Is this the start of a new era of hope?

Mr Boris Johnson fulfilled his lifelong ambition this week to become British Prime Minister. The rogue old Etonian began in his usual breezy style of easy optimism. But however much we may wish him well in tackling the multiple crises in the nation, realistically the challenge facing any new Prime Minister is no different from that which plagued – and overcame - Theresa May’s administration. The question is: can a new government do anything new?

The challenge of which I speak is that we have an elected parliament that defies the electorate. Whatever deal the new PM does with Brussels in order to fulfil his promise to leave the European Union by 31 October 2019, the possibility of getting the approval of this Parliament (without divine intervention!) is virtually nil. He not only faces the opposition of Labour, the LibDems and the Scottish Nationalist Party, but he also faces the threats of rebels on the Tory backbenches who say they are willing to bring down the Government rather than agree to leave the EU without a deal.

Today, Britain is a more divided nation than it has ever been since the days of the Civil War between Cromwell’s Parliament and supporters of Charles I. How should Christians understand what is going on in the nation? And are there any signs of hope?

Reflecting on the Past

In last week’s editorial we were asking “Is there any word from the Lord?” This led us to some of the things Britain has done wrong on the international scene and especially the need to recognise and say we are sorry for the dreadful things we did to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust back in 1947. Recognising that injustice would be an act of righteousness that I believe would be pleasing to the Lord.

I believe there is a real message of hope and good news in the midst of all the doom and gloom we’ve been hearing for a long time. But we ought also to recognise where we have gone wrong: not only abroad, but also in the things we have done at home in Britain. As we have said many times in these editorials – turning away from biblical values has led to the present days of crisis. This era of great cultural change began with a political Act of Parliament in 1951.

Today, Britain is a more divided nation than it has ever been since the days of the Civil War. What is going on – and is there any hope?

Political Decisions, Cultural Consequences

It was the Fraudulent Mediums Act which abolished the Witchcraft Act that had been on the Statute Book of Britain for centuries. In 1951 witchcraft was legalised. All occult activities were made legal, in direct defiance of biblical teaching:

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or is a medium or spiritist or consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord… (Deut 18:10-12)

This political decision to defy the Bible was taken by the Government led by Clement Attlee, a Jew-hating atheist, and paved the way for other major policy turnarounds which precipitated great cultural changes in the nation.

The first great cultural change was in the 1959 Obscene Publications Act which paved the way for the legalisation of obscenity in publications, film, video and the internet.

The second cultural change was in the Abortion Act (1967) which made it legally acceptable to kill unborn babies. Currently, about 450 babies a day are killed in British hospitals, bringing the total since 1967 to over 9 million. 2018 saw the number of UK abortions reach an all-time high, and our dysfunctional, rebellious Parliament has now ruled to impose abortion on the only part of the British Isles that still upholds biblical values, defying the wishes of the people of Northern Ireland – as we noted last week in an excellent article from our Managing Editor.

These changes follow the classic path to the corruption of civilisation noted by the Apostle Paul in the first chapter of his letter to Rome. He says that once we stop believing in the God of Creation and start suppressing the truth, we believe anything. We “exchange the truth of God for a lie” and then we abandon all restraints upon our behaviour.

The Apostle Paul says that once we stop believing in the God of Creation, we believe anything and abandon all restraints upon our behaviour.

Church Leaders Responsible

But God does not expect an ungodly nation to repent of things that are not even publicly recognised as being wrong! The history of Israel in the Bible teaches us that God holds the religious leaders responsible for the moral and spiritual state of the nation – it was they who had the truth and the responsibility of declaring it to the people, who otherwise remained ignorant.

Applying that teaching today, God holds church leaders responsible for the nation. But can we expect repentance from them? The bishops in the House of Lords didn’t even bother to turn up for the vote on forcing same-sex marriage and abortion upon the people of Northern Ireland last week. If they had been there, they would probably have voted in favour of imposing LGBTQ+ values upon Ulster.

Hope for the Future

Amidst this seemingly lost situation, God is doing two things: he is blessing the many thousands of local fellowships, large and small, where the word of God is faithfully preached and taught. And he is withdrawing his blessing from those churches that have turned away from the word – including churches within the traditional denominations, which are crumbling, losing members and closing buildings as a result.

The hope for the future lies with the faithful remnant in Britain of Bible-believing, praying people who refuse to be driven by the values of the world and are prepared to take a stand for truth whatever the cost. God is faithful to hear and to heed the prayers of the faithful remnant who grieve over the state of the nation; who repent for our silence when ungodly laws were being passed in our Parliament; but who nevertheless cry out to the Lord to have mercy and to bless the new Government.

