Burrendale Hotel IRA event: Victims hold alternative service
Victims of terrorism hold their own event on the main street of Newcastle Co Down as an event commemorating IRA leader Paul Magorrian takes place in the Burrendale Hotel at the other end of the town, on 16 August 2024.
Transcript
00:00thoughts on that reading from Psalm 10 and I think Glen has very aptly touched
00:08and we haven't communicated with one another but I do believe the spirit is at work when the cause
00:14is just. If ever we needed words of encouragement and hope and comfort then it's an occasion such
00:24as this when others are seeking to glorify, eulogize and justify a terrorist and acts of
00:32terrorism. When there are apologists for such vile acts that seek continuously through the last 20
00:39plus years to promote a revised narrative around the murderous campaign of terrorism in these isles.
00:47Even more difficult to fathom when victims of terrorism are part of the eulogizing of terrorists
00:54for many innocents it not only gives credence to terrorism it demeans remembrance and propagates
01:01the notional delusion of no alternative to murder and we know today sadly it's a different form of
01:09terrorism. It's an emotional terrorism, a terrorism that seeks to destroy the mental turmoil of the
01:18mind and I believe that it is deliberately sets out to cause as much hurt and trauma
01:25in the innocent families of those who have lost a father, a mother, a sister, a brother, son or
01:31daughter. Sad too that many within society have wittingly or unwittingly accepted that twisted
01:39narrative while not giving due care for how we the families of those impacted by terrorism now feel.
01:47As the memories of that day come flooding back to each one of us. Sad too that many seem to
01:55have chosen conveniently to forget our past or have no understanding of the horrors many endured
02:02to the point of being dismissive. Shares in the past just move on. I wonder if the shoe was on
02:11the other foot or if they were to walk on our shoes even for a day. I wonder would it make a
02:17difference? Would they be as willing to move on without repentance, remorse, acknowledgement of
02:23wrongdoing and a failure to execute true justice? Would they be equally content to have their noses
02:31rubbed in it day after day by the actions and words of apologists for terrorism reliving the
02:38trauma of their loss? Would they be willing to ignore and be ready to dismiss the controversy
02:45that it will all be forgotten? Psalm 10 is a wonderful reminder to have confidence
02:52in God's triumph over evil. It's a hymn of praise and even though at present we may find ourselves
03:00overwhelmed as the wickedness of humanity prevails, evil intentions or purpose knowingly to cause
03:07harm. The psalmist prays to God for God alone is the one who can deliver him from the troubles he
03:14faces. An encouragement for each one of us to pray and to remember God will deliver us from the snare
03:22of the wicked and from their constant goading. Yes the psalmist is perturbed, the wicked have
03:29no thought of God their creator and judge. It's a mindset that has existed through the centuries
03:36and exists even now. The arrogance of the wicked and stating they cannot be moved,
03:42praising evil, rejecting God. It is to their own detriment. The reality is that only those who
03:50stand in the faith and love of God and the knowledge of his word are those who will not be
03:56moved for they have a strong foundation, they have a future eternal hope. Verses 8 to 10.
04:06He sits in the lurking places of the villages, in the sacred places he murders the innocent,
04:11his eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless. You'd be forgiven and I would encourage you to
04:18read this psalm when you go home later on this evening but you would be forgiven for thinking
04:23that those words were written for a time such as this because they resonate now with each one of us
04:31in the present. Evil lurks in the background seeking to murder the innocent,
04:37fixing eyes on the poor and defenceless, believing they will be fall before them because of their
04:43strength. Evil lurks in the background planning its next move, how it will cause hurt among the
04:50poor and the helpless, the innocent with its glorification, spectacles and its revisionist
04:57narrative. Evil lurks in the background plotting how it can manipulate others to its cause by fair
05:05means or foul, tempting with falsehoods, twisted ideologies and empty promises. The wicked of the
05:14psalmist day believed that they were beyond rebuke and it seems the same is true in the present.
05:21Honouring and elevating terrorists and the belief that society must accept the same is nothing short
05:28of reprehensible. What legacy will it leave children and young people today that evil acts
05:35and those who perpetrated them were justified? It's not one that offers hope or a true and lasting
05:42peace if we choose to build our lives on the lie and not on the truth, God's truth.
05:51Sad as that is and morally unacceptable, it is as the psalmist says of the wicked,
05:56he has said in his heart God has forgotten, he hides his face he will never see.
06:04Is it that that they do not fear God or the coming judgment in the last days?
06:10But the psalmist also says in Psalm 37 and verse 13, the psalmist said the Lord laughs at him
06:18for he sees that his day has come. The Lord is laughing at the wicked, the Lord is laughing at
06:25those who would support the wicked, those who would declare evil good and good evil. God is laughing
06:33at each and every one of them because he knows that the wicked, their folly and disregard that
06:42nothing will be held to account. God knows it will because he knows when the day of the wicked
06:49will come.