Calling for little ships of hope to rescue us from disaster

As we approach the 80^th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, I finally got round to watching the DVD of the movie Dunkirk which my son bought for my birthday. The subject has many lessons for the current state of Britain, facing a crisis even darker and more dangerous than confronted us then.

It was obvious, in May 1940, that we faced disaster from which the chances of successful escape were pretty much impossible. But what we had then, and we don’t have now, was a God-fearing nation. Most of the young people portrayed in the film would have had fresh memories of Sunday School and would have felt relatively comfortable about calling to Heaven for help while, at home, mums and dads were quick to respond to the King’s call for prayer, with queues forming outside churches up and down the country.

God was even mentioned in Churchill’s famous speech: “We will fight on the beaches; we will fight on the landing grounds…we shall never surrender…” until victory was achieved “in God’s good time”. It took five more years, but the great man got it right.

Yet none of these factors was reflected in Christopher Nolan’s epic film, which attributed our deliverance only to British grit and the ‘Dunkirk spirit’. Though otherwise brilliant as a production and cinematic experience, it failed miserably in this important aspect, especially considering the great care invested in ensuring accuracy in every detail.

Apart from a few oblique references to the need for a miracle, the ‘God factor’ was meticulously filtered out of the picture. And yet, as the producers made clear in the special features disc that comes with the DVD, they were trying to portray things at the deep end, as it were, in the heart of the action, from three different angles – those of the soldiers, the pilots and the brave boatmen.

Dunkirk has lessons for the current situation in Britain, facing a crisis even darker and more dangerous than confronted us then.

A Miracle Indeed

Three 'little ships' from the Dunkirk evacuation, 1940. Yes, it was our darkest hour of the war; we stood on the brink of invasion with our army trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk. But the call for help went out, prayers were offered and 338,000 men lived to fight another day - ten times more than the most optimistic estimate of Churchill and the generals.

It was a miracle indeed. The sea was becalmed, Hitler inexplicably ordered his troops to halt for three days as they began to surround the British Expeditionary Force in a pincer-like movement, a combination of cloud cover and brave Spitfire pilots restricted carnage inflicted by the Luftwaffe, while some 800 fishing and pleasure boats mounted an extraordinary rescue.

Yet it had been an apparently hopeless situation, resembling the plight of the Israelites fleeing slavery in Egypt, trapped on a beach with the army bearing down upon them and nothing but the Red Sea in front of them. Thankfully, Moses had his instructions from God and, when he lifted up his staff, the sea parted to make way for their escape.

We too need the God of Moses. He is still there; and he is not deaf. He is merely awaiting our call for help. But many of today’s young men are being left on the beaches, apparently with no hope, because no-one has told them of Jesus (Rom 10:14).

Not by Might, Nor by Power

This is a darker hour even than Dunkirk, because our present climate of chaos and confusion is the result of switching off the light of Christ from our national life. We have turned our backs on the God of the Bible to follow our own selfish and foolish ways, leading to an unprecedented breakdown in family life. We are on the brink of complete ruin.

But a remnant of Christians is praying for deliverance from this evil. They represent the ‘little ships’ crossing the dangerous currents of secular culture to rescue Britain from despair and degradation, trapped by a godless ideology that offers neither hope nor comfort.

Small groups of Jesus followers, meeting in homes around the country as well as in more formal venues, are trimming their sails to the wind of the Spirit as they seek God’s victory in our nation. They are not great in numbers but, like Gideon’s 300-strong army, they do command huge potential power. For when the Israelites of old cried out to God for deliverance from the crushing oppression of the Midianites, God called Gideon – the least of the least in terms of personal stature – to lead the rescue.

We too must dispense with our idols, our false gods of materialism and humanism, and our politically correct agendas, as Gideon was ordered to do (Judg 6:25-32). And we must remember that it is “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zech 4:6) that the enemies of God will be defeated.

This is a darker hour even than Dunkirk – but a remnant of Christians is praying for our deliverance from evil.

Biblical Boats, Spiritual Lessons

Noah’s Ark (and indeed the Red Sea crossing) also pictures rescue (salvation) for those trusting in Christ, who are saved from the depths of the sea that would otherwise have drowned them by putting their faith in the God of Israel.

Sea of Galilee: Much of Jesus’ earthly ministry was focused on boats plying this wondrous stretch of water. Photo: Charles GardnerIt is significant, I believe, that much of Jesus’ earthly ministry was carried out in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee, particularly in or around boats. When the disciples were struggling in rough seas, Jesus came to them walking on water. And as soon as he got into the boat, they reached the shore – a miraculous intervention no doubt (John 6:16-21)!

On another occasion, in the midst of a squall that threatened to capsize the boat, Jesus rebuked the storm with a word and all was calm, causing the disciples to ask one another: “Who is this, who commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him?” (Luke 8:22-25). We all need Jesus in our lifeboat, and Britain is once again looking for little ships of disciples to rescue us from disaster.

