The abiding inspiration of Eric Liddell

Never mind the greens – it’s the spiritual climate that needs changing

Olympic hero pays ultimate price in gospel cause

How can Christians pray for Hong Kong?

Will the warnings be heeded?

The coronavirus outbreak in biblical perspective

Historic events and upheavals point to biblical truth

But its believers have found true freedom

Bearing in mind the brutality meted out against protesters as Hong Kong slips inexorably towards China’s orbit of control, we are reminded by author Kai Strittmatter of the tendency for totalitarian regimes to rewrite history.

“In China, remembering events the Chinese Communist Party chooses to erase from history is a subversive act and thus forbidden and punished,” he wrote in the Daily Mail.¹

For example, reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre of 30 years ago has been gradually eradicated and many under-30s have no idea that it ever took place. “The state’s troops murdered the protesters; the state’s writers murder the truth.”

Erasing the Past

Sound familiar? Yes, such erasure of the past is proceeding apace all over the globe – even in our country, but especially in the Middle East, where Islamist terror groups are hell-bent on turning truth upside-down in order to justify their murderous behaviour.

They even go to the extent of denying that the Holocaust ever took place, and refuting ancient Jewish links to the Holy Land despite the weight of evidence, backed by libraries of documents and multiple acres of archaeological digs.

True, the land was indeed held by the Muslim Turks for 400 years until Britain’s General Allenby effectively won it back for God’s ancient people. But even Jordanian academic Rami Dabbas, in saying that Arabs have everything to gain from ‘normalisation’ with Israel, acknowledges: “The Arabs are the original occupiers, and have no right to deny the return of the Jewish nation.”²

“It is time to solve this conflict, and that begins with us, the Arabs, accepting the Jewish people’s true historical connection to this land. We have everything to gain from so doing.”

Totalitarian regimes are hell-bent on turning truth upside-down in order to justify their murderous behaviour.

Socially Harmonised Subjects

Kai Strittmatter, meanwhile, in his essay, goes on to mention China’s “socially harmonised and politically compliant subjects” whose every move is being increasingly watched by ‘Big Brother’ on an apocalyptic scale, with a staggering 600 million CCTV cameras.

That’s almost one for every two people in a vast country now exporting its surveillance and artificial intelligence technology all over the world in an apparent attempt to expand its global influence.

But before we congratulate ourselves for not succumbing to this extreme form of socialism, consider how a largely compliant British society has been so quickly and easily mesmerised into a politically-correct harmonisation of ideas, ethics and morality – the ‘normality’ of same-sex ‘marriage’ and even the encouragement of transgenderism in primary schools, that effectively amounts to state child abuse.

And who among us dares to question this diabolical form of social engineering, otherwise known as ‘cultural Marxism’? We have been trained like dogs to ‘sit’ and ‘walk’ at the command of our progressive masters. Even pulling at the leash is forbidden, and we are condemned as unloving bigots if we should so much as suggest that there is another, better way.

We Christians are too easily cowed into a corner, opting for reflective navel-gazing or gathering in our holy huddles while the world outside recklessly careers towards the cliff. But there is another side to China, for the same reason that there is another side to England.

Out of the Ashes

With the World Cup cricket tournament currently being hosted here, Hatikvah Films have been promoting CTA’s docudrama Out of the Ashes – the hugely inspiring story of how one of England’s greatest cricketers heard the call of God to China.

Twice achieving the ‘double’ of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in a county cricket season (in just 20 and 25 matches respectively), CT Studd was a leading member of the England team that first brought the Ashes3 back from Australia in 1883.

But his missionary endeavours reached much wider fields. As part of the so-called Cambridge Seven, Studd endured years of extreme hardship and deprivation to bring the Gospel to the Chinese people. After giving away his vast fortune to Christian causes, he also went on to serve God in India and Africa, where he founded the World Evangelisation Crusade in 1913.

But it was the China Inland Mission, founded by Barnsley-born Hudson Taylor, that first stirred his heart. And it is believed that, due largely to their efforts, there are more Christians in China today than there are people in Britain. In fact, estimates reach as high as 100 million, but it is difficult to quantify, partly due to the severe persecution that has forced many believers to practise ‘under the radar’ while others have paid with their lives.

We Christians are too easily cowed into a corner.

These brave souls may have been ‘chained’ by Communism (or even slain by the Dragon symbolic of China), but they have been truly set free by Jesus, who said: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31f).

That’s the potential power of the Gospel, and we praise God for men like Taylor and Studd who gave their lives so sacrificially for the Chinese people.

Teeming Millions

So when you think or hear of China again, picture the teeming millions of believers being persecuted for their faith. Pray that they will stand, as this cricketing hero of old stood the test in a fiery trial.

Studd left the comfort zone of fame, fortune and familiarity for foreign fields, for he was convinced that “if Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”

Reflecting further on this, he said: “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” And in a poem he penned, he posed the ultimate challenge: “Only one life, ’twil soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”

References

1 Daily Mail, 15 June 2019. Kai Strittmatter is author of We Have Been Harmonised: Life in China’s surveillance state, Old Street Publishing, £9.99.