We should be appealing to God to remember his covenant relationship with our forefathers, who placed the Bible at the centre of the British legal system, governing the nation, and made it part of the Coronation Oath sworn by our Queen, whom God has wonderfully preserved for these perilous times.

We should be appealing to God to remember his covenant relationship with our forefathers.

There is a solid biblical principle for such an appeal to God on behalf of the nation. Paul says that as far as the Gospel is concerned the people of Israel put themselves outside God’s protection, although he himself would never break his covenant promises “on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Rom 11:29).

This is undoubtedly a special passage concerning Israel, but it also shows that God respects the spiritual heritage of a nation. As he has blessed Britain in the past, using Britain to get the gospel to many nations, we can call upon him to bring us through this time of trial and to restore faith and belief – especially among young people in the United Kingdom – to give us “a hope and a future” (Jer 29:11) as he promised to the people of Jerusalem enslaved in Babylon at the worst moment in their history.

Whom will it serve?

You don’t have to be a prophet, or even a believer, to recognise that deep divisions are wracking Britain today. The 2016 Referendum exposed some of these. People are starting to realise that ‘politics as usual’ is no longer possible: we have entered a period of unprecedented turmoil and upheaval: what we have frequently referred to on Prophecy Today UK as part of the ‘shaking of the nations’.

While the spiritual forces underneath this shaking may be black and white, so to speak, how all this bears out in individual thinking and behaviour was never going to be clear-cut, because human beings are complicated. For instance, the unforgiving binary options of the Referendum masked complex concerns and ideological standpoints on both sides, which has been a point of frustration for many.

But despite this complexity, the oppositional worldviews underlying the battle for the soul of the West are gradually becoming more and more apparent. At the polls and in virtually every sphere of daily life, people are increasingly being forced to choose, one way or the other.

Political Polarisation

It may have taken a generation for the cultural Marxism being preached in universities to filter down into mainstream culture, but that project is now nearly complete, enabled and encouraged by a political establishment purporting to take the centre ground. Those who accept this radical left-wing worldview are lining up on one side of the debate; those who react against it on the other. Because the worldviews at stake are vastly opposing, we are witnessing a general movement away from the political centre towards the extremes.

This polarisation is visible in the recent EU election results, which saw centrist parties lose considerable ground to parties both farther to the left (e.g. greens, ultra-liberals) and farther to the right (e.g. nationalists). Whether ordinary citizens are becoming more radical in their politics, or simply expressing frustration, the result is an empowering of parties farther outwards on the political spectrum.

We are witnessing a general movement away from the political centre towards the extremes, underlain by worldviews that are vastly opposing.

Dig a little deeper than left-right divisions, however, and the battle lines are really being drawn up either around the defence of the ‘old order’ that emerged from Christendom (including the nation-state system, a strong family unit and the importance of individual freedom from state interference), notwithstanding its imperfections, or around its destruction and replacement with the inverse (i.e. globalism, anti-life and anti-family movements including LGBTQ+/radical feminism/abortion/euthanasia, and the subjection of the individual to increasing state control).

All this means that wherever one sits on a variety of hot-button issues, it is increasingly difficult to forge a compromise path or remain neutral. This is especially the case for Christian institutions and ministries, who ostensibly hold the truth. The time has come to nail some colours to the mast.

Oceans Apart

The reality of this was exposed strongly this week with news of a vicar in Essex resigning, from both his positions as governor of a CofE primary school and local vicar, over the promotion of transgender ideology. The school had allowed a child under 12 to announce his gender transition to his class, without any agreed procedures and without informing other parents, but with the full support of the diocese. The Revd John Parker submitted his resignation letter, in which he expressed concerns that children are being “sacrificed on the altar of trans ideology”.¹

Mr Parker is one of many clergy and lay Anglicans who have borne the CofE’s drift away from biblical principles and into radical left-wing identity politics (the schools issue being just one manifestation of this) for as long as they can, hoping and praying for change from the inside, but who have finally decided that enough is enough.

These defectors are seeking spiritual safe havens in other denominations or breakaway Anglican groups, including GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference, an international Anglican body championing traditional biblical teaching), while the CofE establishment has drifted ever farther out to sea, lured by siren calls of ‘compassion’, ‘tolerance’ and ‘welcome’.

Across the vast distance that has opened up in between, calls for unity, dialogue and peaceful disagreement sound ever-more faint and hollow. It is difficult to see any other future for the CofE than one of disintegration, barring some drastic repentance, especially within the upper tiers of its leadership.