Every Day with Jesus,¹ calling for biblical wisdom, underscores this point: “At this present time, enemy forces threaten us. Marriages are crumbling, and the moral ropes that once held us so fast and firm and now frayed.”

As with the Jews of ancient times, God came to our rescue in 1940. But, just like them, we soon forgot the means of our great deliverance by forsaking God’s commands, which produced a generation that tragically never saw the Promised Land. We mustn’t let that happen again.

Notes

1 Bible-reading notes produced by Crusade for World Revival, originally written by the late Selwyn Hughes.

Shameful treatment of Jewish ‘illegal immigrants’ recalled as migrant crisis takes hold

Among the incidents reported over a Christmas period during which I was largely preoccupied with the death of my dear mother were the illegal immigrant crisis and the potential disaster of a rogue drone that brought Gatwick Airport to a standstill. There is a poignant connection between the two that has an important message for Britain in the new year.

Jews trying to escape the gas chambers were once prevented by the British from entering their own fatherland, a nation that has now come to our rescue by providing the technology used to ground the unmanned flying machine.

Before, during and immediately after World War II, British soldiers were ordered to deal with ‘illegal immigrants’ to Israel, and the grossly insensitive way in which they handled it still reverberates in the hearts of those who experienced it and their descendants.

The greatest injustice of that tardy episode in our history was the fact that Britain had been charged by the League of Nations to prepare the Holy Land for re-settlement by Jews who had been scattered and persecuted among the nations for almost 2,000 years.

It was thus an obvious refuge for Jews desperately trying to flee Nazi-occupied Europe. But in order to appease the region’s Arab population, who used violence and intimidation to discourage Jewish repatriation, we disgracefully limited the quota of immigrants.

Although we had recognised, finally, that you couldn’t negotiate with fanatical dictators like Hitler, we failed to apply the same lesson to our dealings with the Arabs of the Middle East.

Where Are You My Child?

The story of one particular family, as told by Aliza Ramati in Where Are You My Child? (published by Zaccmedia), is especially harrowing and helps to bring the current migrant crisis into perspective.

Theirs was a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire – escaping from the Fuhrer’s claws only to be crunched by the jaws of the British lion. After fleeing Czechoslovakia in November 1940, they eventually joined 1,800 refugees boarding a rickety old ship designed to carry only 300 people.

The grossly insensitive way in which Britain handled Jewish immigration to Israel still reverberates in the hearts of those who experienced it and their descendants.

Because they didn’t have the necessary papers, the crew were reluctant to press on with any haste for fear of incurring the wrath of the authorities themselves, so the desperate passengers kept bribing them with jewellery and other gifts. But the journey was perilous, with much sickness and death. And when, after some months, they finally caught sight of Haifa, they were surrounded by the British navy who treated them like dogs before re-routing them to detention camps in the faraway Indian Ocean island of Mauritius as well as in Atlit, near Haifa.

The Exodus, the most famous ship carrying Jewish immigrants back to the Land. Photo taken in 1947, after the British boarded the vessel.Some were transferred to a bigger ship, the SS Patria, which was subsequently blown up and sunk with the loss of 250 lives.

The Haganah, an underground Jewish movement fighting the British, planted a bomb on the vessel with the apparent intention of only disabling it in order to prevent the deportation of its passengers, but the plan went horribly wrong.

As a result, the family at the centre of this true story got separated in the chaos following the explosion – husband from wife, and wife from baby, feared drowned. Another described swimming to safety through a sea of blood. But a Viennese man had saved the child, who was reunited with his mother some time later.

The family somehow survived their ordeals to realise their dream of settling in Israel, though it took a circuitous route via Mauritius where, with the help of the Czech consulate in South Africa, the storyteller’s grandfather enlisted as a Czech soldier fighting the Germans and was eventually posted to Israel, where he deserted in order to join the Haganah.

His wife, however, was treated with compassion by one British officer, who paid for it with imprisonment and who wrote: “I joined the British army with the intention of fighting the Nazis…To my sorrow, I was not sent to the battlefield, as I had hoped. Instead, I was sent here to assist in taking care of the Jewish illegal immigrants…I’m a soldier, and I must obey orders, but I am doing everything I can in order not to lose my humanity…”.

Exploring the Jewish roots of our faith adds clarity and insight to the truths of Scripture.

Connecting to Our Roots

The book is the product of a school ‘Roots’ project undertaken by 13-year-old Roni, who successfully traced the tortuous and heroic path of her ancestors with the aid of cassette recordings of her great-grandparents.
Family tree searches have become quite fashionable – and that’s a good thing as knowledge of our roots helps us appreciate the positive influences of past generations.

In the same way, it is vitally important and hugely enriching for Christians to explore the Judaic roots of their faith, adding clarity and insight to the great truths of Scripture which, of course, came to us through the Jewish people and patriarchs.

A better understanding of our roots might well have prevented much of the persecution suffered by Jews at the hands of ‘Christian’ Europe.