2 Israel Today, May 2019.

3 Literally, an urn with the burnt-out remains of a bail, used to keep the wickets in place. The contest came to be known as the Ashes in response to England’s loss to Australia at the Oval in 1882, when a satirical obituary declared that English cricket had died and “the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia”.

North Korea is causing international consternation, Europe is covered in confusion and the outlook for the Middle East seems bleak. Can Isaiah 24 shed any light on the world this week?

In every region of the world there is increasing tension and growing conflict. In the Far East North Korea has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile soon after testing what they claim to be a hydrogen bomb. Even China is expressing concern at their inability to restrain the renegade state thirsting for war.

In the Middle East the civil war in Syria has entered a new and highly dangerous stage with the Russian bombing of Aleppo. And the whole of Europe is covered in confusion through the mounting migration crisis triggering both economic and social instability.

Failed Peace Talks

The UN-brokered peace talks bringing together the warring parties in Syria broke down after only three days. This was seemingly the result of the Russian bombing of Aleppo which is said to have infringed UN Resolution 2254 mandating the talks, which required an end to air-strikes and the provision of humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones.

In every region of the world there is increasing tension and growing conflict. But what is God doing?

The Russians, in support of Bashar al-Assad's forces, are attacking the so-called 'moderate rebels' who have been trained by the USA and supplied with American arms to overthrow Assad. This is increasingly drawing the Western powers into conflict with Russia and the Iranian/Iraqi alliance which is supporting Assad. Also in the midst of this confused conflict there is the Islamic State which is against them all – pursuing its own radical Islamist objectives.

Migrants attempt to cross from Macedonia into Serbia.America and Europe

With America now fully involved in an internal battle for the White House between such unlikely contenders as Trump and Sanders (not the Colonel!) on opposite wings of the political chicken, there is unlikely to be any firm foreign policy initiative coming from Washington as Obama free-wheels through his final year.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Europe intensifies as the social backlash grows against the 1,000,000-plus migrants who poured into the EU last year as people react to incidents such as the Cologne sex attacks. Today some 400,000 Syrians are trying to get into Turkey after fleeing the bombing of Aleppo and the advance of the Syrian government army.

The migrant crisis in the Middle East is rapidly becoming a vast humanitarian disaster, with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan all saying they cannot cope with any more refugees and the European Union desperately trying to organise its border defences and establish 'Fortress Europe'.

But God...

But what is God doing in all this mess? Is God no longer in control of the nations as the Lord of history? Isaiah claimed the opposite, saying that God holds the nations "in his hands as a drop in a bucket" and that he "brings princes to nought and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing" (Isa 40:15, 23). Did this just refer to a bygone era - has God now withdrawn his power over the nations, leaving them to work out their own salvation?

Is God no longer in control of the nations as the Lord of history? Far from it! He still holds the nations in his hands as a drop in a bucket.

The Bible actually prophesies a time of intense instability throughout the world. Whether God simply allows it or actually initiates an era of vast conflict between nations and instability in the world of nature with earthquakes, hurricanes and storms, is not made clear. But there are three passages in the Bible where a great shaking of everything – the natural order of creation and the nations – is foretold. Isaiah 2:12-22 speaks of God "humbling the arrogance and pride of human beings". It says "The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted and they will be humbled." That was probably written in the eighth century BC.

Haggai, writing two centuries later in 520 BC, was more specific in stating that God would "shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land". He would "shake all nations" (Hag 2:6-7). Written over 500 years later, about AD 90, Hebrews 12:26 says that the great shaking of everything will be a prelude to God establishing his kingdom on earth.

The Little Apocalypse

There is another passage of Scripture that is rarely read in church and is usually neglected by biblical scholars because its message is too difficult to handle. It is found in Isaiah 24, which scholars traditionally have referred to as 'The Little Apocalypse' because its language is extreme. It speaks of the whole earth being shaken and split asunder which former generations of biblical scholars have always classified as symbolic. It was never imagined that there ever could be a force capable of shaking the whole of the earth.

Today we know different. The splitting of the atom and the production of hydrogen bombs has caused us to revise our biblical theology. We now know that among the nations there are sufficient nuclear weapons to destroy the world if they were all detonated at the same time and in the same region in an international conflict.

Isaiah 24 speaks of the whole earth being split and shaken by human sin. Until modern advances in weaponry, there was never a force capable of such a thing - but there is now.

This could literally fulfil the prophecies of Isaiah 24:

The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls – never to rise again.

The reason this will happen is given in Isaiah 24:5-6.

The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore the earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.

But is this a warning of the inevitable – or of what COULD happen? Is there still time for human beings to heed the warning and change the course of history?

Hope for the Future

The Bible also speaks of a time of peace. Isaiah 2, which foretells a day of judgment quoted above, begins with a beautiful picture of the word of the Lord going out from Jerusalem. It foresees swords beaten into ploughshares and nations no longer training for war.

The New Testament is full of hope for the future – that hope is founded on the return of Jesus to judge the nations and to bring a time of peace and justice which is what Hebrews 12 refers to as "the kingdom of God". Jesus himself spoke of this in Matthew 24 saying that there would be a great conflict among the nations, followed by a cosmic shaking which will be a prelude to his Second Coming.