Mr Parker is one of many clergy and lay Anglicans who have borne the CofE’s drift away from biblical principles for as long as they can, but have finally decided that enough is enough.

However, there is yet a sense that the CofE has not capitulated completely, but is still being pulled in both directions. The Lambeth 2020 international meeting of bishops, for example, is being boycotted by both conservative GAFCON members and ultra-liberal bishops who think the Church is not going far enough in its ‘welcome’ of gays and lesbians.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s weak attempts to appease both sides in the sexuality debate have failed to give strong leadership one way or the other, permitting the gradual permeation of the Church with LGBTQ+ ideology in a way that has angered both pro-LGBTQ+ activists (for not being fast or far-reaching enough) and those trying to remain faithful to Scripture. In other words, attempts to forge a middle-ground, compromise position have only made matters worse, fuelling polarisation – just as we have seen more widely in national politics.

The Time is Now

All this is really to say that the era of easy ways out – of fudging compromises, of appeasement and of sitting on the fence – is all but over. But perhaps that is not a bad thing, for, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm…I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Rev 3:15-16).

The Church in all quarters badly needs to choose whom it will serve (Deut 30:19; Josh 24:15), heeding James’s warning that “whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God” (4:4). The disagreements in which the CofE is mired result from it befriending a worldly ideology that stands in total opposition to God. This ideology cannot save, and only leads to division and disintegration. As with the Church, so with the nation.

Our study this week looks at Jeremiah, the ‘weeping prophet’, and expresses hope that in our day we will see people who humbly cleave to the Lord’s council, grieving over the nation and daring to speak prophetically from that place to both king and priest. If ever Britain needed such prophets, it is now.

Meanwhile, may the faithful continue to rally – not primarily to one political party or another, but to the Lord and his word, just as the Levites rallied to Moses (Ex 32). Therein we will find salvation, security, hope and light which will radiate out through us to the nation.

References

1 Read more at Christian Concern.

The Ashers Bakery case goes to the Supreme Court.

This week, the Supreme Court left its usual place in London and has been sitting in Belfast to hear a case that has fundamental significance for the future of free speech in Britain. The Ashers Bakery case dates back to 2014 when an LGBT activist ordered a cake from the bakery with a message in the icing stating "Support Gay Marriage".

The owners of the bakery, Daniel and Amy MacArthur, who are committed Christians, refused to do this on the ground that it was against their beliefs. The initial judgment found that they were guilty of ‘discrimination’ and this was affirmed by the Court of Appeal. The case has now gone to the Supreme Court, but the Northern Ireland Attorney General, John Larkin QC, has already expressed his own opinion that the Court of Appeal was wrong in their judgment.

The case has attracted an enormous amount of interest because of its significance for our cherished freedom of speech. The central question is whether the law can force someone to make a statement that they do not believe.

The Law vs. Freedom of Speech

Does the law have the power to force a Catholic to make a statement criticising the Pope? Does the law have the power to force a Muslim to make a statement that is insulting to Mohammed? Does the law have the power to force any citizen to make a statement that is directly against his or her personal convictions?

This is a question that, for Christians, goes back 2,000 years to the time of the Roman Emperor Domitian in the year AD 95 when all citizens were required, on a certain day, to go to the local shrine dedicated to the Emperor and say "Caesar is Lord".

The case has attracted an enormous amount of interest because of its significance for our cherished freedom of speech.

Emperor Domitian.The Apostle John was in exile on the island of Patmos when he had a remarkable spiritual experience on the very day, known as ‘Lord's day’ (Rev 1:10), when he knew that many of his Christian friends would be signing their own death warrants by refusing to make a statement which would deny the Lordship of Jesus.

For the MacArthurs, being forced to make a statement declaring support for homosexual marriage, which the Bible declares to be "detestable” to God (Lev 18:22) would be equivalent to denying their faith in the God of Creation and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It would be the modern equivalent of saying "Caesar is Lord" and denying the Lordship of Jesus.

Significance for Equality Law

But there are significant legal aspects as well as moral aspects to this case, which is no doubt the reason why the five judges are not expected to announce their decision before the autumn and it may even be delayed to the beginning of next year. Their judgment has profound significance for the future of the Equality Commission and the interpretation of equality law in Britain.

This case is creating panic, not only among LGBTQ+ supporters but across the whole left-wing postmodernist philosophical camp, which has been driving the movement for social change and social engineering in the nation since the 1960s.

Suddenly, there is fear gripping the far-left political elite that they have gone too far, too quickly. They have had enormous success in achieving their objectives since the publication of the Gay Manifesto in 1972 declaring the LGBTQ+ intention of destroying the ‘family’ as the central pillar in the Judeo-Christian structure of the nation.

