the work of satan’.

Then came an apparent change. But in 2 Cor 11 vs 14,15 Paul tells us that satan can transform himself into an angel of light, so making himself acceptable, plausible, and even likeable, and that he can, in the same way, transform his servants.

The word ‘transform’ here means a change of the outward form, while the inner form remains unchanged. And so Martin McGuinness continued to serve his master as for over 20 years he strode the world stage becoming acceptable, plausible, and even likeable to both friend and foe.

But his frequently expressed pride in all that the IRA had done proved that the inner man remained unchanged. One aspect was rarely mentioned this week – his future. That too is revealed to us in 2 Cor 5 vs 10 ‘for we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ’.

Today Martin McGuinness knows that he must attend this tribunal.

Having rejected Christ in life he will have no advocate before Almighty God, and so he knows even now his certain sentence.

So today the terrorist waits in utter terror.

Howard Brooker, Fermanagh