27 November

Today's the day when in 1975 TV presenter Ross McWhirter was shot dead outside his home in London. Well-known as co-founder of The Guinness Book Of Records and host of the BBC TV programme Record Breakers, he was an outspoken critic of the IRA and had recently offered a reward of £50,000 for information leading to the arrest of IRA bombers. The gang that killed him were arrested two weeks later, following a six-day siege at a flat in London’s Balcombe Street. Charged with ten murders and 20 bombings they were jailed for life but were freed in April 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

McWhirter's determination to speak out against evil men and stand up for what he believed in reflects one strand of God's message through the prophet Ezekiel. He tells us that it is our responsibility to speak out and warn other people of the judgment that awaits them if they reject God. That’s not a very comfortable thing to do but listen to the serious warning God gives to those who will not speak out. This is from Ezekiel chapter 3:

When I say to a wicked man, "You will surely die," and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.