The judgment will have profound significance for the future of the Equality Commission and the interpretation of equality law in Britain.

The Idol of Equality

They have succeeded, probably beyond their wildest dreams, in persuading the nation that the supreme ethical values in society are ‘equality’ and ‘tolerance’ – that all ethical judgments should be taken at the bar of ‘equality’.

Hence, postmodernists have even succeeded in changing the legal definition of marriage by framing it as an issue of ‘equality’. This worshipping of equality is a recycling of Marxism, which falsely assumes that enforced equality will lead to justice and a better world. Jordan Peterson rightly calls postmodernism the “new skin that the old Marxism now inhabits”.¹

Marxism was totally discredited through the fiasco of Communism last century, but it didn’t disappear entirely - later reappearing under the guise of postmodernism, trying yet again to force upon the population the flagship lie of ‘equality’.

But forcing a Christian baker to declare his support for gay marriage may prove to be a step too far which could cause the whole of their false edifice of society to collapse. It is like pulling out a single brick from the base of the Tower of Babel, sending a shockwave right through its structure that brings the whole lot down!

Enough is Enough

The central tragedy of recent history over the past half-century is that neither Church leaders nor politicians have understood the philosophy of postmodernism, with its objectives of destroying Judeo-Christian civilisation. The great question facing us now is: will there be a great awakening of common sense among ordinary people in the general public before it is too late?

The central tragedy of recent history is that neither Church leaders nor politicians have understood that postmodernism seeks to destroy Judeo-Christian civilisation.

Will ordinary people arise and say, "Enough is Enough! We do not want to be driven by Big Brother political correctness. We cherish our freedom of speech and we will not let our children be educated in schools that brainwash them in the false values of ‘equality and tolerance’ and ‘political correctness’.”

Is it too late to reclaim the nation from the clutches of those who wish to destroy Western civilisation?

To the Church of Sardis

The Apostle John had a message for the Christians in Sardis who were facing persecution by the Roman Empire. He warned "You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die” (Rev 3:1-2). The alternative was that their names would be blotted out of the Book of Life.

The warning signs are there today for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. If we do not wake up soon and challenge those who are driving the nation towards self-destruction, we and our children and grandchildren will perish in the forthcoming holocaust of social destruction.

That destruction has already begun, the evidence of which can be seen all around us, in the breakdown of the family and the consequent rise in crimes of violence, lawlessness and corruption. But this is only the beginning – unless we wake up!

References

1 Jordan B Peterson, Postmodernism and Cultural Marxism. Interview, The Epoch Times, 6 July 2017.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘Into the Lion’s Den’ by Steve Maltz (Saffron Planet, 2018).

When a prolific author such as Steve Maltz claims that his latest book is his ‘most important ever’, it is worth considering why. Certainly it is a timely book and its message vital, both in its socio-political analysis (parts 1 and 2) and its Christian response (part 3, which occupies just over half the book).

The title alludes to Daniel being tested in the lion's den. Christians today face a different den, but an equal threat: Western culture is our lion's den. In recent decades our enemy the devil has been prowling round seeking to devour (1 Pet 5:8), and has succeeded in changing our society dramatically.

In this eye-opening book, Maltz examines satan’s chosen method in the West – the unseen force behind the current explosion of political correctness, identity politics and blame culture – which goes by the name of Cultural Marxism.

Dismantling Society’s Building Blocks

Maltz has done some detailed research on the origins of our current social scene and its threat to Christian witness, presenting it in his usual readable style. He also provides a full and clear response to the threat of Cultural Marxism, drawing largely on his previous writings (Hebraic Church, Livin’ the Life) which in retrospect can be seen as preparatory to this book.

Maltz explains how Cultural Marxism took the failed ideas of economic and political Marxism and repackaged them in subtler, cultural terms, using techniques from other academic disciplines. The result was a “covert cultural infiltration, hidden in plain sight” (p8) that has made massive inroads into undermining the Judeo-Christian foundations of modern Western society.

satan’s chosen method to devour the West is Cultural Marxism.

He starts with Alice Bailey’s ten-point plan (first formulated in 1948) to wrench society away from its Christian roots, and shows how this was then built upon by others, in particular Herbert Marcuse and Theodor Adorno, whose writings were very influential in the 1950s. This eventually led to the creation of the Frankfurt School and the development of Critical Theory in which everything is to be deconstructed, the aim being to ‘liberate’ those who have been oppressed for so long by Christianity and its associated institutions.

