We have abandoned our national plumb line.

Who used chemical weapons in Syria? Who was responsible for the latest atrocity that killed civilians and children? Who can we believe – Russia? Assad? Iran? Turkey? Where can we obtain independent and reliable news reports? These are just some of the questions that people throughout the Western world are asking.

The USA has answered decisively that Assad is to blame so they have destroyed (allegedly?) the airfield from which the attack was (allegedly?) launched.

The pictures we have seen on TV news reports and in our newspapers, show horrific scenes of children suffering breathing problems from chemical weapons and wounds from bombing, but will we ever know who was responsible for these atrocities? Will we ever know the truth?

No Yardstick for Truth

If we have to judge between ISIS and Assad as to who is telling the truth, we really do have a problem. They are both Muslims and the Islamic religion sanctions the telling of lies if doing so promotes their religion. This makes it extremely difficult in any social relationships in mixed communities. You can never be quite sure which standard of truth is being applied.

Of course, we know that truth has been under attack for centuries – evidenced by Pilate’s famous cynical question at the fake trial of Jesus, “what is truth?” But something extraordinary seems to be happening in our lifetime, and in our nation: it is the deliberate distortion of truth. We hear so many reports of ‘fake news’, or ‘alternative facts’ and it is increasingly difficult to separate out fact from fiction, especially amidst a bombardment of tweets, news flashes, adverts and coded messages.

Something extraordinary seems to be happening in our lifetime, and in our nation: the deliberate distortion of truth.

Communication of the truth becomes increasingly complex, even in ordinary everyday things of life. When we listen to news reports on the radio we can never be sure of the veracity of what is being reported. The basic problem is the lack of agreed standards of truth. Without a yardstick, we cannot measure anything. There was even a report last week saying that the marathon that has been run in different places has been inaccurately measured, thus calling into question the times achieved by different athletes.

Amos Faced the Same Battle

The Prophet Amos faced the same battle for truth in the nation of Israel. People were all making up their own standards and the teaching given by Moses was being ignored. Everyone did as they pleased. The poor came off worst. They were cheated in the market by merchants who used dishonest scales or who brushed a lot of chaff and dust into the bag when they were selling corn to the housewife (Amos 8:5-6).

If a poor housewife went to court trying to get justice against a rich merchant, it would be the rich man who won because the judge was corrupt and accepted a bribe before he gave his decision, so the poor were deprived of justice in the courts (Amos 5:12).

Amos was outraged by this and many other things he saw in the nation such as selling the poor into slavery, a father and a son abusing a girl and drunken behaviour (Amos 2:6-8). He took this to God in prayer and got some very straight answers about judgment coming upon the nation.

Checking the City Walls

Amos was not only a righteous man but he was also compassionate and he pleaded with God to have mercy on the people. He had several revelations of what God was going to do and each time he pleaded that this would not happen. Eventually God showed him a picture of a man standing by a wall with a plumb line in his hand and God asked him “What do you see Amos?” “A plumb line,” he replied. Then the Lord said “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer” (Amos 7:8).

Amos knew that there was no further point in arguing. He had seen the city engineer regularly checking the city walls with a plumb line. They were looking for the wall becoming out of line – out of exact perpendicular. In particular, the engineer had to look for bulges.

Our problem is our lack of agreed standards of truth. Without a yardstick, we cannot measure anything.

The city walls were built with an outer and an inner wall of stone with a gap between. The gap was usually filled with rubble which often also contained household rubbish. It was this rubbish that presented a danger because it could sometimes generate heat which could put pressure upon the outer and inner walls causing them to bulge. The bulge meant that the wall could crack and suddenly fall, leaving the city open to the invasion of enemies.

The engineer had to check for the bulges which indicated that there was corruption inside the wall. When Amos saw this, he got the message that God was communicating to him.

There would come a point when the corruption in the nation would become so strong that family life and harmonious community relationships would all be affected by the lies and injustice of corrupt officials and lawless individuals. If the nation went on ignoring the warning signs of corruption and the cracks in the justice system, in family life and in community relations – the outcome would be disastrous. It would happen without further warning, in an instant when nobody was expecting it.

Message to Britain

The Prophet Isaiah had a similar message:

Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly in an instant. It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of the cistern. (Isa 30:12-14) [emphasis added]

This is a message to Britain today. There have been many warning signs over a number of years of corruption among officials in our nation - in the banking industry, among our politicians, in local government and business as well as in family life and community relationships. The savage beating of a young asylum seeker in Croydon has shocked the nation – that there can be such barbaric cruelty and violence among young people in Britain is horrifying.

If our nation goes on ignoring the warning signs of corruption – the outcome will be sudden and disastrous.