Western civilisation itself is based on the framework of biblical teaching perfectly reflected in Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, and if we cut ourselves off from its influence, we will lose the sap that gives us life, light, wisdom and compassion – and will wither and die as a tree does when cut off from its roots (see Rom 11:17f).

The future of our civilisation depends on remaining connected to these roots. Those who oppose Israel need to understand that we cannot do without them. Even the technology that brought down the drone at Gatwick was developed in Israel, whose expertise in dealing with terror is proving beneficial to all.¹

The future of Western civilisation depends on our remaining connected to our Judeo-Christian roots.

As for the Iranian and other migrants risking their lives trying to cross the Channel, there is a need for compassion, mixed with wisdom. Above all, we must not repeat the shameful response of the British to the Jews trying to escape the gas chambers.

Jesus famously said: “Do to others what you would have them do to you” – the so-called ‘golden rule’ – “for this sums up the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 7:12).

References

1 Israeli anti-Drone Technology Helps Reopen London’s Gatwick Airport. United with Israel, 23 December 2018. 

Thousands of refugees and migrants continue to pour into Europe every day, fear of terrorism grows daily and the nations struggle to find a long-term solution. What does the future hold?

The boats keep coming. Overcrowded, unsafe boats flounder and capsize in the rough seas of the Aegean and still they keep coming – this autumn the number reaching Lesbos and other small Greek islands topped 7,000 per day.¹

People smuggling from Turkey to Greece across the dangerous seas is a multi-million dollar business. The people smugglers care nothing for humanity. They are making a fortune from the human misery of those who have lost everything in the war zones of Syria and Iraq – people so desperate that they will risk their lives boarding unsafe boats.

Looking for a Solution

Thousands are plucked from the sea every day and hundreds more simply drown, nameless victims of the greatest tragedy the Middle East has ever witnessed. This is the scene at the Eastern extremities of Europe.

At the other end of Europe, leaders of the EU nations are meeting to discuss desperate measures to deal with the crisis. How can they cope with the million strong flood of humanity that has descended upon Europe this year? How can such a human avalanche be absorbed among the nations? Even more urgently, how can it be halted, or even put on hold for a period, to give time for dealing with the situation in the war zones?

The humanitarian crisis engulfing Europe has no easy solution: neither is it a short-term problem that will be all over in a few weeks or months. Whole populations are on the move and there appears no end to the conflict that is destroying cities and towns across the Middle East and inflicting homelessness, injury and death on vast numbers of people.

The humanitarian crisis engulfing Europe has no easy solution – neither is it a short-term problem.

Europe on High Alert

The complexity is confounded by the mixture of migrants and refugees. The numbers are so great that it is impossible to discover who are the genuine refugees, who are the economic migrants and who are the jihadis slipped in among them by the Islamic State fighters.

Ever since the Paris atrocities on that notorious Friday 13 November, when at least one of the bombers had entered Europe through Greece posing as a refugee, the whole of the EU has been on high alert. The fact that the Paris bombers were a mixture of home-grown and migrant terrorists has added to the sense of fear and confusion.

Mass Fear

That fear and confusion is not confined to Europe but has spread to America as well. Just weeks after the Paris slaughter, a couple went on the rampage with automatic weapons in San Bernadino, California, slaughtering people as they were eating a meal together. President Obama used the occasion for an impassioned appeal for gun reform in the USA where he said that these mass killings were becoming routine.

The danger facing Europe is that mass killings will also become routine in the EU - unless the source of the problem in the killing-fields of the Middle East is dealt with effectively.

The danger facing Europe is that mass killings will also become routine here – unless the source of the problem can be dealt with.

Islamic 'Alliance'

Saudi Arabia has now announced the formation of a new military alliance of 34 Arab nations to fight terrorism. But who will they fight? Who do they define as 'terrorists'? Saudi Arabia has already beheaded more people this year than the Islamic State.² Their branch of Sunni Wahhabi Islam based upon the strict observance of Sharia law is rejected by half the Islamic world, including the coalition led by Iran which is presently fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been locked in a proxy conflict for several years, with Iran backing the rebels in Yemen who the Saudis have been bombing. So the chance of this new initiative bringing peace to the Middle East is virtually nil. The most likely outcome is to extend the conflict between the different branches of Islam.

But could this be within the purposes of God?

Though all-out war between Islam and the Western nations (which in some respects would be a war between Christianity and Islam) looks ever more plausible, it could be that internal conflict between the different sects of Islam will save us from World War III.

All-out war between Islam and the Western nations could be avoided – if Islam implodes due to the internal conflict between its various sects.

Looking Forward

In the New Year's Day issue of Prophecy Today we will look more closely at what is happening in the Middle East, particularly in the context of biblical prophecy. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has gone quiet - the world's attention is upon Syria. But what does the future hold?

References

1 IOM Monitors Mediterranean Migrant Flows: 7,000 Crossing Daily to Greece. International Organization for Migration, Press Release, 10 September 2015.

2 Saudi Arabia Beheads Nearly Twice As Many People As ISIS So Far This Year. MintPress News Desk, 25 August 2015.