In Cultural Marxist thinking, points of previous stability such as the family, or the notion of two genders, are re-interpreted as inherently oppressive. The notion of objective truth is also considered tyrannical - relativism must become the norm. Truth is whatever you want it to be.

The Bible in particular, previously the ultimate arbiter of truth, is to be continually re-interpreted to support these new ideas, rather than read to bring us to a saving knowledge of God.

Victims vs Oppressors

Cultural Marxism divides society into oppressors - those clinging to a biblical framework - and oppressed: so-called ‘victim groups’, who need to be liberated from the ‘repressive’ norms of traditional Christianity. Today’s victim culture is the direct creation of Critical Theory which “began to roll out a series of ‘causes’, centring on those deemed to be ‘victims’” (p46).

The law of Cultural Marxism, which is ultimately as authoritarian as its political predecessor, is that these causes represent true freedom, and so must be upheld by everyone. To oppose or even question them is unacceptable, and so warrants derisive, shut-down treatment (e.g. labels such as ‘homophobic’, ‘racist’, ‘sexist’, ‘fascist’). Only Christians can never be considered as victims - after all, they are the oppressors, who have held the upper hand for so long!

Meanwhile we now have a whole range of potential ‘micro-aggressions’, anything that can be deemed to cause offence to victims’ feelings, ranging from casual comments to displaying biblical texts, wearing a cross or offering to pray for someone.

Cultural Marxism divides society into oppressors - those clinging to a biblical framework - and oppressed: victims who need to be liberated from the ‘repressive’ norms of traditional Christianity.

Cultural Marxism is seen as a progressive movement, helping us turn away from old superstitions, outdated morality and the restrictions of the past. Maltz has illuminated all these trends in a way that is easy to understand. We see how for decades Cultural Marxists, first in academia and then outward into politics and the media, have been pulling the strings behind the scenes in a war for hearts, minds and, ultimately, souls.

Dealing with the Madness

He concludes there “is no real hope for our society if Cultural Marxism is allowed to continue unchecked” (p71).

However, he does not finish there. In Part 3, ‘Dealing with the madness’, he offers a way for Christians not only to survive in this new culture but also to engage with it for the sake of the Gospel.

His starting point is that “we are not called to fix the Kingdom of the World, instead our role should be in the execution of the Great Commission, in helping to rescue people from this Kingdom by guiding them into the Kingdom of God” (p93).

This has always been our role, but now there is a greater urgency, as well as a greater difficulty. Yet there is also a greater opportunity. Despite the dangers of Cultural Marxism, the Gospel is not fettered and God remains sovereign. Perhaps he has allowed all this to shake us out of complacency and force us to re-evaluate our effectiveness? Cultural Marxism may have done us a favour if it results in a more authentic Christianity, one that is more Hebraic, more ‘first century’.

By exploring this possibility and how to achieve it, Into the Lion's Den is an exciting book, not a depressing one.

Has God allowed Cultural Marxism to proliferate to shake the Church out of its complacency?

Encouragement to Live Distinctively

Maltz takes Titus 2:11-15 as our mission statement for these times, using it to show how we can begin ‘Reaching a World gone mad’ (the book’s subtitle). He also draws on the main points of his previous book, Livin’ the Life, about honouring God, reflecting Jesus and engaging with the Spirit, arguing that Christians need to live distinctively.

He asserts that “our best weapon” in dealing with Cultural Marxism (p139) is understanding the difference between function and form. We must function as Christians, not just have the outward form. If we can’t talk about or quote Jesus without being criminalised, then we must become living examples of God’s word.

Towards the end of the book Maltz makes a vital point when he says that “Reaching a World gone mad is going to require more Godly Wisdom, rather than relying on our own powers of articulation or knowledge or experience” (p195). The book contains some real life examples of Christians (from all walks of life) being grilled in TV interviews, as good illustrations for us to learn from. When we speak up, God’s wisdom is needed. But if we ask him and listen, he will give us the words.

Over a long period, Cultural Marxism has been a creeping threat. We may not have seen it coming, but now we can see it clearly at work. But many may still be puzzled as to how our society arrived in its current state, how we got to this particular kind of madness, and how to respond. This book addresses these issues and should be read and then read again until we have absorbed its vital message.

How important the book will be only time will tell, but it deserves to be widely read and discussed.

Into the Lion's Den (238pp) is available from Saffron Planet Publishing for £10.

Further Information

Steve Maltz’s next Foundations conference takes up the same theme of Cultural Marxism – there are still some places left. Please see our News page for further details, and for information about further events involving Steve Maltz.