But this is simply evidence of corruption in the nation: the breakdown of family life and the abandonment of teaching truth in our schools. When we ceased to teach the Bible in state schools we abandoned the plumb line of truth. Now we are reaping the inevitable rewards of a lawless generation. But it’s no good blaming the young people – we are all to blame!

The only hope for the future is repentance and turning to the word of God for his truth to be enshrined at the heart of the nation. Jesus promised, “When he, the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). This should surely be the focal point of prayer among Christians for our leaders, both Church and State!

Revolutionary winds of change are beginning to blow across Europe. CLIFFORD HILL asks: Are we heading for a new social revolution?

There is a groundswell of protest from ordinary people who are fed up with politicians who have held a stranglehold on power for decades. New political movements are spawning and growing fast. People are tired of the political establishment and are looking for alternatives - any alternative!

In Greece a protest party came from nothing in a little over five years and are now ruling the nation. Could a similar thing happen in Britain? Could UKIP, SNP and the Greens break the stranglehold of the two-party system that has ruled Britain for 100 years? People are looking for change.

Grassroots Unrest

The social unrest at the grassroots has been sparked by unemployment, the credit crunch, austerity measures; and the corruption, lies and deceit that are being exposed among politicians. People no longer trust their leaders.

But there is something deeper going on, similar to a kind of ‘Peasants’ Revolt’ spreading across Europe. Widespread immigration has led to rapid cultural change. On 15 April this year it was reported that 8,000 migrants had crossed the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy in the past week, some of whom will no doubt head for Britain. Such influxes often lead to fear that precious social heritages are being lost. At the same time freedom of speech is being strangled by so-called Equality Laws. But the challenge to the political establishment from the grassroots is beginning to impact political and cultural leaders as demonstrated in two significant events.

Unrest from the top down

Two significant events have occurred in the past month that may signal change from the top down as well as from the grassroots up!

The first is a resolution passed by the Council Assembly of the European Parliament entitled "Tackling intolerance and discrimination in Europe with a special focus on Christians". Its object is to draw attention to the fact that the "expression of faith is sometimes unduly limited by national legislation and policies which do not allow the accommodation of religious beliefs and practices”. In plain language – we are losing our freedom of speech! Christians can’t talk about their faith for fear of offending someone and losing their job! Most significantly, the resolution calls for member states to “uphold freedom of conscience in the workplace” (Section 6.2.2).

It is in the workplace where many Christians have fallen foul of British equality laws. There have been reports of Christians being entrapped by hostile colleagues who ask questions or pretend to want advice or prayer and then complain to the authorities that they have been offended. Many Christians have lost their jobs and reports of these dubious practices created by the equality laws have been highlighted in the press and have outraged public opinion. At last, the European Parliament is getting the message! The so-called “tolerant society” has become a monster of intolerance!

"It is in the workplace where many Christians have fallen foul of British equality laws. But at last, the European Parliament is getting the message!"

The second significant event is the action of Trevor Phillips, the former Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality. He has made a groundbreaking exposure of the multicultural mess that exists in Britain created by the social engineering of idealistic politicians pursuing Utopian dreams based upon their secular humanist principles which ride roughshod over centuries of Judaeo-Christian tradition.

The Racket of Multiculturalism

Trevor Phillips has attacked what he calls the ‘racket of multiculturalism’ sparked during the Blair Government era, that led to the silencing of debate on racial issues and the intimidation of anyone who dared to question the action of those in authority in society. The so-called ‘hate’ and ‘equality’ laws have been responsible for enormous harm in our national life.

"The 'racket of multiculturalism' has led to the silencing of debate on racial issues and the intimidation of anyone who dares question the action of those in authority."

Thousands of girls in Rochdale, Rotherham, Oxford and other cities have had their lives ruined by gangs of Pakistani men who have systematically groomed and sexually abused them. Although many people in authority in the so-called 'caring professions' as well as the police were aware of this abuse, they were afraid to speak out in case they were accused of being racist or Islamophobic or some other modern invention of secular sin.

The height of stupidity in our multicultural mess was surely when the actor Benedict Cumberbatch was immersed in a barrage of criticism for using the word 'coloured' instead of 'black' when making an important point about the lack of employment opportunities for young people.

Election Challenge

Now is the time to challenge politicians and would-be politicians in the run-up to the General Election. We have the chance to put on the political agenda all these issues that affect our freedom of speech.

Christians should be taking every opportunity of raising these issues in local newspapers, in hustings, on chat shows, local radio and social media. It is not enough to say “a plague on all your houses!” to the politicians; we have to make the voice of sanity heard in the nation or we will lose our freedom of speech forever.