These eschatological passages of Scripture often draw vastly different interpretations – but they nevertheless show that God is still the Lord of history! He holds the nations in his hands. He has allowed us free will to run the affairs of the nations until the time he intervenes through the Second Coming of Jesus.

How near that is, nobody knows; but the Bible says that he will come when least expected. That may be much sooner than anyone anticipates!

We are living in a time when there is a widespread sense of impending international crisis. How do we see things from Heaven's perspective?

In the past week, Westminster has been buzzing with speculation that the Prime Minister will call a referendum on Europe as early as June this year. At the meeting of business leaders in Davos, Switzerland this week, David Cameron has been urging increased support for a deal that will bolster his campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union.

He called upon business leaders to make their voices heard in support of Britain staying within Europe. His appeal was strengthened by reports that Goldman Sachs had made a donation of a six-figure sum to the campaign to keep Britain in the EU as the Prime Minister threw his weight behind the campaign.

But most of Europe's leaders have other things on their minds, as the migrant crisis deepens. Donald Tusk, the current President of the European Council, said that Europe has two months in which to solve the migrant crisis - or the EU itself is likely to collapse. He was referring to the reduced numbers trying to enter Eastern Europe via Greece in the winter months, when the crossing from Turkey is particularly dangerous. He was forecasting that as soon as spring arrives, the vast flow of migrants and asylum seekers will be beyond control. 

EU Collapse?

Winter sets in in 'The Jungle' migrant camp, Calais.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has also warned that the European Union is in danger of fracturing in the coming months if the migrants cannot be stopped. Despite the winter weather, there are reports that 2,000 newcomers a day are finding their way into Europe.

Europe's open borders policy allowing all its citizens to move freely has already collapsed, with the closing of borders between many eastern European nations and - significantly - between Austria and Germany, as well as the closing of the 10-mile-long bridge between Denmark and Sweden.

The re-imposition of border controls has come about through the vast numbers coming from the war zones of Syria and Iraq, as well as North Africa via Italy, that are imposing impossible demands upon public services such as housing, health, education and employment. It simply is not possible to accommodate such large numbers in many communities in such a short time.

Europe's open borders policy has already collapsed and public services are pressurised. It is simply not possible to accommodate such large numbers in such a short time.

Culture Clashes

But the major pressure has been intensified by reports that have filled the media of sex attacks upon women and girls by asylum seekers and migrants, which have inflamed public opinion.

These incidents, which police and local authorities have tried to hide, are the inevitable result of the clash of cultures. Cultural integration simply cannot take place in a short space of time, neither can it be forced upon a community for which no preparation has been made and where no attempt has been made to ensure that the newcomers have even a basic understanding of the language and customs of the host society.

International Upheaval

The mistakes that have been made in Europe are horrendous and come at a time of increasing international conflict, economic uncertainty and political upheaval. There is a widespread sense of impending international crisis that is compounded by the economic chaos in China; the tensions in the Far East caused by North Korean boasts that they have exploded a hydrogen bomb; the expectation that Iran will flood the market with cheap oil that will destabilise the economy of oil-producing countries, the increasing complexity of the Syrian civil war and the brutal conflict being waged by the so-called Islamic State.

As if all this is not enough, the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in London has added to diplomatic tensions between Britain and Russia after an enquiry implicated President Putin in the assassination.

The EU migrant situation, with a host of other events around the globe, together compound a widespread sense of impending international crisis.

Heaven's Perspective

That's a brief roundup of just some of the things that are going on in the world. But what is the prophetic significance of these events? If it were possible to look at the state of the world from the heavenly places, what conclusion would be reached? I think our 'heavenly observer' might start by quoting Psalm 2; "Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. Let us break their chains, they say, and throw off their fetters".

The evidence suggests that the whole world is in rebellion against its Creator. In Britain they are even teaching small school children that there is no such thing as 'gender' in an attempt to blot out the Creator of the Universe! The psalmist says that "the Lord God scoffs at them!" because he knows that one day they will be brought before him to account for their lives and the evil they have done. In fact, Jesus said it would be better for people who destroy the lives of children to have a millstone tied around their necks and drown in the sea than go on abusing children.

But on the bigger picture, the Bible tells us that there will come a time in world history when the rebellion of humans against the God of Creation becomes so great that their actions threaten to destroy the entire world. Before that happens, God will do something dramatic. He will shake all nations, and everything that human beings have created, from the great financial and political empires to the denominational structures that we call 'churches'. In fact, the only things that will not be shaken are the things that God himself has made. Isaiah describes the day when the great shaking of all creation reaches its climax. He says that "The pride of men will be humbled; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day" (Isa 2:17).

The Bible tells of a time in world history when human rebellion against God will become so great that their actions threaten to destroy the entire world - but also that God will intervene.

None of us knows when all this will happen, but the year 2016 has certainly started with a lot of events which indicate that a significant milestone has been reached in world history. The advice of Jesus was when we see these things happening we should "watch and pray".